Sexual Assault Referral Centre Training
A 5 day workshop was held for 40 participants from Borno and Yobe States. The training was held for Doctors, Nurses and Counsellors and covered the range of SARC activity – gathering forensic evidence and counselling the victims of sexual assault and rape.
'We see these rape victims everyday inside the IDP camp and in Madinatu host community. This training has really helped me understand counselling needs and the support they really need from me.'
Fati Abba Butu, Sexual Assault Trauma Trainee Counsellor, Yobe State Ministry of Women Affairs
An update on each of the SARCs in across the three states is:
- Yobe SARC – Fully operational with a total of 71 cases now referred
- Borno SARC – Renovation work completed and the SARC is now being equipped ready to open for referrals
- Adamawa SARC – Renovation work has started on the facility and training is being planned for the near future for those who will work in the SARC.
'The truth is that documentation of findings when it comes to a rape case has always been a challenge for us medical practitioners including myself. Now, as a result of this 5 days of training, I know how to document my findings better, what to look out for and ensure that the findings I put down can assist in the prosecution of rape cases in court.'
Bukar Kawu, Forensic Medical Examination Trainee Umaru Shehu General Hospital, Maiduguri
Community Peace and Safety Partnerships
Eight Community Peace and Safety Partnerships (CPSP) meetings were held across the three NE States. The CPSP meetings bring together different and key members of the Community. A total of 180 attended these meetings amongst them were - Security actors, CSOs, Youth and Women groups, Community leaders and Religious leaders.
Full records were kept of the meeting – including the issues discussed and the agreed mitigating strategies. This not only acts as an agreed record of the meeting, but also helps track the types of issues that are being brought to the meeting across the three states to help identify common themes that may require further action.
The issues raised go far beyond the insurgency and, for example, included:
- Herdsmen/farmer conflict (Yola South)
- Drug abuse by young boys (Yola South, Mafa and Biu)
- Sexual and Gender Based Violence (Biu and Jere)
The overall objective of Community Peace and Safety Partnerships (CPSPs) is to contribute to the restoration of security, safety and stability in the communities. The CPSPs serve as platforms for early warning and response mechanisms that bring community actors, security agents and government officials together to collaboratively take actions to not only mitigate threats to security and safety but also proactively nurture more stable and resilient communities.
'Coming together of stakeholders to discuss issues around community safety and security is second to none. This kind of platform is the most need in our communities at this point in time. Nobody has it all, and every one of us is a community police officer. We need this kind of platform to address our security and safety challenges and I feel this platform will serve this purpose.'
ACP Chris - Nigeria Police Force Area Commander covering four LGAs (Potiskum, Fika, Nangere and Fune)
Traditional Justice System and Dispute Resolution Mechanisms
Introductory workshops were held across all three States with 269 in attendance to introduce a training programme that will take place in 2 Emirates within each state.
The training will reach:
- 1,500 traditional rulers
- 250 wives of traditional rulers
- Scribes who will record details of all the cases in a standard format
These introductory workshops were to:
- Bring together the formal and informal justice structures
- Introduce the training
- Identify issues unique to the Emirates involved
- Review the training materials that will be used in the coming months
The Emirates involved were:
- Adamawa – Adamawa and Mubi Borno – Biu and Mafa
- Yobe – Damaturu and Fika
As well as traditional rulers of various hierarchies from Members of Emirate Councils, these workshops were attended by both village heads and ward heads, representatives of the various ethnic and religious communities, including non- indigenes and IDPs, youth organizations, women groups and government agencies.
“We cannot thank the EU and the British Council enough for identifying that the best way to honourably and responsibly addresses disputes among community members is to empower the traditional institutions in dispensing justice according to their respective traditional systems.”
Ibrahim Waidaima of Damaturu
“Partnering with you will give us a better and more effective Conflict Management system. This will be the first formal training we will be getting as traditional rulers”
Ubandoman Adamawa and District Head of Girel
Adamawa State
As part of the Programme start-up in Adamawa State, the team visited Government House on 31st October to meet State Executive Council. The programmes objectives were welcomed by the state who stated that they would provide assistance to the programme – in the event that it is needed. An upcoming issue is around the IDP camps and the return of IDPs to their home village – the programme will be meeting the state team to discuss this issue.
'This is a programme we cannot afford to joke with. The programme is very robust and ties in well with the State plans.'
Deputy Governor, Adamawa State
'I find it very interesting that community early warning Forums will be established.'
