So far BIHAPH  has registered 184 GBV survivors (147 of these cases were registered in Wum and 37 cases in Bafmeng), 26 rape cases, 48 victims of physical assault, 22 survivors of denial of resources, 24 cases of forced marriage, and 55 psychological abuse.

The BIHAPH team has been administering psychosocial first aid and psychosocial support to the survivors and has conducted comprehensive needs assessments for every one of them. Of the 184 survivors, 79 survivors do not have identity cards, while 20 are (below 18 years old).

In addition to case registration and providing psychosocial support, the BIHAPH team did follow-ups in Bafmeng and Wum. From these follow-ups, the team noticed that 70% of these survivors have feeding, educational needs, and health needs.

• With support from UNHCR, 50 of these survivors (30 in Wum and 20 in Bafmeng) have been retained for skills development programs in decor, pastries, and market gardening with a focus on conduct, safeguarding, and basic GBV concepts. The beneficiaries are reminded of the need for discipline by the project coordinator who told them that ‘‘nothing good comes easy’’.
• Meanwhile, all 30 selected beneficiaries in Wum for economic empowerment completed training.

Pictures: Vocational Training in Wum and Bafmeng

Other needs identified include:

• Need for economic empowerment
• Cash assistance
• Shelter needs

BIHAPH has also been involved with awareness creation conducted in different ways: starting from online campaigns to face-to-face meetings with social and cultural groups, churches, mosques, markets places and motor parks so far, 57 groups have been visited and sensitized in Bafmeng and Wum, 10 focus group discussions were conducted with outstanding results and 53 Fulani women confessed to being regularly beaten by their husbands.

Sensitization in Wum and Bafmeng

With the presence of BIHAPH in the community, 6 Gender clubs have been created in Wum and Bafmeng, the students were trained on GBV core concepts.

• Sexual assault is the predominant type of GBV in schools.
• The students are tasked to carry out more sensitizations to encourage other students to report any such incidents. Students learned for the first time that sexual intercourse before 18 years of age was rape.
• School toilets are spotlighted as very unsafe zones in the school as drug addicts find these areas as free zones.
• 13 gender club members testified that their relationships with parents have improved. They are courageous to have close family discussions on GBV while in another club 10 students testified that at their individual levels, they have been carrying out sensitization of their peers on the types of GBV. The students sensitized, said that they did not know that sex with adults was rape. They promised to take the message of rape to family members and neighbors.

Gender Clubs in Wum and Bafmeng

The students have been speaking boldly and one female member of one of the clubs reported an incident of physical assault committed on her by the school head. She was referred to the caseworker for psychosocial support.

BIHAPH also mainstream GBV activities in social and cultural groups by carrying out advocacy so that they review their internal rules and regulations. So far we have successfully caused 5 groups to review their rules and regulations (Bayam Sellam, Mbollo Ketcha, and Loving Sisters in Wum and Carrefour Boys and CWA in New Town Bafmeng). The women of these groups have been leading the fight against GBV.

BIHAPH equally intensifies advocacy and follow-up with the traditional rulers/queen mothers and other community stakeholders previously trained to evaluate how their activities in their respective structures are informed by the messages/training they had received on GBV and the impact in the community.