BY VICTOR NWEGEDE
An international African-led non-governmental human rights, peace, and sustainable development organization known as the Alliance for African (AFA) has launched a technological reporting tool called 'Kpoturum web-application' for the documentation of sexual and gender based violence cases emanating from the South East region of Nigeria.
It was created to enhance and reconstruct the interface of human rights and development, with a vision to contribute innovatively to the task of tackling causes of endemic poverty and exclusion in Africa.
The organization in a press statement signed and made available to journalists by its Program Officer, Blessing Duru during a one day media engagement to launch and popularize the Kpoturum App in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital, expressed worry over how female folks are facing a pandemic on violence against women and girls (VAWG) in the South East States.
Briefing newsmen, Faith Kalagbor noted that violence against women and girls has become not only endemic, but normalized in the society despite efforts of all stakeholders through massive awareness and frontline response services.
According to her, "from trivializing rape, victim-blaming, to gaslighting survivors, we are all daily witnesses to this rape culture and rising incidences of VAWG which has continued under the guise of culture, tradition, religion and the impunity of perpetrators.
"The most predominant being the incidences of sexual assault of minors as revealed by global statistics, as well as scholarly research studies carried out to analyze the current situation.
"Sadly, available statistics has not adequately painted the true picture of the situation due to limiting factors including the culture of silence, the lack of systems to document and analyze data, the limited scope of research papers and projects amongst others," kalagbor stated.
She, said, "it is on this premise that Alliances for Africa, a feminist organization in Imo state, with years of working experience around women issues developed the Kpoturum web-application with support from the African Women Development Fund (AWDF)."
She explained Kpoturm as a technological reporting tool for documenting cases of Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) in South East region of Nigeria.
In her words: "The web-app an online registry, is designed to collect, collate and disaggregate data on VAWG through the reporting and documentation of cases of sexual and gender-based violence in the five South Eastern States viz; Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo States.
"It is also designed to help survivors access justice through effective documentation, referral and case management of VAWG.
"Consequently, it will provide evidence which will be a true representation of the escalation of VAWG as such, inform strategic interventions by both state and non-state actors in addressing the menace.
"Kpoturum which literally means “call on me” in Igbo language, was chosen to resonate with the indigenous people of Igbo particularly, women and girls’ survivors, by way of reassuring them that they can get help when they call on us."
She noted that "the features in Kpoturum allows the user to: Report cases of Sexual and Gender-based Violence (SGBV) as survivors, third parties or service providers whilst ensuring confidentiality of the information provided.
"Access service providers information thus, bridging the gap between survivors and service providers.
"View collated and disaggregated data on VAWG at a glance without any limitation. Add help lines and toll-free numbers including Alliances for Africa’s toll-free number for immediate response. Upload testimonials and success stories of closed cases and access a comprehensive directory of service providers of GBV."
She therefore, implored state, non- state actors, stakeholders and relevant bodies to leverage on the benefits of this tool to ensure that data on VAWG is available and accessible for strategic intervention.
