Support 120 survivors of sexual violence in Uganda

Counseling has continued to be effective to children in Nyaka schools and to survivors of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) within the community. The social workers use different counseling therapies to attend to the children who come with different issues that are likely to disturb them psychologically. The counseling services our team provides include: home-based counseling through home visits, school-based counseling, group therapy and Nyaka healing center counseling.

Home-based therapy is important in the healing process of survivors because it gives them comfort and hope during a traumatic time. Home-based counseling can be individual counseling or family counseling where misunderstandings and disputes among family members are settled. During the home visits, monitoring the response of some survivors who are on drugs is done as well as overall assessment of the socio-economic environment at home.

During school-based counseling, school social workers provide psychosocial support to Nyaka learners in the three Nyaka schools: Nyaka Vocational Secondary School (NVSS), Nyaka Primary School and Kutamba Primary School. Nyaka social workers also give support to learners who are in other schools and at higher learning institutions. Our school social workers will conduct group therapy at Nyaka schools and also provide counseling to parents and guardians to encourage them to keep up caring for learners and to be exemplary in whatever they are engaged in. Both parents and learners are also urged to report SGBV incidents.

Nyaka Healing Centers also provides counseling to the SGBV survivors. Nyaka has four Healing Centers located in Kambuga Hospital, Kihiihi HCIV, Kanungu Health Center 1V, and Nyamirama Health Center III. At the centers, survivors get mental healing through different sessions of counseling, medical care, and are supported by the SGBV team through the whole process of getting justice. Since the centers are within health facilities, the survivors get medical attention which is very crucial after an assault. All survivors that come to the Healing Centers for help are attended to by a social worker or a case manager for counseling, medical care and other support as needed.

Thank you for helping survivors of SGBV find peace of mind. 

Links:

• Nyaka Website

Nyaka’s Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) program offers a multi-faceted approach to advocating for survivors of SGBV including providing medical care, mental health care, legal support, and community outreach. 388 SGBV survivors were enrolled and supported by Nyaka from between 2015 and 2021.

Nyaka currently operates four healing centers in Kanungu District, each hosted by local hospitals and health centers. These centers provide crisis intervention, including rape exams for evidence collection, as well treatments. Just as critical as physical health, mental health care after an assault is critical for the health of a victim. This is why, in a community where access to healthcare — much less mental health care — is minimal, Nyaka fills a crucial role for survivors of sexual violence.

Our team assesses the needs of each individual who comes to us for help, then offers ongoing counseling to them and their family. Home-based therapy is offered for survivors, with the main objective being to provide counseling and other psycho-social support to the family members. It may involve individual counseling, family counseling, and even settling misunderstandings and disputes amongst family members. 

Legal support is an important part of our Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) program. Getting justice for survivors provides a sense of safety, justice, and some amount of closure. Sending perpetrators to jail also sends a message that our community will not stand for SGBV. 260+ perpetrators have been arrested and handed over to authorities with support from Nyaka and local police from 2015 to October 2022.

As part of our SGBV prevention program, community outreach activities are carried out by the SGBV staff to create more awareness and education about SGBV among the general public and students. We noticed that with an increase in awareness came an increase in reporting SGBV crimes and community whistleblowers. Over 428,057 people have been educated by Nyaka since 2015 when the SGBV program started and 91.6% of Nyaka-led beneficiaries are knowledgeable and aware of SGBV compared to only 85.5% amongst their peers in the same area.

The work we do in the community to put an end to SGBV is not possible without the love and support of givers like you. Our survivors can feel your love from thousands of miles away. Thank you!

Links:

• Nyaka Website