Traditional Leaders and Clergies Renew Commitment to Curb Violence against Women and Girls in Nigeria

On 10 May 2023, UN Women, with support from Ford Foundation, organised a Roundtable with distinguished cultural and faith leaders in Nigeria alongside women’s rights organisations (WROs) to escalate collective action to curb violence against women and girls in Nigeria. The roundtable also marked the launch of a Ford Foundation-funded three-year project titled Traditional and Cultural Leaders for Ending GBV by Advancing Advocacy, Policy and Social Norms Change in Nigeria and West Africa (LEAP).

The LEAP project recognises the importance of cultural and faith leaders in preventing and responding to gender-based violence (GBV). It will leverage the esteemed leaders' extensive knowledge and experiences in their respective jurisdictions to promote an understanding of customs and doctrine denouncing GBV.

Studies reveal that traditional and religious leaders play a central role in addressing harmful gendered norms and practices and could act as gatekeepers to enact meaningful social shifts in addressing sexual and gender-based violence and eliminating harmful practices. In Nigeria, for instance, traditional and religious leaders have been at the forefront of the abolishment of harmful practices, including the Money Wife practice in Ebonyi, East Nigeria; abolition of female genital mutilation in Osun, Southwest Nigeria, and a pronouncement on deposing of leaders found to harbour perpetrators and hide cases of SGBV and in Sokoto, Northwest. Some of these landmark actions have been taken by members of the Council of Traditional Leaders of Africa (COTLA), established in 2018. The COTLA membership in Nigeria, through the support of UN Women, has developed a work plan to support engagement in ending GBV.

The objectives of the Roundtable included deliberating on the role of cultural and faith leaders in collectively shifting norms that perpetuate gender-based violence and identifying avenues for effective prevention and response and sustained investment. Traditional leaders are in a strong position to work with their communities to address the harmful cultural practices that perpetuate negative gender norms and harm women’s and girls’ health and safety. Working with, rather than against, traditional leaders in Nigeria is crucial to ending violence against women and girls and promoting women’s empowerment.

Ford Foundation Executive Vice President, Ms Hilary Pennington, reiterated the crucial role traditional and faith leaders play in changing social norms and abolishing harmful cultural practices. She urged participants to take responsibility for imploring measures to prevent violence against women in their constituencies.

‘In our recent interventions, 1,329 women and men regularly attended community programs that promote progressive gender-equitable norms. Through these actions, positive behaviours that stop GBV are more likely to be practised. Working with, rather than against, traditional leaders in West Africa is crucial to ending violence against women and girls and promoting women’s empowerment, said Beatrice Eyong, UN Women’s Country Representative to Nigeria and the ECOWAS.

The traditional leaders who went into closed-door discussions resolved the need to escalate actions against gender-based violence and formulation of policies and laws that would curb the prevalence of violence against women and girls. The esteemed leaders also reiterated the importance of improved sensitisation and community awareness activities.