Pulse.ng : NGO trains first responders on psychological first aid to victims of SGBV in Kaduna

By Sani Idris

An NGO, International Alert, with support from UKaid, has trained community first responders on psychological first aid to victims of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) in Kaduna.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that the community first responders (40 participants) who were trained, cut across the Police, NSCDC, health workers and community members.

At the closing of the two-day training on Tuesday in Kaduna, Fatima Inusa, the Gender, Equity and Social Inclusion Officer of the NGO, said the community responders were those who, survivors of SGBV, contacted first after their abuse.

She noted that training the first responders was aimed at equipping them with skills on how to administer psychosocial support to victims of SGBV.

According to her, at most instances when victims visit safety or security agencies, doctors, nurses and other responders of SGBV, they don’t get the required information or support their need.

Inusa mentioned the support to SGBV to be either counselling, referral to legal services, among others.

She explained that due to improper documentation and lack of respect for data protection protocols which entailed not sharing of survivors information without their concent, the training of the first responders became critical.

“The training is aimed at equipping the first responders with ways to treat SGBV survivors with dignity while also adhering to data protection protocol by respecting the wishes and privacy of victims.

“Survivors are also individuals who have rights and the rights must be protected at all cost,” she said.

Inusa said that the training was also to equip the first responders with how to collect information and also refer the survivors to the appropriate services required.

She lamented the increased number of victims of SGBV, especially in the Northeast and Northwest, noting that it was due to conflicts that had been going on in the regions.

Inusa also said that women and girls were not carried along in information and education, thereby becoming ignorant of their rights and the knowledge of knowing that they could access services.

She, therefore, said the NGO empowered women on broader scale to reduce SGBV by empowering them with accurate information related to their wellbeing and when abuse accured.

“We also include men in our engagements, because even the male gender also face SGBV,” she said.

Inusa therefore, urged victims to report cases of abuse, while calling for the end to stigmatisation of survivors.

“This is why we are engaged in the training, to equip responders with skills to make it possible and available for survivors to be open enough to trust them and report cases to them,” she said.

Also, Mrs Nankat Ndam, the Manager of Salama Sexual Assault Referral Centre, Governor Awon General Hospital Kakuri, Kaduna, lamented the increase in SGBV cases in the centre.

“We get reports regularly. Salama centre has four centers in Kaduna state – two in the town, one in Governor Awon and one in Tudun Wada,” she said.

Ndam added that averagely in a month, when they added up the figures for reported cases of SGBV within the centres in the town, they could reach between 20 to 30.

She noted that majority of the survivors/victims were females, where majority of them were young adolescent girls or young children.

She, however, noted that there were also male survivors, adding that piority was always given to the survivors.

“What we practise is called survivor centered approach. With this, we are concerned more about the survivors’ wellbeing and also the support they get from the moment they are abused.

“They are accorded medical attention and psychosocial support till the stage where they report to the station and then get justice. We give priority to survivors, not perpetrators,” she noted.

Stressing the importance of girl child education, Ndam noted that they deserved every opportunity like their male counterparts, to succeed in life.

“If female children are given the same opportunities like the male children, they will also be able to perform at the same level that their male counterparts do.

“It is really sad that we are still battling insecurity. It is making the girl child loose interest in school which is a means of empowerment to making right choices for themselves and also to excel in life,” she said.

Speaking further, the manager commended the Kaduna State Government for taking the fight against SGBV very seriously, noting that it was why there were four centres in the state.

She called for awareness creation and sensitisation, to stop stigma against victims/survivors of SGBV, while urging people to report cases for measures to be taken.

One of the trainees, Betty Ibrahim who is a health worker, said the training would help her to know her limitations in terms of giving care to survivors of SGBV.

She added that it had empowered her with the knowledge on the type of care she would give survivors.

“This training is timely, I have been offering services to survivors of SGBV, but I never knew my boundaries,” Ibrahim said.

Similarly, a Police officer, Insp. Constance Didia, said as security agents, they were always in contact with the victims/survivors of SGBV, adding that they sometimes went out of the standard way of handling them while thinking it was the right way.

She therefore said she would stepdown the training to her subordinates and superior, noting that it would help them handle survivors more.

“This training has taught us how to treat them, and this will make survivors rebuild the confidence they have lost in the Police,” Didia said.(NAN)(www.nannews.ng)