UN Women takes GBV fight to universities
United Nations (UN) Women on Saturday engaged over 30 young men and women from various universities to brainstorm on ending gender-based violence (GBV) in line with this year’s 16 Days of Activism Against GBV theme.
The youths, who converged at the University of Malawi’s (Unima) The Polytechnic in Blantyre, came from all four Unima constituent colleges, Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (Luanar), Malawi University of Science and Technology (Must), Catholic University (CU) and Skyway International University, among others.
In his presentation ‘How to deal with GBV in Tertiary institutions,’ a Chancellor College lecturer Zindaba Chisiza said most victims are afraid to report abuses for fear of shame, criticism and stigma.
He said GBV is broad and called for continued youth engagement as agents of change.
Said Chisiza: “We still must continue to work to engage and probe, challenge and upscale our programmes and efforts in order to change people’s mindset. I believe in young people as the ones who can help change the thinking of society.
“I think this is a step in the right direction particularly to see the young men being able to share how they feel about GBV issues.”
UN Women’s Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (Evawg) programme associate Almas Arara said the organisation will continue working with the Ministry of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare and other partners to give women a voice and end GBV.
She said: “We hope students can gather themselves and become leaders of influence and change within their universities. We are looking forward to a strong partnership and come up with concrete commitments and pledges by the universities and also ensure that policies are being addressed.”
Polytechnic Students’ Union president Japhet Nthala spoke of the need for the fight against GBV to start from the grassroots.
He said: “This fight needs to start from the grassroots because that is where GBV starts. On their part, institutions of higher learning need to strengthen reporting mechanisms because confidentiality is also paramount in as far as reporting GBV is concerned.”
The theme for this year’s 16 Days of Activism against GBV, which started on November 25 and ends on December 10, is End GBV in the World of Work and Tertiary Institutions.
