Making University Communities Safer for Students
The Yar’Adua Foundation organized a public policy forum on September 6, 2022, on ‘Making University Communities Safer for Students: The Role of Students’. The forum brought together members of the diplomatic community, university students, young female activists, representatives from the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, international non-profit organizations, civil society organizations, and policy/decision makers in tertiary institutions to address systemic problems on sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). Students were also engaged as co-advocates and creators in enacting change in their university communities and equipping them with the tools they need to be gender justice champions in their university communities.
The event was organized around a plenary session, which was followed by audience interaction and a photography exhibition. The plenary session enabled a cross-exchange of ideas and perspectives on creating a safer learning environment in Nigerian institutions. Toyin Chukwudozie, Executive Director of Education as a Vaccine, hosted the event proceedings, which also included remarks from keynote speakers.
Further, the forum previewed a short video vignette on the role of students in detecting, preventing, and reporting sexual harassment and gender-based violence incidence on campus with reference to the anonymous whistleblowing platform. Recommendations were also made during the panel sessions on how to make environment of learning safer through multi-stakeholder and collaborative efforts.
Objectives
- Amplify student voices in the fight to build safer university communities and empower them to become champions of gender equality.
- Galvanize citizens’ collective action against gender-based violence through the promotion of the safeguarding policies.
- Educate Nigerian students on innovative tools and platforms to pursue gender justice, including the whistleblowing platform developed by the Foundation.