From June 6 to 8, 2023, the official launch workshop for the project "Defending oneself: supporting Burkinabe women and their organizations in the fight against gender-based and sexual violence (GBV)" was held in Ouagadougou. The project, supported by the French Development Agency, has been implemented since April 2023 by four organizations, led by Equipop, the Association of Women Lawyers of Burkina Faso (AFJ/BF), the Pananetugri Initiative for Women's Well-Being (IPBF), and the NGO Women's Voices (VDF). Interventions with women and girls are part of a process of empowerment and transformative care.
Defend yourself and eliminate VSS
In Burkina Faso, SSV mainly affects women and girls. Today, due to a national situation with significant security challenges, their risk of being exposed to SSV is increasing. Equipop and its partners are committed to combating sexual and gender-based violence by implementing projects to prevent, respond to, and mitigate the risks of such violence. This project is phase 2 of the project entitled "Women's Rights and Health in Burkina," which initiated a process of empowering women survivors of violence through prevention and, above all, care.
According to Ms. Bambara/Savadogo Nadine, project manager at the Ministry of Justice, it is of great importance. She believes that the "Defend Yourself" project is a wonderful initiative. " It will bring about a qualitative change in the lives of women and girls ," she added.
Empowering women and girls to defend themselves and assert their rights is the focus of the project being piloted in Burkina Faso by the four members of the consortium. Over a three-year period starting in April 2023, the project aims to empower women and girls so that they can better understand their rights and support mechanisms for caring for women survivors of violence. It will also work with civil society to accelerate the infusion of feminist approaches in the fight against gender-based violence. The activities are based on three strategic areas:
- prevention by supporting the development of approaches that empower women and girls, as well as women's and girls' rights CSOs, to confront gender-based violence;
- providing support by assisting women victims of domestic violence in their legal, judicial, and psychological journey;
- Institutional changes by improving the enforcement of the legal framework and supporting its evolution, in particular through the conduct of strategic litigation.
The “Se défendre” project covers seven regions of Burkina Faso: the Central Region (Ouagadougou), Hauts Bassins (Bobo-Dioulasso), Centre-Nord (Kaya), Plateau Central (Zorgho), Centre-Est (Tenkodogo), Boucle du Mouhoun (Dédougou), and Nord.
A framework for consultation to ensure ownership of the project content for effective implementation of its activities
The workshop, which took place from June 6 to 8, 2023, brought together and mobilized stakeholders (consortium members as well as representatives from ministries and resource persons) around the feminist principles that guide the project and the planned actions. Specifically, the aim was to: 1) gain a better understanding of the project and its components, the actions and the roles expected of the partners in the implementation phase; 2) to diagnose more precisely the needs required to develop the content of the project's initial training courses; 3) to create the conditions for ensuring good synergy between the members of the consortium and their respective, highly complementary actions; and finally 4) to set up the steering committee, which includes three ministries concerned by the project's themes.
Mr. Sakré Moussa Sawadogo, Director of Gender Promotion, member of Copil, and present at the workshop on behalf of the ministry in charge of gender, expressed his satisfaction with the various methodologies developed during the workshop. According to him, the workshop enabled all participants to take ownership of the actions that will be implemented.
At the end of the workshop, a closing ceremony was held in the presence of members of the government and representatives of national and international organizations working in the same fields or co-financing the project, such as the Danish Refugee Council, OXFAM, and UNICEF.
Stevie Reine Yameogo, project manager at Equipop, emphasized that this project is also consistent with the priorities defined by the Burkinabe authorities to protect the population. Thus, "it is essential for all of us as stakeholders to ensure that all survivors of gender-based and sexual violence have appropriate and timely access to quality services that meet their needs," she added.
