The Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa CHRDA, organized a workshop over the weekend to train youths, women and men as community educators in combating Gender Based Violence GBV using the SASA methodology.
Gender Based Violence remains prevalent in different parts of Cameroon caused by socio-cultural norms that supports violent behaviors, practices, attitudes with the ongoing armed conflict in the North West which has made matters worse.
The capacity building which is a follow up of CHRDA's project since 2020 aimed at ending violence against women and girls in the North West and South West regions of Cameroon, saw presentations on sexual reproductive health Rights, GBV case Management, SASA Methodology and the role of Community Peer Educators.
What really caught the attention of the founder and Executive Director of CESCOMPSUD, Rosaline Obah and volunteers who were in attendance was the strategy used by CHRDA to mobilize, strengthen knowledge and capacities of relevant parties representing women and girls facing multiple and intersecting forms of violence, and engaging them as change actors using the SASA Methodology.
SASA stands for Start Awareness Support Action. Start has to do with the kind of feelings people have when they have power and how these power is used either negatively to perpetrate violence or positively for a change. It has to do with how power influences women and men's interaction with themselves and others.
Awareness here isn't all about dishing out information but asking questions and allow people to think critically on how these issues affects them and what they can do about it.
Consequently when an individual after taking time for critical thinking, something ought to be done to shift the narrative, he or she starts thinking of Avenue to create change which is Support and Taking the action using his power through Advocacy in his her community is action.
These module states that you let people judge using their senses, Feelings, thinking and hearing and they themselves will surely join the course after critical thinking. The session ended with the Staff of CHRDA challenging participants to share knowledge gained in their communities using clubs, njangi houses, church groups and many others which can go a long way to end GBV in communities.
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