Africa-Press – Tanzania. HEAD of Delegation of the European Union (EU) to Tanzania and the East African Community, Mr Manfredo Fanti, has encouraged members of the public to speak out about acts of gender-based violence (GBV).
The envoy said the public should expose such acts occurring in their communities to make them visible. Similarly, he stated that concerted efforts were needed to scale up the fight against GBV to eliminate the global crisis which is affecting the lives of many people.
Mr Fanti made the statement on the sidelines of the joint champions award and concert on 16-Days of Activism Against GBV held in Dar es Salaam, recently. Mr Fanti disclosed that GBV has no borders and was not a problem for only Africa, but it’s a global crisis which is also affecting Europe.
“We need to understand that we are fighting the same fight together…what is important is to intensify the fight to eliminate the problem,” said Mr Fanti. He was of the view that by using arts to raise awareness on the issue was among ways to speak out about GBV and make it more visible.
The coordinator for the elimination of GBV programme at the UN Women, Ms Lucy Tesha, pointed out that studies showed that children’s upbringing was among critical issues in matters relating to GBV. According to her, in many instances a girl or boy child who has been subjected to violence in the family thinks such act was an ordinary way of life.
“A girl who has witnessed the mother being subjected to violence thinks the kind of life was normal likewise a boy who has grown up seeing a father beating the mother,” noted Ms Tesha. She thanked various initiatives which have been taken by the government and nonstate actors, whereby men are now becoming champions in the fight against GBV within the country.
Ms Tesha suggested that GBV has moved from being a family issue and now requires strengthened collaborative efforts in tackling the problem. The first GBV concert was an event which was organized by a team of European countries with its embassies within the country in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and UN Women.
The event went hand in hand with issuing awards to 16 individuals and six groups who have been championing for the eradication of GBV in the country. GBV champions who scooped the award include Pili Maguzo (founder of Bahati Women’s Band), Rachel Nzengo (Mlimani TV presenter), Flora Lauo (Digital Activist) and Janeth Mwasawala (a prominent change maker).
Others are Prominent Religious leaders from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT) Diocese of West Central Tabora region Dr Isaac Kissiri and Sheikh Mohamed Kadidi (for the Islamic religion) among others.
Groups that received awards and grants for fighting GBV are Hope for Girls and Women in Tanzania from (Mara), Kivulini Women’s Right Organization (Mwanza), Agape Organization (Shinyanga), Zanzibar’s Tanzania Media Women’s Association (TAMWA), DMI Spring of Hope and Shika ndoto from Dar es Salaam
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