Call to change strategy in war on SGBV to end femicide cases

A foundation has called for change of strategy in how the public are educated on sexual and gender-based violence.

SGBV is still rampant at the Coast despite the millions of shillings invested by civil society organisations to sensitise residents, raising the question of the strategies used.

“With the rise in femicide cases, this means more has to be done to educate the public on SGBV and how to detect it,” Aga Khan Foundation's Coast regional programmes manager Kennedy Chande said on Tuesday.

He spoke in Mombasa during a meeting of civil society organisations (CSOs) and county governments to discuss strategies to combat SGBV.

Chande said the Mombasa government has made significant steps towards combating SGBV, although it still has a long way to go.

“Still we have to do more. The fact that we are seeing femicide cases on the rise, means our objectives are yet to be achieved,” he said.

He said both the national and county governments need to pump in more money for sensitisation campaigns against the vice, because they can reach more people than CSOs.

Chande said AKF has a programme called ‘advancing gender through civil society’, which is being implemented in 10 countries across two continents-five in Africa and five in Asia.

In Africa, Kenya is among the countries that the programme is being implemented-in Mombasa and Kilifi counties.

“We are here to take stock and exchange notes. If there is a strategy that works in Tanzania, we would like that strategy to be replicated in Kenya or Uganda,” Chande said.

He said the target is to have a positive impact.

Mombasa county youth affairs and sports executive Ken Ambani said there is need to go back to the family values that insist on protection of every member of the family, no matter the age, size, gender, status or income.

“If you can’t live with somebody, get out [of that relationship]. Violence does not pay. It is something primitive,” Ambani said.

He urged men to protect and defend their female counterparts instead of killing them.

The county executive said the older generation should be a positive role model to the younger generation.

Ambani said early pregnancies are rampant at the Coast, because there is not enough sensitisation among the youth and teenagers.

“This also goes out to the early marriages that are sometimes forced on girls by their parents for one reason or another. If the girl is not ready for marriage, that marriage will not last,” he said.

Ambani advised young men to be conscious of their actions, saying if one is not ready to be a father and to raise a child, they should not engage in sex.

“How can you raise that child if you do not have an income? How will you take care of the baby and their mother?” he posed.

“In whatever you do, there is a repercussion. And this repercussion leads to the youth getting into drug, alcohol and substance abuse, further derailing their lives and those of their families.”

Ambani said the substance abused has a multiplier effect that pushes the abuser to acting irresponsibly.

“Let us bring humanity first. If you eat, drink and sleep in order to live, even that other being eats, drinks and sleeps in order to live. Think of them,” he said.