#Choice4life: My Experience At the Ipas Nigeria Social Media Advocacy Training

Experience they say is the best teacher. This can be direct or indirect –all the same it is still an experience.

For a couple of days last week, I had the privilege of gaining new experience on a very sensitive yet important social issue – Unsafe abortion and sexual reproductive rights of women. I consider this issue sensitive because Nigeria like most African nation is a patrilineal society where everything is viewed through the religious and socio-cultural lens.

Sexual violence encompass and transend the society and either knowingly or out of ignorance, the powerful social-stratas of the society have chosen to close their eyes on these issue. 

Rape victims and victims of sexual violence are not giving the proper support in the society as they are often seen as outcast while many believed “they asked for it.”

To this end, an advocacy training was organised by Ipas Nigeria, a subsidiary of Ipas –an organisation that support the rights of each woman to control her own sexuality, fertility, health and well-being.

The organisation has been operating in Nigeria over the last forty years.

To arrest this damning issue, the popularity and growing usefulness of the social media as a tool for social change in molding popular public opinion was considered as a viable option to help create awareness and educate the public with factual information on the realities of sexual violence in the society.

30 social media experts were invited for training by the organisation on how to use the social media to advocate for the sexual and reproductive right of women. In doing this, the social media experts will help to push for the passage of the Violence against Persons prohibition (VAPP) Bill into law.

Young Advocates At the Ipas training...

The VAPP Bill is an amalgamation of 9 different bills that seeks to abolish all obsolete law s relating to the subject matter such as rape, assault, incest, stalking, and intimidation; bringing them into congisance with the present realities. If the law is passed, it will reduce - if not end violence against women in a country that is growing to be a hotbed of sexual violence.

Ms Hauwa Shekarau, President, International Federation of Women Lawyers, (FID
A
) and Senior Advisor, Policy and Advocacy at Ipas Nigeria Speaking during the trainning.

Pre-Experience

Prior to the training, my only experience on these issue was what I listen or read in the media and books. The issue of rape, unsafe abortion and sexual violence were in a way abstract – as the society has made some things a kind of norm that has been going on transcending from generation to generations. Though stories like that make your skin crawl, individuals hand are tied on what to do about it since the law does not particularly favour the victims.

It is the survival of the fittest and it is a silent issue that has become a silent killer that has fester its cancerous fingers and gripping victims into the culture of silence. Yet, this decadence is not going anywhere. It continues to grow into a cankerworm that has fester across different generations.

During Experience

I spent the last couple of days listening to damning facts about how unsafe abortion, rape and other forms of sexual violence are affecting the society not only young girls but also married women.

We, the participants were also introduced to each other and I met a host of young leaders who are leaders in their respective fields. The room was filled with social media experts, doctors, pharmacists and journalists like me who are willing to use their social media platform to advocate for the social goal.

The facilitators of the project which included Doctor Laz, Doctor Donald, Doctor Edosa, Ipas Nigeria country director, Lola Mabojunje and Ms shekarau who is one of the advocate of the bill at the national Assembly were among those that sensitized the participants of the programme. Participant also shared their opinion on the issue and a way forward.

Ms Lola Mabojunje, Ipas Nigeria Country Director

Some of the topics discussed include the paradox of unsafe abortion and sexual violence in our time, the unseen hands and consequences of sexual violence which include parent’s reaction to news of unwanted pregnancy of their child. Participants also share their experience on the issue of abortion and rape and for the first time, I was able to see and listen to a real-life victim of rape and the consequence of how this act can affect one not only psychologically but emotionally as well.

This brought us to the importance of the VAPP Bill and how it can help to address the preset decadence that has befallen our society (Nigeria) as a result of the negligence of individual and the government especially.  The laws and the legal foundations of such laws which stems from the colonial eras in the 19^th century!

On strategic basis, participants were asked questions on their perception on how comfortable they are discussing abortion related issue with their friends, colleagues, family members or reporting it on their social media network.

While the responses vary from “A lot”, “a little”, “at all” – the facilitators were able to use these to gauge individual reactions for evaluation.

At the end of the training, participants developed a collective action plan that will be the thrust of the advocacy plan.

A Picture with some of the participants and facilitators of the training 

Post Experience

Although, this aspect of the experience will be incomplete because the race to phase out these issue has just began this training experience has however opened my eyes to the reality of sexual violence especially as it affects the African women and the need for the government to protect the female folks of the society. I had the experience of meeting a real-life rape victim and I could feel her pain as she recounts her story...re-emphasisng this that enough is enough – it is time for this generation to put a full stop to this.

In the next couple of months (and I hope that this will continue beyond this period of time), I will be working with a group of social-media strategists – all young individuals –raising awareness and pushing for a positive social change regarding the issue of unsafe abortion and sexual violence in Nigeria.

I hope to contribute positively to this as I look forward to being part of a positive social change.

In the meantime, watch this space, as I bring in up to date information on how things goes and how you as an individual can help in advocating for the break in the culture of silence that has evade our society – especially on issues of sexual violence and unsafe abortion.

You can follow the conversation on social media network with the hash-tag: #Choice4life.

Together, we can make future generation free from all forms of sexual and reproductive violence.