By BRIAN HATYOKA –
STAKEHOLDERS in the fight against Gender Based Violence (GBV) and sexual abuse have been urged to coordinate their efforts to enable the country achieve more desired results.
Non-Governmental Organisation’s Coordinating Council (NGOCC) Southern Province coordinator, Faith Simukoko said there was need for the Victim Support Unit (VSU), Ministry of Community Development, Ministry of Gender, GBV clinics, NGOs and the media to coordinate their efforts of fighting GBV and sexual abuses to effectively reduce such cases.
Ms Simukoko noted that cases of GBV and sexual abuse were still on the increase in Zambia partly because the various stakeholders involved in the fight were working in isolation of each other.
She was speaking in Livingstone when she officially closed a two-day stakeholders meeting on the national guidelines on the management of GBV survivors hosted by the NGOCC in Southern Province.
Representatives from the media, VSU, GBV clinic, civil society and NGO attended the meeting in Livingstone at Fairmount Hotel.
“I was attending a Provincial Development Coordinating Committee (PDCC) meeting in Choma this week where I found that the police, NGOs, Government agencies and the media are doing their own things to fight GBV without any coordination.
The civil society is also working in isolation of what the Government is doing and I was very proud to inform that Livingstone has the best practice as various stakeholders here work together to fight GBV,” Ms Simukoko said.