VAPP: Young gender champions produce films on GBV

As part of advocacy for more states to domesticate the Violence Against Person’s Prohibition (VAPP Act), some female mentees of PAGED Initiative, premiered four short films as part of efforts to eliminate Gender Based Violence (GBV) and harmful practices affecting women and children in Nigeria.

The women shot the films after being trained on Gender Empowerment Through Film and Dialogue Project (Get FaD) in order to influence people in communities to advocate for the VAPP Act within their communities.

The Get FaD project which is been implemented by PAGED Initiative in collaboration with the African Women Development Fund (AWDF) aims to sensitize the citizenry as well as increase the advocacy on GBV across the country.

Fielding questions from journalists in Abuja at the weekend during the premier, Programme Director of PAGED Initiative Ummi Bukar explained that 12 young women, who had never made films before were trained on gender, GBV and film making to produce four short documentaries on different gender issues in their communities so as to give voices to particularly voiceless women in grassroots

“Their aim is to showcase to the world for people to talk about it. These ladies have visited communities for certain dialogue on gender based violence to ensure that stories coming from the communities about GBV are by the people who live in the communities and also share within the communities, dialogue within the communities and the possible solutions that are also brought.

“So what we hope to do is to bring about their issue of GBV in different communities so that community members can understand how much of a problem it is and why they need to advocate for the VAPP Act to be implemented in all states,” she said.

One of the producers, Ms Aisha Malumfashi, who directed a short documentary, “Invisible Wounds” said the focus on emotional abuse in Gombe state, was to highlight the trauma and psychological effects some women go through in the hands of their spouses, saying that lack of education has exposed many women to exploitation and inhuman treatment in the society.

Similarly, Priscilla Victor and Neemah Musa who directed ,”Unseen” discusses about harmful traditional practices affecting women, particularly early and forced marriage among Fulani communities and indigenes of Plateau state.

Other short film documentaries premiered include; “Shattered Dream” by Helen Gala and “Constrained” by Oluwatobi Ahmed.