Taking a Stand Against Sexual Exploitation and Gender Based Violence

One of the women local partners presents on the importance of gender equity awareness raising!

As challenges to preventing sexual harassment and gender based violence have increased during the pandemic, WEEMA is strengthening its efforts on Prevention of Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment (PSEAH).

This is happening at both the organizational level and community level including designing strong incident reporting channels and training our staff on the ground. Setting the right PSEAH systems includes making staff and community feel safe enough to report cases without fear of retaliation or any other negative consequences. WEEMA is committed to protecting victims and whistleblowers who are involved in any PSEAH incidents. 

At the community level, this past month, WEEMA conducted training for local partners on PSEAH and GBV. Local partners were grouped into 24 Kebele and Woreda level committees so they can facilitate community conversations at village levels. It’s essential to have local partners to create effective awareness raising on these topics and change mindsets on the need to denounce such acts. 

Due to the fact that gender inequality and other power dynamics can lead to fear of reporting cases, WEEMA is working on systems to ensure vulnerable community members, especially women, feel safe enough to report and are aware of the available reporting channels.  

Woreda level discussion during training on prevention methods for sexual harassment and exploitation!