United Nations (UN) surveys recently conducted reveal that 46% of Ugandan women, 60% of Tanzanian women, 42% of Kenyan women and 40% of Zambian women report physical abuse. In a Nigerian survey, 81% of married women report being verbally or physically abused by their husbands and even more alarming 46% report being abused in the presence of their children. Ironically, Amnesty International disagrees with the UN statistical data... they speculate that the prevalence of violence is far worse than reported. This year, the UN is ramping up efforts to combat violence against women not only for the human rights infraction it represents, but also to address the tangential issue of the detrimental effect it has on the productivity of developing nations and emerging markets. "While we focus here on physical violence, the literature acknowledges that verbal abuse or the threat of violence can also effectively exclude, inhibit or deter girls and women from seeking services or contributing to society. In the next section, we see how other institutionalized forms of political violence can undermine the ability of women to contest for political office. WRAPA (2004) specifically shows how 'soft violence' (whispering campaigns, rumors, innuendo, insults, etc.) deters women candidates from contesting for posts and elections." Gender in Nigeria Report 2020 The fact that women are being deterred from political activity is indicative of their decreased willingness and ability to effectively participate in other, more influential levels of society. This only means that societies suffer a loss of potential in business development, academia and ultimately GDP due to gender violence.
"Africans Working to Address to Respond and to End violence against women" (AWARE) provides a two-tiered approach to addressing the prevalence of violence against women on the African continent. The premise of the program is that grass roots events in-country coupled with unique and engaging US based events will bring the impact of this issue to a wider demographic, and will inspire a new generation of activists. Our mission is to develop creative events that incorporate sports, social media, interactive symposiums, conferences and other events that will elicit action. We also intend to develop a training module that can be implemented by volunteers in urban and rural areas in Africa that will educate men about the alternatives to violence and through its promotion will incrementally decrease the prevalence of violent acts.
In a report by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) in 2000, the agency noted that in interviews in Africa and Asia, "the right of a husband to beat or physically intimidate his wife" came out as "a deeply held conviction." Even societies where women appear to enjoy better status "condone or at least tolerate a certain amount of violence against women." From Africa Renewal: Special Edition on Women 2020 p.21 We know that engaging in the fight against gender violence in Africa is what many believe to be an insurmountable challenge, and that the prospect of combating these "deeply held convictions" is an undertaking of great magnitude. We are prepared to meet those challenges with carefully planned and innovative tactics, which we believe will generate different results. We also know that there are several other programs that are currently engaged in this area, and even though they have made great strides in the assistance and education of women about gender violence, the AWARE campaign will initially target the men in these communities; as we believe this is the only way to begin to shift the paradigms and to catalyze the lasting change of these long standing behaviors. We want to use the attention that we generate through social media, events and awareness activities to change the "face" of what most Westerners have assigned to female African victims, and to provide the platform upon which men can mentor each other as they learn more productive ways to interact with the women in their lives.
Our initial efforts in this campaign will be centered on educating people about this issue, and growing a larger base of concerned activists. We will do this by promoting our message through several creative means.
Women from the local communities, women's groups and other women's organizations play soccer games in designated locations in Ivory Coast, Liberia, Ghana, Mali, Senegal, and Nigeria. The games are designed to bring awareness to the issue of violence against women in a unique format, as women are not often the participants in soccer competitions. This one-of-a-kind match will feature fierce competition and excitement for spectators and players as Africa's own brave and beautiful women battle it out on the field to say enough is enough, and violence against women is not ok, it is just wrong. The games will also feature speakers who will deliver messaging against violence and abuse, and who will educate community members about local support systems and resources available to combat these acts.
We identify and train community ambassadors in the same initially targeted countries who can deliver workshops and development sessions for men that highlight alternatives to violence and who are committed to serving as a continual community resource. Ambassadors will serve on two main levels. The University Ambassador Level will conduct outreach primarily at the university level and in urban areas, and the Rural Ambassador will conduct outreach in villages and smaller locales.
The Inaugural ASWA AWARE Annual Conference is being held to bring high-level awareness to the prevalence of violence against African women, and to continue the dialogue around the impact it has on society. The conference will solicit engagement and action from thought leaders and community activists, and will focus on solutions based discussions.
This campaign will include an aggressive major social media initiative designed to reach a wide US/Africa based donor audience, and will include several components that put a different "face" on violence against women. We will feature the stories of women from various socioeconomic levels who have been victims of violence and who have overcome the effects of their abuse. We will incorporate "Mic-on-the-street" clips of men in Ivory Coast, Ghana and Nigeria who will give their commentary about the "appropriateness" and acceptance of abusing women. We will also partner with several other similarly aligned NGOs and non-profit organizations to communicate our message through collaborative channels.
This interface will allow us to communicate our efforts to a global audience, and to collaborate with like-minded organizations in this effort. This page provides a platform to publicize program goals and events, and allows people to actively engage and contribute to our progress.
The Inaugural ASWA AWARE Annual Conference is being held to bring high-level awareness to the prevalence of violence against African women, and to continue the dialogue around the impact it has on society. The conference will solicit engagement and action from thought leaders and community activists, and will focus on solutions based discussions.