Community-Driven Solutions to GBV and SRHR

Community dialogue spaces is proving to be an efficient approach in transforming institutions and communities on issues of their SRH, bodily autonomy, toxic masculinity and gender-based violence, reasons why COMAGEND in implementing the Adjust for Me project, funded by AmplifyChange organized a training session with Community Spokes Person (CSP) to act as change agents within communities in the transformation of discriminatory social norms that act as barriers to accessing SRHR. The session also brought together Media practitioners to develop a communication strategy on how to disseminate information and increase awareness amongst community members in Nitob II, Mulang I, Ntambag and Ntarinkon about access to SRHR. This approach seeks to transform the mindset, behavior and beliefs of individuals in the community on their SRH through their own community members. To achieve this, community members were equipped as community spoke persons with various strategies and accurate Information on how to meet and transform the behavior of individuals within their communities who make up the group of people with staunch cultural and social norms in relation to accessing information and better SRH services. 

During this training, participants from the four implementing communities Ntarinkon, Nitop II, Ntambag, Mulang I, brainstormed and came out with strategies on how to debunk Gender based violence that fuels toxic masculinity especially in intimate partner relationships. Participants revealed their knowledge on SRH in a discourse where they highlighted how Some of these issues are practiced in the community such as "woman yi money na woman yi money", "Man bi head of the house", "big boys don't cry". This talks by men have made women to enforce the concept of Toxic masculinity on the men. This phase of the project will see CSP engage in community dialogues to transform the community from the grassroot while providing media practitioners with firsthand data to create media content for their advocacy to transform institutions and communities to access better SRH services. 

For the next 10 months of the project Adjust for M, Community Spokes persons (CSPs) and media practitioners will address and sensitize communities on Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) issues, while maintaining neutrality and avoiding biases when discussing sensitive topics like Gender-Based Violence, Toxic Masculinity, Gender, and Land Inheritance.

By Lum Precious 

Photo Credit: @Asoh Etheldreda-COMAGEND