By Lemuella Tarawallie
With support from the Peace Building Fund, through implementation by UNICEF, Government of Sierra Leone, UNFPA and UNDP; the Gender Based Violence Information Management System (GBVIMS+) has been launched at the UNICEF’s headquarters, New England, in Freetown.
The Gender Based Violence Information Management System will help in reporting cases of gender-based violence; it will analyse cases of sexual violence and physical violence, and it will also promote response to increased risks against women and girls in the June 24 elections.
In addition to the launch a total of 16 motorbikes, seven laptops and 20 computer tablets were delivered to the Ministry of Gender and Children’s Affairs by the UNICEF Country Representative. It was intended to contribute towards building the Ministry’s capacity to address some of the problems of gender-based violence in Sierra Leone.
The UNICEF’s Country Representative, Rudolf Schwenk, said GBVIMS+ was a key component of the Peace Building Fund programme, which was being led by the Ministry of Political and Public Affairs and jointly implemented by UNDP and UNICEF.
He noted that the system would help with statistics to address issues and also help decision makers to make sure that they act accordingly based on the evidence so that the decision makers might make efficient and effective measures in order to address gender-based violence.
Rudolf Schwenk added that, “the Peace Building Fund programme supports the Ministry of Gender and Children’s Affairs and partners’ efforts to integrate gender-based violence reporting in early warning mechanisms such as the situation rooms that are managed by the Office of National Security (ONS) and the West Africa Network for Peace Building (WANEP)”.
Mr Schwenk continued that the Gender Based Violence Information System would support the Ministry of Gender and Children’s Affairs in operating the 116 hotlines in reporting gender-based violence cases, adding further that it would also help in capacity building of the Family Support Unit of the Sierra Leone Police and the Legal Aid Board (LAB) to tackle problems of violence during election periods.
The UNICEF’s Country Representative averred that many adolescent girls and women had experienced gender-based violence in one form or another; so all the efforts which the UN Family and the Government of Sierra Leone had undertaken together would really make a different to address this situation in Sierra Leone.
The Minister of Gender and Children’s Affairs, Manty Tarawalli, stated that, “I am pleased to be here today to launch the Gender Based Violence Information Management System (GBVIM+). This is a historic day for Sierra Leone, it’s really a ground breaking day, something that we have been working on for the past two-and-half years, it’s an extremely important milestone in our fight against Gender Based Violence in Sierra Leone and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals”.
Manty Tarawalli noted that the GBVIMS+ was established by the Global Interagency Committee in 2013 and had since been used by various humanitarian stakeholders in over 20 countries to assist service providers to manage reported gender based violence cases.
Ms. Tarawalli added that the “Gender Based Violence Information Management System will be piloted in Kailahun, Bo and Freetown and will be cascaded systematically to cover all the districts in the country”.
She thanked the Ministry of Gender and Children’s Affairs, UNICEF, UNDP, UNFPA, the Rainbow Initiative, the Commit and Act Foundation, World Hope International, International Rescue Committee, Defence for Children International, Ministry of Social Welfare, Ministry of Health and Sanitation, World Vision , UN Women, Sigicall, Plan International, Save the Children, and the Aberdeen Women’s Centre for the strong collaboration, commitment and leadership to this important achievement.