By Austin Angwe, Makurdi
Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW) in Benue State have been urged to speak out against Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in order to protect their health rights and secure their future aspirations.
The Executive Director of Concerned Women International Development Initiative (CWIDI), Mrs. Becky Gbihi, made the call during a one-day Pre-Advocacy Consultative Engagement held in Makurdi.
The engagement, themed “Listening, Learning and Leading for Improved Access to Healthcare and Rights,” was organised by CWIDI in collaboration with GEF and Y+ Global to strengthen the capacity of 25 adolescent girls and young women in Benue State.
Gbihi noted that many AGYW in the state continue to face violence, discrimination, and exclusion in accessing healthcare services, justice, and participation in government decision-making processes.
She explained that the programme was designed to equip participants with knowledge on healthcare access, legal rights, leadership, and active participation in policies and decisions that affect their lives.
“We want to instill leadership qualities in the participants and equip them with knowledge on health and rights. The essence of this engagement is also to provide a platform for AGYW to share the barriers they face so that CWIDI can effectively advocate on their behalf,” she said.
According to her, the meeting also identified key stakeholders for follow-up advocacy aimed at addressing the challenges raised by participants.
In a presentation titled “Understanding Gender-Based Violence and Survivor-Centred Responses,” the Lead of the Centre for Family Empowerment, Mr. Emmanuel Zia, trained participants on various forms of violence, including physical, sexual, emotional, and economic abuse, as well as child marriage and online violence.
He advised caregivers and support providers to prioritize survivors’ safety, maintain confidentiality, treat victims with dignity, and avoid blame or judgment, stressing that negative attitudes often worsen survivors’ trauma.
“Victims should be provided with emotional security and assured of strict confidentiality. This guarantees their right to privacy and helps build trust,” Zia said.
He further encouraged participants to utilize the knowledge gained from the training to advocate for improved healthcare, education, gender equality, environmental protection, and disability rights by engaging relevant stakeholders.
During group discussions, participants identified inadequate budgetary allocation to the health sector and a shortage of medical personnel at primary healthcare facilities in rural communities as major barriers to quality healthcare access.
They also highlighted malaria, unsafe abortion-related complications, and tuberculosis as pressing health challenges affecting AGYW and called on government and philanthropic organizations to provide urgent interventions.
One of the participants, Miss Doofan Dugba, expressed appreciation to the organizers, saying the training broadened her understanding of GBV response and how to support survivors without stigmatization.
Another participant, Miss Tondo Iveren, said the workshop changed her perception that women should be treated as second-class citizens.
“The knowledge I gained from the workshop has helped me understand that women have rights, and whenever those rights are violated, they should speak up,” she said.
She added that she now knows where to report cases of abuse, how to overcome fear of perpetrators, and pledged to replicate the knowledge gained in schools and communities.
Also speaking, Miss Vera Anjov described the engagement as highly educative but recommended that future editions allocate more time for group discussions to enable participants to identify and proffer solutions to a wider range of challenges affecting AGYW.