The Gender Division has commenced outreach community sensitisation programmes on Gender Based Violence (GBV) in Muchinga Province.
Muchinga Provincial Principal Gender Officer Innocent Simbayi says the outreach programmes are aimed at inculcating knowledge in members of the rural communities on the dangers of GBV.
Speaking during a community engagement on GBV in Chinsali’s Mulilansolo village under Chief Mubanga of the Bemba people, Mr Simbayi stated that through strengthened sensitisation activities, which are being conducted in conjunction with the Zambia Police, the levels of GBV related cases are expected to drastically reduce.
He said that the Gender Division has noted that many GBV cases emanate from rural areas due to lack of sensitisation engagements on the dangers of the increasing vice.
Mr Simbayi further mentioned that among other objectives of Government, is to encourage equal and equitable participation of women in decision making positions at all levels of governance.
“We want women to participate in politics and become mayors and councillors so that they can in turn empower their fellow women in the community,” he said.
Meanwhile, Chief Mubanga, who was represented by his wife Hilda Nankamba during the sensitisation activity, commended the Government for the efforts it has been making towards fighting GBV and supporting gender mainstreaming in his chiefdom.
Chief Mubanga charged that the various programmes being implemented by the Gender Division are contributing positively in the reduction of GBV cases in the area, especially through the recently created GBV community sub-committees.
“The knowledge you have shared with us has opened our eyes and given us the courage to stand against GBV in our homes and society,” he added.
The traditional leader also implored his subjects to replicate the community sensitisations to other villages within his chiefdom.
And Carol Mutale, one of the participants during the sensitisation, said the engagement on GBV has come at the right time when cases in the area have been on the rise.
Ms Mutale stated that the sensitisation will help create more awareness on the dangers of GBV as it is one of the vices that destroys many families in the area, especially when perpetrators, who are mostly breadwinners, are arrested.
She further appreciated the Government for identifying Mulilansolo village as a GBV-prone area to contain the vice.
