A Community Based Anti-Violence Team (COMBAT) made up of 56 members from eight communities in the Ga South District of the Greater Accra Region has been formed to help address issues of gender- based violence in the communities.
They members were taught policies that govern issues of violence, the need to keep records of such cases, the importance of regular public sensitisation and ways to report issues of violence.
The three-day training, held last week, was organised under the auspices of ActionAid- Ghana’s Transformative Action for Gender Equality (TAGE) Project.
The AAG Programme Officer, Mr Jamil Tanimu, explained that COMBAT would serve as the first respondent to issues of violence in the communities.
“We have noticed that most communities in the remote areas do not have offices of the Police Service, Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU), and Social Welfare, due to that, most issues of violence go unreported,” he said.
Mr Tanimu said owing to that, each community would have at least seven COMBAT members to assist in curbing, or possibly eradicating issues of violence in the communities.
“We have two representatives from the women’s group, one representative from the youth, one from the Queen mothers group, one from the chiefs, one from the opinion leaders and one from the Parents and Teachers Association (PTA) in the schools,” he said.
He further appealed to the government to ensure that more state agencies are established in the remote areas to help in the fight against the menace.
On her part, the AAG Project Officer, Ms Thelma Assabre, expressed hope that COMBAT would help tackle issues of gender- based violence in the communities.
“When issues of such happen, most people have no clue as to where to report, making issues of gender-based violence in communities persist but now with COMBAT, issues of gender- based violence would be solved at the community level even before it is transferred to the district level,” she said.
The TAGE project is a 30-month project rolled out by ActionAid-Ghana (AAG) to help improve gender equality and reduce violence as well as raise awareness and empower people.
Sponsored by the European Union (EU), the project is a partnership between AAG and International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), and is expected to reach a total of 16,200 community members.
BY ANITA ANKRAH