Gender Advocacy and Women Resource Centre (GAWRC), through its Project Zero Tolerance for Gender-Based Violence (GBV) initiative, successfully supported traditional leaders to lead a series of community awareness and sensitisation meetings across Odi, Sabagreia, and Oyobu communities in Bayelsa State as part of ongoing efforts to prevent gender-based violence and promote safer, more inclusive communities.
The community engagements were held on 20 July 2026 in Odi, 22 July 2026 in Sabagreia, and 25 July 2026 in Oyobu, bringing together traditional rulers, community leaders, women, youths, and other stakeholders. The meetings provided an important platform for dialogue on the collective responsibility of communities in preventing gender-based violence, protecting the rights of women and girls, and fostering peaceful coexistence.
At each of the meetings, the traditional leaders took centre stage, leading discussions on the need to reject all forms of gender-based violence and harmful practices while encouraging community members to embrace respect, equality, and justice. They called on community members to speak out against abuse, support survivors, and utilise appropriate reporting channels whenever incidents of violence occur.
The traditional leaders reaffirmed their commitment to serve as champions in the fight against gender-based violence within their respective communities, emphasising that sustainable progress can only be achieved when communities take ownership of the campaign to end GBV. They also encouraged parents, youths, women, and other community members to work together in promoting values that uphold human dignity and protect vulnerable persons.
Participants actively contributed to the discussions by sharing experiences, asking questions, and proposing practical solutions for strengthening community-based responses to prevention of gender-based violence. The interactive sessions further reinforced the importance of collaboration between traditional institutions, community members, civil society organisations, and government agencies in creating safer communities for everyone.
Through its Project Zero Tolerance for Gender-Based Violence (GBV), GAWRC continues to strengthen community-led efforts by strengthening and empowering traditional leaders and other grassroots actors to champion awareness, challenge harmful social norms, and promote lasting behavioural change. By placing traditional institutions at the forefront of these engagements, GAWRC is fostering local ownership and building resilient communities where gender-based violence is not tolerated.
The awareness and sensitisation meetings concluded with renewed commitments from traditional leaders and community members across Odi, Sabagreia, and Oyobu to sustain advocacy efforts, promote peaceful coexistence, and continue working together towards a future free from gender-based violence.
The activities form part of GAWRC’s implementation of the Project Zero Tolerance for Gender-Based Violence (GBV), supported by the Ford Foundation, to strengthen community-led responses to GBV and advance the protection of the rights, dignity, and well-being of women, girls, and other vulnerable groups across Nigeria.
