GENDER AND SOCIAL INCLUSION

YAF has been working in collaboration with governments, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and other stakeholders to address sexual abuse, violence and exploitation of girls and women in Nigeria. We have created a couple of support networks for survivors, one of which is Defending and Empowering Female Youths (DEFY)Network. DEFY is one amongst many platforms considered safe spaces for young girls and women in Nigeria to share their experiences on sexual violence, harassment and assault and get support.

Building on successes recorded through the utilisation of DEFY Network and other platforms, the Sexual Harassment in Higher Education (SHE) Campaign was initiated. The SHE Campaign is a campaign that aims to proactively address the epidemic of sexual harassment impacting female students in Universities, Polytechnics and College of Educations in Nigeria. The campaign has been flagged off in several institutions across 5 states.

As part of the SHE Campaign, a survey in 20 tertiary institutions across 6 states (Lagos, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Kano, Nassarawa and FCT) in Nigeria. The outcome reveals 57.3% prevalence of sexual harassment in the surveyed institutions. Findings from the survey backed by other robust evidence have been used by YAF to support advocacy campaigns.