IWD: Project Alert presents four books on violence against women, girls
In commemoration of this year’s International Women’s Day, Project Alert on Violence Against Women midweek presented four books. The four publications: Beacon of Hope Volume 2, No Safe Haven 2024,
In commemoration of this year's International Women's Day, Project Alert on Violence Against Women midweek presented four books.
The four publications: Beacon of Hope Volume 2, No Safe Haven 2024, How to Guide. Sexual Violence Prevention & Response Programming in Schools, and Project Alert Strategic Action Plan 2025-2029, articulate the organisations works as well as projected action plan going forward.
According to Josephine Effah-Chukwuma, Executive Director, Project Alert, the books are the organisation's most recent publications on violence against women and girls, and presenting them in commemoration of the International Women's day aligns with this year's IWD theme of “Give to Gain”.
“This is our own giving at this time of International Women's Day. We're giving knowledge, the Bible says: 'My people perish for lack of knowledge. It is only when we know and are aware that we ask for change.”
She explained that the books would have been published long before but for unavailability of resources.
“We had a strategic plan in 2024 when we had the retreat. We started working on the publication. Actually, the final draft of that strategic planning was ready as of July last year. We started implementing the content last year, but we did not have the resources to get it out. And what is a strategic plan if we don't share it with our partners? The last time we published Beacon of Hope was 2008/9; but to God be the glory, under a project that we got some funding for, we put it forward, and it was accepted that we go ahead with Volume 2.”
Speaking on one of the books, 'No Safe Haven 2024,' for which she said: “Almost all the laws we are having today - be it domestic violence law, widowhood law, were products of our No Safe Haven reports up till 2009/10. Then we used it to go to the National Assembly, state Houses of Assembly; to convince them that this is why you need to pass this bill or that bill. That was how the then governor of Lagos State (now president), before he left office in 2007, signed into law the Domestic Violence Law of Lagos State and the Child Rights Law of Lagos State.
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Speaking on the sideline of the presentations, Chairperson, Board of Trustees, Project Alert, Prof. Ngozi Osarenren, who is also a Counseling Psychologist at the University of Lagos, said “What we have done today is our way of telling the public the works we've been doing, and the impacts. One of the books, Beacon of Hope, Vol 2, which is a compilation of cases and all that, the last time we published it was 2008, and the issue was funds. But we thank God it is out.
“The more critical one is the guideline for preventing sexual abuse in our schools, in our communities; and we will be happy if it can trickle down to our primary schools, secondary schools; all the stakeholders to have copies - Ministry of Education, Women Affairs, Ministry of Social Welfare. We all need it, because it is not enough to say this child has been abused, or that child has been sexually abused, this is a victim, this is a survivor; we have in that book the guidelines of how to help prevent having victims and survivors.”
Reviewing the books, Tobe Adibeli, Program officer at Project Alert, said the book: 'How to Guide. Sexual Violence Prevention & Response Programming in Schools' is an outcome of the organisation's four schools intervention project in Cross River and Akwa Ibom states; adding that “the purpose of this document is to provide structured, actionable steps that state and non-state actors can adopt to address the issue of sexual violence in schools; and how to set up and run anti-sexual violence clubs in academic institutions for effective impact.”
