The Director of H4BF, Ngo Abdulai Banfogha has observed that conducting research to identify GBV issues can enable policy makers to develop appropriate programs and interventions.
This was during a two-day training workshop in Bamenda to drill personnel of Hope for a Better Future, H4BF, a non-profit development organization, and those of its partner institutions on conducting research to identify Gender-based Violence, GBV issues in conflict and refugee settings.
Organized by H4BF in partnership with Global Women Institute, GWI, through an independent consultant, the goal was to equip the participants on how to develop of appropriate programs and interventions on GBV issues. It also touched on GBV monitoring and evaluation and GBV research.
Opening the training, the Director of H4BF, Ngo Abdulai Banfogha, explained that the training falls within the 16 days activism against GBV across the globe and thanked the participants for giving their time and attention to the issue. The H4BF official said the increasing emphasis on conducting research to identify GBV issues is to enable development of appropriate programs and interventions.
“However, these efforts are mixed in quality and often raise ethical questions. The increased pressure on policymakers to move to a more evidence-based approach in addressing GBV issues creates the need for this research prioritization activity” Banfogha noted.
He said inadequate evaluative evidence in this area poses a challenge in the planning for responsive interventions especially in resource limited settings. Banfogha told percipients that GBV is a global problem with an estimated one in three women experiencing physical or sexual violence in their life time.
“This staggering number does not even account for psychological and emotional abuse. In a study on violence against women in a heterosexual relationship in Cameroon, 99.7% of women have at least been once survivor of violence from their partners,” he revealed.
He advanced that 13% of women aged 15 to 49 years declared having experienced sexual violence at a point in their life with the Centre, excluding Yaoundé (21%), North West (19%), and West (17%) toping the charts. She disclosed that of all the women who experienced physical or sexual violence in the country, over half (52%) did not seek help nor disclose such violence to anyone as per the study same as 54% of men survivors did not disclose violence or seek help.
The Director of H4BF said it is costly to win the fight against GBV reason much needs to be done by different organizations to make funders see the needs to fund our GBV activity.
“I will say, with all confidence, there is need for more research, in our respective areas of interventions to make funders understand the specific realities,” Banfogha told participants.
Banfogha said it is within this framework that H4BF partnered with GWI to identify gaps, plan and implement interventions to strengthen the capacity of H4BF staff and immediate collaborative partner organizations on conducting quality GBV research and strengthen its monitoring and evaluation systems.
H4BF it should be noted is a nonprofit development organization that drives innovation from the ground up to enhance health, end hunger, overcome hardship and advance women & girls resulting in meaningful and measurable change in people’s lives. It has special consultation status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) since November 2020 and equally a member of the NGO Committee on Social development with the UN since the December 2020.