GBV disproportionately affects women and girls, and their vulnerability increases during times of displacement, crisis and pandemics as witnessed during the break out of COVID-19.
In response to the spike of SGBV witnessed during the breakout of the COVID-19 pandemic, Collaborative
Centre for Gender and Development (CCGD) through COVID-19 Recovery and Resilience Program supported by Mastercard Foundation. The program sought to strengthen the support and services to SGBV survivors by offering institutional support to the County Referral Hospitals, the HAK 1195 toll-free helpline, County Administration – Police Satiations and Safe Shelters in Busia, Kajiado
and Kwale counties.
One of the major outcomes of the two-year program was the establishment of Gender-Based Violence Recovery Centres (GBVRCs) at Busia County Referral Hospital, Kajiado County Referral Hospital and Msambweni Level V Hospital.
The Centres were established to strengthen support and services by ensuring that all SGBV survivors have adequate and timely access to quality services in the three counties.
The GBVRCs offer safe spaces where the survivors can get SGBV support services including medical attention, and psychosocial support, connecting them with referral pathways whenever they report their
cases. Further, some l survivors are provided with an in-kind grant which aids them in rebuilding their lives and following up with referral services.
The centres also act as SGBV data collection centers. According to CCGD Research and Data Analyst Program Assistant, Mr. Calvin Chepsiror a total of 321 SGBV cases were reported between January and December 2021 at the three GBVRCs.
He says 252 of the cases were reported in Busia County, 61 in Kwale County and 8 in Kajiado County.
He attributed the variation to different factors such as the Centres not being established at the same time.
“The variation witnessed especially in Kajiado County was because the Centre started operating in November, meaning we only recorded reports for two months,” he said.
According to the data 87.54% were female and 12.46% were male this he attributed to the vulnerability of women and girls and the fact that women often report their cases while the men usually shun away from reporting such cases.
Defilement cases were the highest with a record of 182, assault 100, rape 15, sodomy 14, emotional 4, perpetrator 4, and Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) 2. This points out children are more vulnerable to SGBV since they cannot defend themselves against the perpetrators or they can be cured easily by the perpetrators. Further, it was also evident that during school closure the cases of SGBV spiked as witnessed in the month of April and September where 15 and 67 cases were recorded respectively during school holidays.
