JFC, WACC, Bread for the World battle online GBV

Lekan Otufodunrin, JFC founder

Journalists for Christ International Outreach Nigeria (JFC) and the World Association for Christian Communication, Africa Region (WACC-AR) have announced the launch of a tech-driven, advocacy project: Countering Misogyny and Tech-facilitated Gender-Based Violence.

The initiative, which is supported by WACC Global and Brot fur die Welt (Bread for the World - German Protestant Agency for Diaconia Development), aims to change public perception and stereotypes about girls and women by fostering actions to curb tech- facilitated gender-based violence and related oppressive actions against girls and women within the digital sphere.

The project will be implemented through a series of strategic actions entailing monitoring of online content, producing counter-narratives and undertaking virtual interfaces with journalists and gender advocates as well as facilitating alliances and advocacy actions to mitigate GBV in digital spaces.

GBV has translated from the traditional forms to online and it’s essential the rights of women are upheld at all times. Over the years, GBV has manifested in diverse forms as a tool to silence the voice and rights of women. Related to these are the subtle overt forms of violence that limit women’s communication rights on digital platforms.

See also

Don't dismiss your ideas -Media expert, Otufodunrin

JFC, WACC, OPM seek IDPs media blast

Hey, Lagosians, IDPs are your neighbours ... you just don't know it

JFC, WACC partner to advance rights and welfare of IDPs in Nigeria

As society developed and became technology-driven, GBV also translated from the traditional forms to other forms of violence online across the digital spaces. The digitally driven violence against women, which is also referred to as Tech-facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TFGBV) include such acts as cyber bullying, secret recordings of sexual scenes, the non-consensual distribution of intimate images, name calling and surveillances, amongst others.

The project will undertake a baseline/think-tank discourse on the context and prevalence of TFGBV in Nigeria, drawing expert and situational contexts from other African countries like Liberia, Kenya, Togo and Cameroon and conduct online monitoring exercises to document the trends of TFGBV in Nigeria.

In driving the actions, perspectives from a cluster of women/girls’ groups will be harnessed to give deep and real-time perspective on existing contexts of misogyny and TFGBV which will provide inferences for the production and dissemination of digital narratives to mitigate GBV, offline and online, in Nigeria.

During the implementation of this project, JFC will partner with relevant gender-focused/supportive CSOs, bloggers/users of social media platforms to combat TFGBV and embark on advocacy actions and engagement with media and institutional stakeholders on key policy actions.

See also

Motunrayo Alaka is JFC January 2023 fellowship speaker

Akin Olaniyan to speak at JFC November fellowship

At the end, the project is expected to galvanize public support for gender rights through digital products as counter-narratives on GBV (online/offline) and also deepen the role of media stakeholders (print, broadcast, online journalists/bloggers) in combating TFGBV, online hate speech and related indices through gender-supportive reporting.

For further information, please contact:

Blessing Oladunjoye

Project Officer

dorcasblessing77@gmail.com