The WHO estimates that 30% of women worldwide experience physical and sexual violence in their lifetime, with young women particularly vulnerable. Women, and girls, in conflict-affected communities in Benue State face gender-based violence, stigma, and limited access to accurate sexual and reproductive health information. This project will empower women and girls with rights-based health education, and peer support to challenge harmful norms, promote gender equality, and create safer communities
Benue State has a high burden of early child marriage, with 12.3% of the 22 million early child marriages in Nigeria reported by UNFPA. In Benue, the effects of protracted conflict, displacement, and poverty have further heightened protection risks for women, girls, and other vulnerable groups, including increased exposure to sexual violence, exploitation, and harmful coping mechanisms. Many young girls, women and boys lack access to adequate SRHR knowledge due to fear of stigma, cultural taboos
The project will empower 400 women, girls, and young people impacted by conflicts and displacement to claim their SRHR, including the ability to make autonomous decisions about their bodies, marriage, and family size, report GBV, and seek information, resources, and services. Through peer-led education, community dialogues, and awareness initiatives, adolescents and young people will gain access to accurate, age-appropriate, and rights-based SRHR information and challenge harmful norms & beliefs
The project will contribute to measurable shifts in community attitudes, norms, and practices that sustain gender inequality and violence. Specifically, it will foster increased community recognition that gender-based violence is unacceptable, strengthen rejection of harmful practices such as child marriage and sexual violence, and improve understanding and acceptance of rights-based, age-appropriate SRHR information among adolescents, young people, caregivers, and community influencers.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
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