The arrival of motorcycle taxis near the Badalabougou market in Bamako does not go unnoticed. Armed with megaphones and sporting orange T-shirts bearing the inscription “Stop Violence Against Women and Girls”, the team of facilitators calls out to the large crowd gathered that morning. Between the broadcast of two pre-recorded messages via portable mini-radios, a facilitator walks among the stalls, addressing the women and the few men present.
On November 25, International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, the messages speak of fundamental rights, of respect and dignity. They touch on the issues of excision, rape, sexual slavery and early or forced marriage, calling on municipal authorities and religious and customary leaders to engage alongside the organizations defending the rights of women and girls. Sometimes a dialogue is established, sometimes the discussion gets lively.
"With this type of awareness-raising activity, we mainly want to change attitudes," says Aïssata Cheick Sylla Doucouré, advocacy and communication advisor at CECI-Mali. "That's the most important if we want things to evolve positively, starting with behaviours," she continues, specifying that the itinerant caravan's journey through all the communes of the capital will allow to reach the greatest number of people. While the activity is led by members of the National Network for the Development of Young Girls and Women (RENADJEF), the messages disseminated were developed by all 25 partners of the WVL project in Mali, implemented by CECI in partnership with SOCODEVI.
It is through this five-year program, funded by the Government of Canada through Global Affairs Canada since 2018, that CECI is working with some 80 partners in Senegal, Mali and Haiti. The project aims to strengthen the institutional capacities of local women’s organizations in order to increase their power of action and their effectiveness.
The 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence international campaign provides each association with the opportunity to further develop existing partnerships, to work as a network and to coordinate initiatives, with the objective of amplifying the reach of their messages.
In Senegal, where the 25 partner organizations of the Women’s Voice and Leadership project have decided to target this year’s efforts on the popularization of the law criminalizing acts of rape and pedophilia, many organizations feel that their voices can be heard further when united in this way. “We have created a platform to develop our advocacy work jointly,” said Maïmouna Ndaw.
“There is an incentive to working collaboratively, as there is no doubt that if each organization does the work in its own region, the impact at the national level will be much greater,” explains the Vice-President of the Association pour la promotion de la femme sénégalaise (APROFES). The organization, which works in the Kaolack region, located over three hours’ drive from Dakar, canvasses through isolated areas to raise public awareness of the issues of physical violence, advocating for free medical certificates for the victims – a certificate used as legal proof in court and without which no accusation can stand.
This willingness to reach even the most remote communities can also be found in Mali and Haiti. Besides the media campaigns on social networks and radios, the work conducted in the markets and the roundtables organized in cities, the WVL partner organizations all have the desire to bring their messages to the most remote rural areas.
This is the case of Fanm Lakay, an association for the defence of women’s rights which works in the 14 communes of the department of Grand’Anse, at the southwestern tip of Haiti. The financial support received through the WVL project has enabled them to rent a car to gain access to isolated areas that have become too dangerous to reach by motorcycle because of growing insecurity.
“I will be able to revitalize the committees I created two years ago in four municipalities to fight against gender-based violence, and by the end of the campaign I hope to have five more in place,” said the president and founder. “These committees are essential, as they are our eyes on the field in these remote areas: they inform us about the real situation and help us do better prevention work.” Marie-Thérèse Pacaud, the departmental coordinator of the Ministry for the Condition of Women, believes that “it is all the more important to work in these areas as the people’s mindsets there are even more tainted than elsewhere by those religious beliefs and socio-cultural traditions that contribute to women being seen as inferior to men”.
While activities to raise awareness about violence seek to eliminate harmful practices from the households, many believe it is equally important to use the 16 Days of Activism campaign to mobilize more people to demand that governments take real action to ensure the safety of women and allow them to flourish. “For things to progress, women and girls must first learn about their rights and take stock of the issues. It is from such an awareness that these women will be able to get involved in an established social movement and help it grow,” according to Dracuse Edithe Mathieu Joseph, project lead at CECI-Haiti.
In Port-au-Prince, precisely, on this same November 25, we are far from the joyful and noisy atmosphere of the Bamako market. These are solemn, emotional times. A few weeks after the kidnapping and murder of a young woman student, which ignited the indignation of the population, the main partner organizations of the WVL project have decided to make femicide the main focus of their activities.
In front of the Ministry of Justice, surrounded by flowers and candles stands a stirring memorial made up of dozens of pairs of crimson shoes, one for every girl and woman fallen at the hands of men in recent years. Surrounded by signs displaying the name of the victims, representatives of Kay Fanm and SOFA, two partners of the WVL project, came to demand justice and an end to impunity for the perpetrators.
In Port-au-Prince as elsewhere, the feeling of revolt is equal only to that of urgency. During her lifetime, one in three women worldwide will suffer from violence.
The Women’s Voice and Leadership projects in Haiti, Mali and Senegal receive financial support from the Government of Canada through Global Affairs Canada.
