LIBERIA – The Concerned Christian Community has climaxed a daylong SGBV sensitization workshop with participants from various communities in Brewerville City, Montserrado County.
The workshop, which was held on Tuesday, December 13, is intended to create awareness about the importance of activism against violence perpetrated against women and girls and the role of communities in fighting it. The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence is an annual international campaign that is observed each year from November 25 to December 10. The campaign is used as an organizing strategy by individuals and organizations around the world to project ways to end violence against women and girls.
During the workshop, participants learned about the approaches that the community can utilize in reporting SGBV cases and how to keep watch for violence against women and girls.
Making remarks during the workshop, CCC President Rev./Mot. Mariama Z. Brown highlighted the need for more “awareness programs” while at the same time expressing dismay over the way SGBV cases are handled by the community.
According to the CCC president, the fight against gender-based violence cannot be realized if the community continues to compromise rape and other violence against women and girls.
Rev./Mot. Mariama Brown encouraged the participants to ensure that awareness of sexual gender-based violence is eliminated from their various communities.
Also making remarks during the workshop, CCC Chief Executive Officer Bishop Kortu Brown expressed sadness over the slow recovery of Liberia and other countries around the world from eliminating violence against women and girls.
The CCC Chief Executive Officer disclosed that it is highly disheartening to wake up every morning to the news of violence against women and girls, something he described as a poor recovery to the efforts in eliminating sexual gender-based violence.
Bishop Brown, however, cautioned the participants to serve as ambassadors against SGBV in their various communities, while at the same time encouraging government and international partners to continue developing actions that are more robust.
Shearing their views, the participants lauded CCC for the one-day workshop and expressed interest in more sensitization programs to educate the community about violence against women and girls.
Some of the participants disclosed that they were educated during the workshop that violence can also be perpetrated against men, something they believed should also be a focus of the CCC, the Liberian government, and other international partners.