Creating awareness on SGBV – Success story of survivors

My name is Nabwire Sanyu. My colleague is Naigaga Nubuwati. We reside in Buhemba village, Namayingo district. We work as focal point persons here at the advisory center in Buhemba sub-county. We support in making referrals, creating awareness on SGBV, handling simple domestic violence cases and so on. Heroes for Gender Transformative action found us in a very bad place. Wives were being mistreated, children were not going to school and their parents were not bothered. When the programme came, it supported us in creating awareness for these issues and through the different interventions we have seen positive changes. From peace in most household to women supporting themselves in order to be financially independent.

Heroes has trained women, girls, young teenage mothers income generating skills like hairdressing and tailoring so that they can get some income to sustain themselves. They even went ahead to create a savings group with SGBV survivors who are able to save and borrow money according to need. This has supported in keeping them financially sound.

We have been able to speak to both men and women, husbands and wives in order to get to the root causes of their home quarrels and now the reports that we get are that peace prevails in their households. Defilement cases were many before the coming of the project but as I speak, we were able to sensitize our people through community dialogues and these cases have systematically reduced. In a week we used to get 5 to 6 defilement cases but now it is 2 to none

We have carried out sensitization through community mobilization still on SGBV with our fellow women and made the referral pathway clearer to them as well as give them the toll free number to call for support if the need arise. When women come to the advisory center we provide support in terms of hand holding, counseling, rights education and then referral for further support to police and other arms if need be. We eased the burden of the LCs because the referral pathway has become clearer and easier and most SGBV cases are attended to starting from here.

We are very happy with how far the programme has brought us as a people and as a district. Previously I used to be shy to speak to people but the programme built our capacity through numerous trainings to be able to speak and impart information and knowledge to people in our community and because of this people trust and listen to what we tell them. Our only request would be that the programme expands it’s operational areas to include other parishes as well.

Naigaga Nubuati

When the Heroes programme came, my husband and I were separated. I came here to the advice center for counseling and now we are okay. I was also selected to sit here, at the center and help other women who were faced with similar challenges. I am very happy with what the Heroes programme has done in Buhemba sub county. Here children used not to go to school, spent a lot of time in cinemas and boys and girls were resorting to unorthodox ways to make ends meet. Through continuous sensitization, I think that there is progress. We encouraged women to work and also contribute to the income in their homes.

We also held sessions here at the center and sensitized the communities against the habit of fund-raising which was contributing to SGBV risk factors.

My name is Naigaga Nubuati. I am especially happy through delivering on my duties to the Heroes programme, I have created a good reputation for myself among the communities. So much so that parents trust me with their children to offer guidance, knowledge and support in relation to gender based violence and sexual reproductive health and rights. As an individual, this has boosted my confidence and self-esteem. I used to be shy and afraid to interact with people but as I speak all of that has changed and I credit it to the Heroes programme. 

My only request as the programme continues would be that the programme extends to these other parishes because the residents trust us already to provide authentic information and guidance in relation to SGBV. Otherwise we would like to thank the donor and the Heroes programme for all the interventions especially in Buhemba sub-county because so far the results are tremendous.

Amref Health Africa

Amref Health Africa teams up with African communities to create lasting health change.