The Rainbo Initiative in partnership with Save the Children with funding from Irish Aid has on Monday October 19, 2020, commenced a five-day training session for healthcare workers in Public Health Unit (PHU), officers of the Family Support Unit (FSU) of the Sierra Leone Police and other key stakeholders in various communities, on response and referral on Sexual GenderBased Violence (SGBV).
The work of the Rainbo Initiative focuses on responding and preventing Sexual and Gender Based violence in Sierra Leone and around the world. They are working on three strategic areas including, providing free, quality, age-appropriate response services to survivors of SGBV at the Rainbo centres.
The training which is ongoing at the Ebenezer hall, Murray Town brings together stakeholders from four targeted communities namely; Aberdeen, Lumley, Waterloo and Murray Town.
The Project Assistant Coordinator at Rainbo Initiative, Lela Eton said that Rainbo in more particular about ending SGBV in Sierra Leone because they realized that there is a mechanism in the chain of referrals which comes from community stakeholders, health worker and the Family Support Units (FSU) of the Sierra Leone Police.
“We are bringing these stakeholders together to bring out their interest, challenges they are facing in the fight against SGBV by targeting diverse communities,” she said.
Eton added that after the training participants should be knowledgeable about referral mechanism; how they should they go about in handling SGBV cases in their communities; and finding keen element when rape and SGBV cases are reported. She said that participants are also expected to serve as ambassadors in their different communities.
The Program Manager of Save the Children, Jeremiah Sawyerr said that the training is a continuation of the training which was held in 2019 under the three years Genda Biznes project.
He noted that the training would ensure that perpetrators faces the law, adding that participants would share their knowledge and experiences in their offices to ensure that due process are followed when SGBV cases are reported.
Sawyerr cited that there is a political will to fight SGBV, as it is now tropical nationwide with access to all the necessary information required on cases reported at community level.
She pointed out that their motive is to reduce gender-based violence against women, children, and girls and all sexes, adding that every Sierra Leonean is expected to participate in the course of reducing SGBV.
By George M.O. Williams
20/10/2020. ISSUE NO: 7934