December 2020
The three-European Union funded British Council Programmes - ACT, MCN and RoLAC - joined the world to commemorate the annual 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence.
The international campaign serves as a time to raise awareness and increase momentum toward ending violence against women and girls worldwide. It kicks off annually on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and runs until 10 December, Human Rights Day.
The global theme for the 2020 campaign was: “Orange the World: Fund, Respond, Prevent, Collect!". In Nigeria and globally, this year's campaign was unique due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which imposed movement restrictions keeping citizens inside their homes due to the lockdown measures introduced to curb the spread of the virus. The resultant reports have shown alarming increases in the already existing violence against women and girls.
ACT, MCN and RoLAC coordinated various activities to commemorate the campaign across Nigeria. Efforts focused on calling for national actions to increase awareness, galvanising advocacy efforts, and sharing knowledge and innovations on addressing SGBV. The programmes leveraged on their extensive work to tackle sexual and gender-based violence - an integral part of all three programmes, including pioneering the establishment of sexual assault referral centres which have assisted over 15,000* victims of sexual assault in Nigeria.
This special bulletin highlights the activities undertaken by the three programmes in commemoration of the 16 Days of Activism Campaign 2020.
*Between July 2013-September 2020