Creating awareness on violence against women through ICTs

CREATING AWARENESS ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN USING
ICT?S IN CENTRAL KENYA
By Jane Wambui Thuo
Programme officer, AMWIK

Rape, incest and other forms of violence against women
reign in Kambiti, a small shopping centre in the
Central Province of Kenya. The background information
the Association of Media Women in Kenya (AMWIK) had
before starting a project to create awareness on
violence against women little prepared us for the
lessons we have learnt in the last seven months.

Kambiti is a sleepy village that borders both the
agriculturally productive Central Province of Kenya
on one side and the semi-arid parts of Eastern
Province on the other and lies about 120 Kilometers
from the city of Nairobi. Nothing suggests anything
out of the ordinary about Kambiti, infact it is famous
for its variety of fresh fruits and vegetables and is
a favorite stop over for travelers along the Nairobi
/Nyeri highway where they buy mangoes, water melons,
paw paws, pumpkins and oranges at bargain prices.

However the deceptive calm that greets visitors to
Kambiti is a far cry from the reality where gender
based violence is rampant. The entry of the
Association of Media Women in Kenya, (AMWIK) in the
community could therefore not have been more
appropriate. The project sought to utilise information
and communication technology to disseminate
information on gender based violence to the Kambiti
community and adjacent areas.

Radio has been cited as the most commonly used
communication channel in rural Kenya. Nonetheless, the
information broadcast on the radio programmes may not
always reach the intended audience. With their
multiple work load, for example, women hardly get time
to listen to the radio. In most cases, particularly in
the rural areas, the radio is under the control of the
male ? and older - members of the household. AMWIK
therefore opted to package radio programmes and
distribute them to community groups so they could
listen to them during their weekly meetings.

Ten radio programmes of twenty-minutes? each,
addressing various issues on gender based violence
were produced. Topics covered included:
? definitions of gender violence and the forms of
violence with reference to international conventions
e.g. CEDAW and the provisions of the Kenyan laws
? prevalence of gender based violence in the project
area
? the cultural beliefs and attitudes that men use to
justify domestic violence
? effects of violence on the victim, children, the
entire family and the society in general
? role of men alleviating gender based violence
? inheritance and succession law
? how members of the community can take action against
GBV

Five community groups comprising mainly women and
already in existence as self-help groups were selected
for the project. AMWIK was aware that GBV in the
community could not be addressed by women alone. The
women?s groups were therefore requested to incorporate
men for the purpose of the project only.

AMWIK trained twenty radio listening groups?
moderators from the five groups - ten women and ten
men - on gender relations and how to facilitate the
radio listening sessions for their groups. The Each
group was then provided with a radio/cassette and the
recorded programmes on tapes. After listening to a
radio programme, the moderators guide the members of
the group in discussing the issue addressed using the
following guideline:
? Does the issue discussed in the programme affect
them?
? What is being done about it?
? WWith the information gained from the programme,
what action can they take as members of the community?
? Whom would they contact for assistance, if required?

There has been a great demand for the cassettes by
other members of the community. Group moderators have
been educating the community using the knowledge
gained from the programmes. As Joseph Mutisya, a group
moderator says, ?the information in the programmes is
just what we have been missing?. Three men?s groups
and a youth group have organised themselves for
listening sessions.

According to a member of one o f the listening groups
known only as Mama Carol the community has been
empowered through the programme. ?We can now seek
audience with the local administration for their
action against brewers of illicit alcohol whose
consumption has contributed to the high incidents of
violence and other crimes. Now I know what steps to
take in case of defilement or rape in my village?, she
explains. The women and men in the community have
received counseling and legal advice from the
Coalition on Violence Against Women (COVAW), the
Federation of Women Lawyers ?Kenya (FIDA) and Men for
Gender Equality Now.

? Case study: The women from Kambiti were incensed by
the defilement of a twelve year old girl by an uncle.
According to Florence, a teacher at a local primary
school and a group moderator, the girl was traumatised
and the relatives had threatened her with dire
consequences if she exposed the uncle. Florence
narrated the incident to her group and it was on this
basis that they sought intervention from AMWIK. AMWIK
took prompt action by sending the girl for medical
check up and counseling and she was taken temporarily
into a rescue centre for counseling. The girl was not
willing to stay at home any more, fearing that the
uncle could defile her once again. AMWIK has now
adopted the young girl and placed her in a children?s
home and is catering for her living and education
expenses.

For the men, AMWIK has organised for counseling
sessions by Men for Gender Equality Now, a men?s
support group against gender violence. A key issue
that came from the men?s counseling sessions was that
their spouses denied them their conjugal rights. The
men were advised to behave more responsibly and assist
with domestic chores otherwise how would they ?expect
a wife who woke up at 3.00a.m to fetch water 20Kms
away, cook and wash for the family, and perform other
household chores for close to 15 hours in a day to be
sexually ready for her husband who has plenty of
energy having idled around the whole day!?

For AMWIK, there is a clear indication that
information, communication and technology (ICT) is a
crucial tool for information dissemination not only to
create awareness but also prompt social action against
issues like gender violence and HIV/AIDS. Information
is a powerful tool through which people?s attitudes
can slowly change towards desired effect so long as
information is contextualized to meet the felt needs
and issues unique to their lives.

AMWIK collaborated closely with partners working
towards alleviation of gender violence the World
Vision, The Coalition on Violence Against Women,
(COVAW), FEMNET?s Men for Gender Equality Now, the
Women?s Rights Awareness Programme (WRAP), the
Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA-Kenya), the
administration and the media. During one of the
monitoring trips, AMWIK took along a team of
journalists who published newspaper articles and
broadcast radio and TV programmes from the project.

The Men Against Gender Equality Now group has
established direct contact with the men in the
community and have made several trips to educate the
men on their rights and roles in ending gender based
violence. The project, supported by the Global
Knowledge Partnership (GKP) Seed Grant and Small
Innovative Projects Fund, has created a forum through
which members of the community can exploit the
potential of ICTs to make a positive difference in
their lives.