Were you delivering services to young people before the COVID-19 crisis?
We were providing a collection of services to support survivors of rape before the COVID-19 crisis. Part of these services included medical support and providing physical help to clients in accompanying them to the hospital for prompt access to healthcare. In addition, we provided referrals to legal services in-person and virtually to discuss the terms of cases, review evidence, report cases, and follow up as necessary, including facilitating prosecution in court. Furthermore, we provided psychosocial support in facilitating weekly therapy sessions for survivors of rape.
What new approaches did you use to respond to the barriers created by the COVID-19 pandemic to reach young people?
We
had to adapt to provide virtual support to survivors while reducing
physical contact due to the increased threat of COVID-19 infection if we
maintained our existing model. This included dedicating more time to
using our phone services to guide survivors and linking them to
appropriate service providers. We found a way to provide mental health
counseling via Zoom and Skype while adopting text message counseling for
clients that preferred to write.
We had to wait until the
lockdown restrictions were eased to support the movement of survivors in
seeking justice. For the cases we managed to support, survivors were
aided to go to service providers during work hours while wearing face
masks. We arranged transportation for them and set appointments to ease
the process. However, we could not provide any in-person accompaniment
due to the associated health risks. Nevertheless, we managed to process
an average of 30 cases per month during the lockdown and started
preparing for the second wave, which is expected to introduce new
restrictions.
When the lockdown eased, we carried out community engagement
activities to sensitize people about the likelihood of an increase in
SGBV and inform them on how to prevent and manage SGBV during the
outbreak. The involved staff members were given face masks, practiced
social distancing, and followed other precautions to prevent the spread
of COVID-19.
Meanwhile, we have joined in with other civil
society organizations to target advocacy at the Ministry of Women
Affairs to ensure that survivors of rape are prioritized. As a result,
they are granted full access to the services they need, including
shelter, legal and health services. This is in the hope that the
government’s response to the second wave is gender-sensitive and
responsive and that SGBV-related services are included in the national
response plan.
Why did you decide to use these approaches?
When the
COVID-19 pandemic started, our system had to change to minimize physical
interaction with our beneficiaries to reduce the risk of contracting
and spreading COVID-19. As a team, we first reviewed best practices from
other countries on responses to GBV during COVID-19. We looked at our
client data and affirmed that most clients opted for virtual support
even before the outbreak of COVID-19. We then decided to test a suite of
virtual services and try out other documented best practices where
possible. Based on feedback from our beneficiaries on these initial
tests, we optimized our delivery model to make it more convenient for
survivors of SGBV.
In this respect, we had to use several virtual
platforms to provide adequate support to our beneficiaries while
preventing the spread of COVID-19. However, the Nigerian government did
not prioritize SGBV as part of emergency cases, and by extension, did
deem the provision of related health, psychosocial and legal services as
essential.
For legal counseling, the courts were closed, and only emergency
cases were attended to, which was done virtually via Zoom. As a result,
no in-person cases were processed, while police officers were not
available. Some of the usual officers were reallocated to lockdown law
enforcement. In addition, service providers for SGBV care were affected
by mobility restrictions during the lockdown.
Once the lockdown severity was reduced, rape cases were still not prioritized in the processing of backlog cases, despite the easing of restrictions. There was no evidence to work with for some cases, and it took a lot more effort to support survivors to gather additional evidence. This negatively impacted young women’s access to justice, and our services sought to bridge this gap in the best way possible.
How are you working to find out if these approaches are having the desired impact?
We
used an internal data matrix compiled by a research team that
frequently engaged survivors to understand in real-time how beneficial
the services were for them. Initial feedback from beneficiaries
highlighted that the service was confidential and convenient. They did,
however, note that they still preferred an in-person touch. We also
conducted random checks with clients to see how they were coping one and
two months after their case was handled. We decided to continue with
the process, both remotely and in person, responding to each client’s
preferences based on the feedback.
