[Livingstone, 1st December 2014]
Oxfam and partners officially launch the
“I Care About Her!” Campaign In
Kazungula and Namwala Districts as part of 16 Days of activism
The 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women
and Children is a United Nations campaign that takes place annually from 25
November until 10 December.
This year, Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA),
Zambia National Women’s Lobby (ZNWL), FAWEZA and the Zambia Police Service with
support from Oxfam have launched the I Care About Her! Campaign in two
districts namely Kazungula and Namwala districts today 1st December
2014 and on Wednesday 3rd December 2014 respectively.
The I Care About Her!
Campaign which was officially launched in November 2012 aims to mobilize men
across the country in order to increase their role in condemning and stopping
violence against women and girls.
This campaign has proven to be an ideal platform for
good men who have been silent for too long to come out, voice their thoughts
and act together to stop defilement,
rape, early marriages and beating.
The I Care About Her! Campaign has been running for the
past three years beginning with mobilizing over 500 Men March in 2012 and 3000
Men March in Lusaka, Choma, Mazubuka, Rufunsa and Kafue districts. The campaign
has also used the media through live radio and television discussions featuring
male panellists on MUVI TV, ZNBC TV Radio 2 and several Community radio
stations.
In 2013, the grassroot campaign was launched in
Lusaka’s Linda Compound thereafter, implementations of grassroot campaigns
started in Choma, Mazubuka, Rufunsa and Kafue districts.The I Care About Her!
Grassroot Campaign involves training men on attitudes that propagate violence
and on how to take action to stop violence against women and girls. The trained
men then go on to train other men in their respective communities. The central theme is preparing a better world
for their daughters.
The training also extended to working with the Zambia
Police Service and over 1000 officers have been trained as champions and they
have gone on to reach over 5000
officers.
The
campaign was also initiated in twenty schools across five provinces and twenty
teachers have been trained as community champions.
This
far we have seen growing enthusiasm among men and boys to stop the violence,
improvement in the handling of cases within the Police Service, and greater
enthusiasm from the general public to role out the campaign to their
areas. It has also offered hope to a lot
of victims of violence to report their cases – they have someone in the form of
the champions to listen to them.
We would like to call for more men and
boys to join the campaign and be prepared to root out violence in the community
you leave – knowing that it is all about the future of your daughters. They can hope for a better world because you
are there for them.
We would also like to call on all men
and women that sit on the route to justice for victims of violence to support
and facilitate access to justice because it is the route that all the women you
care for will use. Together, we can transform the society
we live in.
For
more information please like our facebook page: I Care About Her Campaign and
follow us on Tweeter @ICareAboutHer
For more details contact:
Misozi Tembo
Media and Communications Coordinator
E-mail: mtembo@oxfam.org.uk
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