Member churches and country programs call for awareness, action and accountability
Yangon, Myanmar/ Geneva
25.11.2019.
16 Days of Activism to End Violence against Women and Children is an annual global campaign that runs from 25 November (International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women) to 10 December (International Human Rights Day). The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) has joined with other groups and faith-based organizations, focusing this year on the theme “awareness, action, accountability.”
LWF member churches and country programs all over the world are called to take part in the campaign. The LWF provides the necessary resources for raising awareness, sharing good practice, and encouraging men and women to work more closely together to promote gender equality. In Asia, the LWF Myanmar office is using these 16 days to reaffirm its long-standing aim of eradicating sexual and gender-based violence in the workplace and in society at large.
Myanmar: a commitment to promoting gender equality
The 16-day campaign will begin in Yangon and at four branch offices elsewhere in Myanmar on 25 November with an easy-to-use presentation created to lead discussions. All staff are invited to reflect on gender-related attitudes, norms and behaviors that affect their professional and personal lives.
Kanika Chakraborty, the LWF Myanmar office’s gender and protection coordinator, says that “on the boards in the various offices, staff will write their individual commitments to promoting gender equality and combating sexual violence. Our complaints and communications department will follow up on the implementation of these commitments over the course of the year.”
To help carry out the commitments, staff will be encouraged to decorate their offices with attention-grabbing reminders, such as “Never give up the fight against violence”, “Stand by her side”. These will be displayed alongside the LWF global theme for the 16 days: “Awareness, action, accountability – together we can eradicate gender-based violence and promote gender equality.”
Mobilizing men and boys
At the community level in the city of Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine State, the LWF Myanmar office is organizing role-plays about domestic violence in eight camps for internally displaced Rohingya. In each camp, around 100 people will be invited to take part in a role-play aimed at children, emphasizing the need to mobilize men and boys in the process of transformation.
“To achieve the necessary result, all programs for the prevention of sexual and gender-based violence must include an element of mobilizing men and boys. At the LWF Myanmar office, we are currently reviewing our existing gender and protection programs precisely in order to strengthen this aspect,” said Kanika Chakraborty.
Alongside the work with its own staff and programs, the LWF Myanmar office is taking part in a national, country-level campaign led by UN Women, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA). Under the global UN theme: “Orange the World: Generation Equality Stands against Rape”, the campaign issues a call to listen to and believe those who have survived rape, to end the culture of silence and to respond purposefully to the needs of survivors. The campaign unites the government, civil society and non-governmental organizations in Myanmar in the fight against gender-based violence.
“To achieve the necessary result, all programs for the prevention of sexual and gender-based violence must include an element of mobilizing men and boys.” – Kanika Chakraborty, gender and protection coordinator at the LWF Myanmar office
Support from the global communion
With significant support from agencies related to the LWF (Australian Lutheran World Service, Canadian Lutheran World Relief, Finn Church Aid, Church of Sweden, DCA-NCA, Christian Aid, Bread for the World and Evangelical Lutheran Church of America), the LWF Myanmar office has built a portfolio of programs that ensures lasting engagement beyond the 16 days.
“In the LWF Myanmar office program, we have taken a multifaceted approach to preventing gender-based violence,” said a representative of the LWF Myanmar office. “Providing protection and support to survivors goes hand in hand with addressing broader problems – unequal power relations, harmful gender biases and the lack of representation of women.”