A non-government organisation, Women’s Rights Advancement and Protection Alternative (WRAPA), has launched a Women of Resilience group project in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) toward ending violence against women in the country. Women of Resilience are a group of women in communities who are advocating for women and girls that are afraid to stand or speak up when they suffer abuse and the group will work with Violence Against Women and Girls Accountability Male Champions, who include traditional and religious leaders.

Speaking during the launch in Abuja, the General Secretary, WRAPA, Saadatu Mahadi, said the two-year project is being implemented in FCT, Jigawa, Katsina and Plateau by WRAPA to support women and girls to speak out on all forms of gender-based violence and work with faith and cultural leaders to extract accountability from perpetrators. She explained that the project has expanded its scope from one senatorial to three senatorial districts across the project state, adding that the organisation is committed to ensuring a zero violence against women in Nigeria. “As you are aware all over Nigeria and the world, we have seen a rise in violence against women. This project has enabled communities to ensure zero violence against women. We don’t want to tolerate it again. “The religious leaders and chiefs are using their moral power to ensure that people in their domains do not do this and get away with it because it is part of the reason the cases are growing and nobody is talking about it. “We want to ensure that those caught in the act are reprimanded or held to account for it,” she added.