The Women Rights Advancement and Protection Initiative (WRAPA) Nigeria has trained no fewer than 60 gender-desk officers on effective responses to Gender-Based Violence (GBV) cases in Nigeria.

The trainees were selected from the Ten Pillar Partners of the Spotlight Initiative Project of the NGO.

Hajia Umma Rimi, Coordinator/Technical and Logistics Support Officer, of the Spotlight Initiative Project, said the training was to build the capacity of participants to be more efficient in their approach to gender-based violence.

“We visited these organizations a couple of weeks back and we identified some gaps and most of the gaps had to do with service delivery model, documentation, and others.

“So, we came back and brainstormed on ways to mitigate some of the gaps we discovered.

“That is why we are having this training for the Ten Pillar Partners under the Spotlight Initiative Project and their gender desk officers.

Rimi said that the training covered gender response budgeting, case management for GBV front liners, and preventing sexual exploitation and abuse, among others.

Speaking, Mr. Precious Anslem, State Project Officer, Spotlight Initiative Project of WRAPA urged the participants to be proactive with cases of gender-based violence cases reported to them.

He urged organizations to endeavor to establish gender desk officers in their various offices in other to have a rapid and effective response to such cases.

Also, Mr. Ifeanyi Eze, Programme Officer of the National Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) called on the participants to ensure that a gender-responsive budget was implemented in their various organizations.

“We want them to understand that a gender-responsive budget is not a different type of budget but it is the same that ministries and their line ministries roll out.

“But in this case, they have items that are really inclusive and cover issues that relate with everybody, men, women, aged persons, persons with disabilities.

“This is a form of prevention to the prevalence of gender-based violence in the society,” he said.

One of the participants, Ms. Fatima Abubakar, Gender Officer, Nigeria League of Women Voters, appreciated the organization for the training.

According to her, the knowledge gained would help her respond to and report gender-based violence cases effectively.