Kenyatta University’s Centre for Gender Equity and Empowerment in collaboration with the Department of Sociology, Gender and Development Studies marked the 16 days of activism against gender based violence (GBV) through various activities. From 25th November, the International Day for the Elimination of violence against Women to 10th December, Human Rights Day, the 16 days of activism against GBV campaign is a time to increase action to end violence against women and girls around the world.
This year’s theme was “Towards Beijing +30: UNiTE to End Violence against Women and Girls”. This period came at a time when the world was grappling with raising cases of femicide in our households, institutions and nation with a majority of victims being women, youth and children.
A event to advocate against SGBV was, held on Wednesday, 27th November 2024. This event was attended by members of management, members of staff, members of KUSA congress and students. The Acting Vice Chancellor, Prof. Waceke Wanjohi presided over this event as the Chief Guest.
Other speakers during this event were;
1. Dr. James Koskei Ag. Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Academic
2. Prof. Judith N. Waudo, Director, Centre for Gender Equity &Empowerment and KU-WEE Hub Leader;
3. Ms. Virginia Mwangi, Kenyatta University Student Association (KUSA) Gender Secretary
In her remarks, Ms. Mwangi, noted that Kenyatta University has achieved yet another avenue to create safe spaces for students and especially girls to be empowered through education especially when cases of femicide have been on the rise. She acknowledged and applauded the Ag. Vice Chancellor, Prof. Waceke Wanjohi, for her commitment to eliminating gender based violence for the Kenyatta University fraternity.
Prof. Waudo, during her remarks, spoke strongly against the culture of silence around GBV. This silence enables the perpetrators to commit more crimes like femicide because they are not reported and they get away with their inhumane acts. Further, the silence aggravates the situation due to the survivors not getting proper help such as proper medical care and counselling. The director informed the participants about the KU SGBV reporting platform; mobile application and web page. Briefly, she highlighted the features of the reporting platform namely; enable anonymous and secure reporting, provide a secure storage space for evidence, provide analysable data on the reports and sensitize the University community on SGBV and Gender Equity. Prof. Waudo emphasized the importance of speaking up for yourself and friends when a case of GBV occurs and hopped that this reporting platform will provide the university with a safe and secure platform to report to provide swift justice to survivors.
Dr. Koskei noted that, the largely patriarchal society in Kenya and Africa in general, has immensely contributed to the oppression of women and and women being treated as inferior to men. These has existed since time in memorial in both the public and private sphere where women are isolated and subordinated in in the name of culture; sexuality, violence, and the state. He said that, it is high time that men are extensively engaged in fighting gender based violence and be the voices of change for their granddaughters, daughters, wives, sisters, mothers and all women in the society.
The Vice Chancellor, Prof. Waceke, begun her speech by recognizing that femicide has become an epidemic in Kenya and cuts across all the socio-economic classes. Additionally, she noted that learning institutions and the work place, being gendered spaces can also be an arena of violence. Further, SGBV negatively impacts on learning and the gender relations that are played out in a learning environment and can reduce academic performance due to absenteeism, increased drop out, emotional or behavioral disorder and mental health.
On the positive side, Prof. Waceke acknowledged that several interventions have been put in place at Kenyatta University to prevent and respond to GBV. The Kenyatta University Sexual Gender Based Violence (SGBV) Reporting Web page and the Kenyatta University Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) Reporting Mobile applications will aid in reporting SGBV cases and receipt of immediate justice by survivors. The two innovations will play key role in continuously sensitization of the Kenyatta University community on prevention of SGBV thus creating safe spaces within Kenyatta University.
The Vice Chancellor concluded her remarks by urging everyone to take a stand, speak up, do something to shift these harmful norms and make SGBV an everyday conversation.
Afterwards, Prof. Waceke joined everyone in a candle lighting ceremony to honour and recognize victims of femicide in Kenya. During this ceremony, she made a commitment to use her position as the Vice Chancellor to talk about GBV in all platforms and create awareness about the importance of speaking up.
A webinar to share data on intimate partner violence and femicide was held on Friday 29th November 2024. The speakers during the webinar were;
1. Prof. Judith Waudo, Director, Centre for Gender Equity &Empowerment spoke on the Creation of Safe Spaces within Kenyatta University. She highlighted activities carried out on the“Prevention of violence against women and girls with a particular focus on higher and further education institutions as safe spaces for women” project funded by the British Council. The main objective of this project, focused on the implementation of a digital SGBV reporting application to prevent and reduce incidence of gender-based violence. This was achieved by enabling anonymous reporting, gathering crucial data on incidents, and delivering advocacy resources to stakeholders. The anonimity was achieved through the implimentation of the Kenyatta University sexual & gender based violence reporting platform (Web and Mobile Applications).
2. Ms. Jeanette Nyanjom, Chief Executive Officer FAWE Kenya (FAWEK) spoke on the I Care about Her Campaign in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, which aims to significantly reduce the incidence of teenage pregnancy in Kenya during and beyond the COVID-19 crisis. The goal is to significantly reduce the cases of Teenage pregnancies and child marriage, championing for re-entry of girls to school, to Strengthen Media Engagement for accurate and wide reach, to train and sensitize girls, young women, boys and young men, educators, duty bearers, religious leaders, and local community leaders on human sexuality and prevention of teenage pregnancy (Empowerment Sessions) and deliberately engaging boys and young men in prevention programmes and make them champions of girls’ rights.
3. Dr. Regina Mwatha, KU-WEE Hub Project Leader spoke about the PMA Agile phase 2 Gender/ Gender Based Violence Study. The study was carried out in several areas namely; gender based violence, economic abuse on women; contraceptive access, use and demand and sexual and reproductive health. The aim of the study was to understand knowledge, attitudes, behavior, risk perception, socioeconomic impact and the collateral impact among girls and women. This phase 2 study aimed at generating new priority topics in gender and identify the best, validated measures to fill today’s evidence gaps to inform policy and programs in the country.
4. Ms. Abigail Malelu spoke on technology facilitated GBV. She noted that in today’s world, many people especially young people are the most technologically connected generation yet technology brings both advantages and risks for harm,particularly when it is a tool of abuse or mistreatment, and when privacy is compromised. Cyber abuse is increasingly recognized as a form of violence, yet the existing policy framework has not kept pace with technological developments due to existing gaps in understanding the prevalence of online GBV and most common forms of cyber abuse yet this is the information needed to guide policy makers on prevention and response strategies.
From the webinar it was noted that;
1. GBV persists among women in Kenya
2. GBV tolerance and normalization are actionable barriers to seeking and prevention.
3. Gender-based violence policy guidelines need to be expanded to include technological abuse
4. Women’s reproductive autonomy and freedom from reproductive coercion need continued attention.
5. Gendered practices and norms continue to limit women’s participation and safety.
6. There is need to increase knowledge of and access to GBV response services by placing these services in easy-to-access and comfortable locations for GBV survivors.
7. Engagement of men and boys in fighting and talking about Gender Based Violence is the one way of ending GBV.
8. Continued and intense advocacy on GBV by having panel discussions on national TVs and local radio stations even vernacular, engaging local communities (people in the grassroots) and policy makers (national leaders) to speak against Gender Based Violence is the solution to ending GBV.
The Vice Chancellor, Prof. Waceke addressing participants during the 16 days of Activism against GBV
Dr. James Koskei Ag. Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Academic addressing participants during the 16 days of Activism against GBV
Prof. Judith Waudo, Director Centre for Gender Equity and Empowerment addressing participants during the 16 days of Activism against GBV
Ms. Virginia Mwangi KUSA Gender and Special Needs Secretary addressing participants during the 16 days of Activism against GBV
Vice Chancellor, Prof. Waceke Wanjohi Launches the KU SGBV Reporting web page application and relaunches the SGBVmobile Reporting platform
Vice Chancellor, Prof. Waceke Wanjohi with Prof. Judith Waudo and Dr. James Koskei, Ag. DVC Academics light candles in honour of femicide victims
Vice Chancellor, Prof. Waceke Wanjohi with Prof. Judith Waudo and Dr. James Koskei, Ag. DVC Academics
Participants during the 16 days of Activism against GBV
Vice Chancellor, Prof. Waceke Wanjohi with some of the participants
