The Gender and Communication Unit of GIZ Ghana is partnering the Women Peace and Security Institute (WPSI), of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) and the WIPNET Program of the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP), to hold a week-long social media advocacy and sensitization campaign on Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and Sexual Harassment (SH), as part of their collective drive towards the 2019 International Women’s Day (IWD) celebration.

The week-long campaign will be climaxed with a day’s durbar on March 8, International Women’s Day, at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre for 200 students drawn from ten (10) Junior and Senior High Schools within the Accra and Tema metropolis.

The broad aim of the Durbar is to sensitize the youth about Gender-Based Violence and to empower them to be advocates against Gender-Based Violence in their communities.

To this end, the Durbar will draw on the expertise of carefully selected resource persons who will expose participants to the key components of gender and gender-based violence and the importance of respect for diversity to create a balance across all spheres of society. This would be done with the aid of short videos and open discussions.

There will also be a World Café with five (5) thematic booths on different subject areas with experts and mentors to facilitator and engage the participants more specifically on the chosen themes.

Some of the side events planned for the day include; one-on-one counselling sessions where participants will have the opportunity to interact with trained and professional counsellors throughout the event. This is to offer anyone who needs a listening ear, an avenue to seek redress or to share their stories in a private and trusted environment.

There will also be an IWD Photo Booth which is a branded space where photographs will be taken and shared by the youth and organisers to raise awareness of not only the event but more importantly the broader issues of gender parity, GBV and SH on social media and generate discussions among their peers, groups and networks.

The collaboration is borne out of a shared vision to highlight, promote and address equality and gender-based issues at the local, national, continental and global levels in pursuit of the GIZ Gender Strategy (2019-2021), the Maputo Protocol and the UN Security Resolution 1325. Furthermore, there’s a joint recognition that no individual entity can effectively bring an end to the prevailing gender imbalances and disparities around the globe, and that meaningful impact can only be achieved through such joint efforts.

As one of the aims of the event is to create advocates out of the participants. There would be an information booth with resource materials on GBV and SH among others that participants can take back to their schools to engage with their colleagues to broaden the circle of advocacy and sensitization.

International Women's Day (IWD) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity.

The theme for the 2019 celebration is #BalanceforBetter. The anticipation is that as we embark on an exciting future there is the need to have a gender-balanced world to address the continuous drive for gender equity and this need for balance is not a women’s issue but a global one which affects and must reflect in the boardroom, government, sports arena, classroom, churches, mosques, security platforms, among others.

Invited guests will also include staff of the collaborating institutions—GIZ, KAIPTC and WANEP, the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service, the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP) among others.