Sexual abuse, physical assaults, economic and emotional trauma are listed among the major challenges faced by women and girls residing in Bbanda slums in Nakawa division.
During a community dialogue dubbed “Empowering Nakawa to End Sexual and Gender-Based Violence” organised by Tiko Uganda in partnership with the Uganda Youth and Adolescents Health Forum and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it was revealed that thousands of girls and women are exposed to various forms of abuse.
Moreen Nassali an official from the Community Development office under KCCA at Nakawa Division reveals that the number of SGBV related cases registered aregradually increasing with sexual and physical abuse taking the lead.
She explains that they register at least 100 cases every quarter and majority of these cases are from the slumy parts of the division.
“As Nakawa division we register over 100 sexual anger gender related cases in a quarter and the biggest percentage of these cases is physical violence and defilement”
The Head of child and family protection department at Jinja Road division police station, Assistant Superintendent of Police Annet Kwagala also reveals that they register at least 60 offenses related to sexual and gender based violence every month. She however believes that many of the sexual offenses are not reported making the statistics even higher.
” You find that there are very many under age girls that are defiled and also older women who are raped but unfortunately they choose not to report,” she explains. ” We usually encourage the public nog to be silent about such cases, they should always come out and report so that they can be helped” she adds.
Whereas there are a number of factors attributed to the rise in SGBV cases in Nakawa, leaders point out poverty, alcohol and drug abuse as the leading causes of these cases..
“Many people are facing financial constraints and are usually stressed and so they resort to drinking alcohol and when confronted by their partners they resort to violence”, revealed Moreen Nassali.
To counter these cases, Tiko Uganda is spearheading efforts to end Sexual Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) as well as creating awareness of HIV prevention. The Tosilika initiative highlights the importance of community involvement, leadership and media engagement in addressing SGBV, with a specific focus on rape and defilement affecting young people aged 15-24.
Desire Musimenta, the communication officer at TIKO, reveals that the dialogue is part of the organization’s efforts to address critical issues in slum areas.
” In t his dialogue we brought together key stakeholders to break the silence, challenge, harmful misconceptions, and empower the community to take action.SGBV is a grave violation of human rights with devastating consequences for individuals, families, and communities and therefore we must empower people to speak up against it”, she explained.
Tiko is a non-profit organisations leveraging technology to transform sexual and reproductive health for underserved girls in urban and peri-urban Africa facing the ‘triple threat’ of teenage pregnancy, HIV and sexual violence.
Tiko uses a tech-powered model to connect otherwise fragmented stakeholders on the ground, such as private and public medical service providers, community-based organizations (CBOs) and pharmacies, so that adolescent girls have access to high-quality sexual and reproductive health services and products, at no cost to them.
