No fewer than 100 schoolboys of Government Boys Boarding Secondary School (GBBSS) Demsawo were trained on gender and social norms that are responsible for the preponderance of Gender Based Violence (GBV) in our societies.
The training was organized by the Sultan foundation for peace and development and supported by the spotlight initiative on Tuesday.
Speaking, Amina Mohammed Ali, the program assistant of Sultan foundation for peace and development in Adamawa State said the workshop was organized in the spirit of the spotlight Initiative phase 2 and the concept of leave no one behind (LNOB) which is a more holistic approach towards ending the menace.
She added that the aim of the project is to work with relevant stakeholders including traditional, religious and youth leaders to end the menace which has become rampant over the years.
“We are implementing the spotlight initiative project on ending all forms of violence against women and girls. This is the phase 2 of the project. We implemented the phase 1 last year and we did it on prevention. By that we are talking about the male engagement component where we targeted men who will be champions of women and they will stand against all forms of violence against women and girls.
“In phase 2, we are targeting girls in secondary schools and girls in tertiary institutions. We shall discuss, interact with them and engage with them on gender equitable norms.
“We shall also engage them in discussions about some of the cultural norms that are perpetrated against them leading to the occurrence of gender based violence. So basically this engagement will bring about shift in gender stereotyping with regards to women and young girls,” she said.
She noted that with the training, the boys will have a better understanding of gender stereotyping and social norms that constitute GBV and how to challenge such negative norms that limit them from attaining their potentials in life.
Ali added that the schoolboys have a new understanding of how to do away with norms that do not add value to their lives.
Speaking, the vice principal, of GBBSS Demsawo, Mrs Esther Dennis expressed appreciation to the Sultan foundation for peace and development for the wonderful training noting that it has brought tremendous impact to the lives of the schoolboys.
She promised to ensure the formation of GBV club in the school in order to rekindle the interest of the students on the subject and to catch them young so that they can be future ambassadors against the menace of GBV.