Saathi in its tireless journey to address violence against women initiated a program “Addressing Social-barriers That Hampers the Advancement of Women” in eight districts of Nepal: Bajura, Kanchanpur, Dang, Kapilbastu, Mahottari, Siraha, Sindhupalchok and Dolakha. The program envisioned a violence-free society for women and girls to exercise their rights and lead a dignified life. The program aimed at building an empowered community to address gender-based violence through the strengthening of access to justice and promoting the engagement of men and boys to address socio-cultural barriers that hamper advancement of women.
A collaborative approach was developed to fight against gender -based violence by mobilizing communities, stakeholders, community based organizations and local government representatives. A continuous engagement with these stakeholders were conducted for creating awareness, sensitization and community mobilization for strengthening the justice system and improving women’s access to justice. Traditionally, community members believe that the issues of gender and domestic violence Are issue related to women alone.
Not only do men disown the issue, they tend to oppose the campaigns related to gender-based violence and women empowerment. In this context, the program t adopted a unique modality of engaging men and boys in the fight against gender-based violence through the formation of local men’s groups. In the beginning, it was hard to convince men with their deep rooted patriarchal mindset to be engaged with the issues that traditionally believed to be ‘of women’. But gradually, after much sensitization, they understood their role in ending gender-based violence.
They not only formed a group and started discussing the issue in public, but started supporting their wives and female family members in household chores. They effectively convinced significant number of men in the community to give up alcohol consumption and supported in reducing domestic violence, mostly caused due to alcohol abuse. A strong network was formed at the community level to take immediate actions against gender based violence and domestic violence.
These groups acted as the alarm s at the grassroot level to notify communities about violence and call on the community members to take prompt actions. The groups supported the victims of violence to speak up, seek help and helped them to report of the injustice with the local justice mechanism. They also strengthened advocacy for speedy justice delivery with the local police.
The group members raised awareness in communities, conducted campaigns against harmful social practices, and promoted domestic violence victims to break the culture of silence. Stakeholders believe that a similar approach can be adopted in different parts of the country so that men are also involved in preventing gender-based violence, which has become a chronic problem for the country.
