As the 16 days of activism against Gender-Based Violence (GBV) comes to an end, different stakeholders in Kisii County have echoed this year’s theme ‘UNiTE! Activism to end violence against women and girls.’
The 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence is an annual international campaign that kicks-off on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and runs for 16 days until 10 of December, Human Rights Day.
The anti-GBV crusade was propelled by the alarming cases of GBV’s against women and girls worldwide.
Speaking to the press, at the Cultural Hall in Kisii town, Daraja Mbili Visions representative, Fred Ongaki, lamented over the high number of teenage pregnancies in Bobasi, Bomachoge Borabu, Bomachoge Chache, South Mugirango and Kitutu Chache North Constituencies.
Ongaki urged the public to embrace technology such as using the i-monitor Application to report GBV cases.
He also welcomed the establishment of Violent Prevention Response Teams at the Sub- County level with the aim of ending the ‘triple threat’ that is, early teenage pregnancies, gender-based violence and HIV among adolescent girls.
Cleophas Bogonko, a Programs Officer at Daraja United Women and Youth Empowerment organization underscored the need of marking the 16 days of activism against GBV as a way of discarding retrogressive cultures within the region like the Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) practice.
By Jefferson Volka
