Participants at a four-day training on SGBV awareness have showered praises on the University of Liberia’s Mass Communication Department and the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) for enriching their knowledge on Sexual and Gender-based Violence (SGBV) as well as possible ways for collective redress actions.
The recent training In Kakata, Margibi County and Gbarnga, Bong County, brought together participants from community-based organizations and students.
They shared experiences during roundtables and expressed delight for the deliberation and as well prayed for sustainable awareness interventions.
“This type of training is good. Some of us will prefer that such engagement is kept active,” said an elderly woman in Gbarnga.
Amidst applause, the lady expressed disgust that in some cases, getting redress for SGBV cases can prove difficult. She cited a case where a girl was “raped” and the case was recorded at a local hospital, but investigation was stalled because the case file was allegedly missing at the hospital, a press release from the UL Mass Communications Department said.
Before moving to Kakata and Gbarnga, a two-day media training with journalists from seven counties including Montserrado, Margibi, Bong, Rivercess, Cape Mount, Bomi and Bassa was held on the University of Liberia Fendall campus.
The journalists were drilled in topics that were designed to increase their coverage knowledge of SGBV. Topics covered in the training included “Media Law & Ethics”, “Finding, Writing and Reporting SGBV Stories,” “Interviewing SGBV Victims,” “The Media and Agenda Setting: The Power to Highlight SGBV Issues”, and “The Role of the Media in Child Protection and The Prevention of Sexual Gender Based Violence and Harmful Practices against Children”.
The media training and community engagement comes when statistics (accumulative of SGBV 2013-2017) from the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, (MGCSP) on SGBV and other violence perpetrated against children between show alarming increase in rape, gang rape, physical assault, persistent non-support, and sodomy.
Stressing the University of Liberia’s primary role as trainer, the Chairman of the Mass Communication Department, Euriahs Togar says the department endeavored to organize the training for practicing journalists in partnership with UNICEF in fulfillment of the department’s and the University’s community service responsibility.
Meanwhile, Mr. Togar encouraged journalists to highlight issues of SGBV as much as they highlight political issues. According to him, highlighting SGBV issues will move it to the public agenda, and potentially to the agendas of policy makers.
Similarly, Ina Christensen, the Child Protection Officer/ Gender focal Point at Unicef urged journalists and the media to allow space for sharing of individual and public views on SGBV issues. Madam Christensen, who facilitated at the two-day media training, also called on journalists to be non-bias, respect confidentiality, be empathetic with survivors, and be advocates for change.