The Young Amazons Foundation for Development has made the fight against gender-based and sexual violence (GBSV) its primary focus in the Borgou department of Benin. In six months, the NGO has equipped actors and actresses in the fight against GBV: judicial police officers, magistrates, clerks, feminist activists, and social workers for the prevention and management of cases of gender-based and sexual violence.
Resource persons: key players in the fight against VSS
Twenty members of the FJAD and volunteers, selected on the basis of their commitment and willingness to participate in change, underwent five days of training on gender-based and sexual violence, feminism, gender, and reporting procedures. These resource persons are key players in the fight against SGV, as they have a major role to play in breaking down stereotypes and managing cases of gender-based and sexual violence. During the capacity-building session, they practiced writing complaints, exchanged views with a former magistrate on his experiences in handling cases of GBV, and drafted action plans for deconstructing stereotypes. This was a way for FJAD to ensure knowledge transfer, promote internal skills, and empower members.
With these skills, these resource persons actively participate in the rest of the project, where they mentor actors trained at the school for those committed to incubating socio-community initiatives. Some of them lead modules on the realities of the mechanism for preventing and managing cases of sexual and gender-based violence, as well as on identifying community problems related to sexual and gender-based violence.
The school for activists – a starting point for mobilization against VSS
Pooling efforts, bringing together actors in the fight against gender-based violence to deconstruct stereotypes at their level and actively involve them in the fight against gender-based violence: one of the key ingredients for ending gender-based and sexual violence. Following a call for participation, two juries composed of members of the FJAD Board of Directors and the project team carefully selected activists and members of civil society organizations whose ability to bring about change is well established. These profiles were selected with the aim of creating synergy between actions and enriching the sharing of ideas and experiences; they joined judicial actors for the school for those committed to combating VSS. The FJAD succeeded in mobilizing actors in the fight against VSS by bringing together magistrates, republican police officers, judicial police officers, and activists with the aim of deconstructing stereotypes about VSS at their level.
The school for committed individuals is therefore opening up to social and community initiatives that will be carried out by all of these stakeholders. Feedback sessions will take place in the coming months, and the participants will move on to the incubation phase of their social and community initiatives.
The Amazon Guide, a handbook on VSS
To support this mobilization, the FJAD has produced a training manual on VSS, a guide to facilitate exchanges with beneficiaries in all their communication initiatives on VSS. "The aim of this handbook on VSS is to serve as a guideline for current and future training on VSS for civil society organizations. It will help to build and develop modules without reinforcing stereotypes,"said Benedicta ALOAKINNOU, president of the FJAD. The manual will now serve as a working guide for every Amazon committed to combating gender-based and sexual violence. It includes modules on gender and gender-based violence, prevention and management of GBV cases, reporting procedures, and national legislation and legal sanctions.
