Idea Builders Initiative is pleased to announce the its STOP Campaign designed to promote ways to curb violent behaviours and provoke public conversations on what needs to be done as a community to STOP Violence Against Women in all its forms.

The STOP Campaign is an advocacy action which aims to STOP Violence Against Women and Girls. The Stop Campaign is about supporting everybody to do one thing to stop domestic violence/abuse, public assault, rape etc. It is a pre-activity to the Nigeria4Her: End Violence Against Women and Girls event holding in Lagos in June.

This Component also advocates whistle-blowing, a shift away from denial because our mind-set of perpetual denial is one of the reasons violence against women continues unabated. The ultimate objective is to measurably improve a woman’s chance of living a more harmonious,
peaceful and productive life.

The STOP Campaign Tweet chat 1.0 will hold on Monday, April 25th 2016 between 1pm – 4pm. This chat will engage women Leaders, Government officials and Civil Organisations Violence against women and girls is a grave violation of human rights.

Its impact ranges from immediate to long-term multiple physical, sexual and mental consequences for women and girls, including death. It negatively affects women’s general well-being and prevents women from fully participating in society. Violence not only has negative consequences for women but also their families, the community and the country at large.

It has tremendous costs, from greater health care and legal expenses and losses in productivity, impacting national budgets and overall development.

Decades of mobilizing by civil society and women’s movements have put ending gender-based violence high on national and international agendas. An unprecedented number of countries have laws against domestic violence, sexual assault and other forms of violence. Challenges remain however in implementing these laws, limiting women and girls’ access to safety and justice. Not enough is done to prevent violence, and when it does occur, it often goes unpunished.

The Nigeria4Her: End all violence against Women and Girls program is a program organized by Idea Builders Initiative and aims to raise public awareness and increase political will and resources for preventing and ending all forms of violence against women and girls in Nigeria. This is in addition to supporting the longstanding efforts of women’s and civil society organizations across the country.

This program is actively engaging with Government officials and agencies, Higher institutions, Schools, Celebrities/artists, sports personalities, private sector, men & boys and many more to lend their voice.

This program seeks to educate young women on how they can protect themselves and advocate for ending violence, increase awareness of the causes and consequences of violence and build capacity of partners to prevent and respond to violence and promote the need for changing norms and behaviour of men and boys, and advocate for gender equality and women’s rights.

Adebayo Emuleomo