Gender Mobile Initiative, a non-governmental organisation established primarily to complement the policy and programme effort of government and relevant stakeholders in eliminating sexual and gender- based violence particularly in environments of learning is set to launch its feature-rich mobile App ‘Campus Pal’.
The event holds this morning at Zuma Hall, Rockview Royale Hotel Wuse 2, Abuja will have the keynote delivered by the Bisi-adeleye Fayemi, wife of Ekiti State governor with array of critical stakeholders on the panel session.
The launch of the mobile application with anonymous driven reporting feature, will have in attendance heads of partner institutions and relevant agencies such as the ICPC, National Orientation Agency, Committee of Vice-chancellors, Ministry of Education, regulatory agencies such as the NUC, NCCE, NBTE, rectors and provosts of institutions, civil society organisations, media partners, student among others.
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According to the executive director and founder, Gender Mobile Initiative, Omowunmi Ogunrotimi, “Campus Pal App is a feature-rich mobile platform with confidentialitydriven reporting, reported case tracking, support community/safe space that supports proactive bystander intervention, information escrow, access learning Centre to learn about policies, case appeal and onboarding information function.
As an organisation, we have spent the last 3 years driving policy engagements towards deconstructing the norms and culture that enable power-centred harassment to thrive in environments of learning in partnership with the Ford Foundation.
Sexual harassment is gradually assuming critical dimensions in Nigeria’s higher education institutions.
More interesting is the significant difference in understanding what constitutes sexual harassment which partly accounts for the inability of persons to identify acts of sexual harassment as one.
Focus group discussion held with 11 members of different student bodies in Ekiti State University indicate that this could further perpetuate the culture of sexual harassment until it becomes an acceptable norm in environments of learning, the statement said.
They also highlighted other factors such as unequal power relations, lack of confidential reporting platforms and fear of being further victimised. The sex for grades video by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) further reinforced these points.
