Stand By Her

STAND BY HER

- By Pa Modou Faal

Stand By Her was created by women for men to be effective ally to women. Violence perpetuated by men against women is a serious issue that requires expert knowledge to tackle. As a result of such acts of violence, Communities Inc and Nottinghamshire Women’s Aid co-developed the Stand By Her Initiative. With a combination of years of expertise in the Bystander intervention training, community empowerment, and supporting women and girls experiencing violence, the two organisations successfully crafted the Stand By Her training programme.

Stand by Her is a unique program that shifts the focus from putting the whole responsibility on women to keep themselves safe, it targets the root cause of the problem which is men’s harmful attitudes and behaviours toward women. The programme is aimed at making men allies to women than just standing by and look when women are in critical situations. It mainly seeks to create solution in addressing misogyny in our society.

“Stand by Her makes a difference. It provides practical ways for men to respond to harmful behaviour and begin their allyship journey. It allows men to send a strong message and change the societal perception of what is and isn’t acceptable.” - Communities Inc.

Stand By her is aimed at teaching men how to become allies to support women in the fight against misogyny and some sexist nasty behaviour of men. The programme is not aimed at perpetrators but men who really want to do something to be able to support women in their lives and the training gives them some tips and ideas on what they can do. In light of awareness raising in the community, a training workshop was organised in Nottingham at the Marcus Garvey Centre where men from Nottingham and Reading were given the opportunity to participate in this laudable initiative.

Michael Henry who coordinated the training workshop said, “the programme is funded by Google which we took on nationally and trained over a thousand people across the country. The programme is independently evaluated, and the report has been very positive.”

“The StandByHer is based on a bystander intervention model we created some years ago and we have a programme called StahndByMe. Bystander Intervention means recognising a negative situation and responding in a way that can stop or de-escalate it. Hateful behaviour often happens in public places. So, there’s a good chance you’ll witness it when you’re out and about -whether it’s a passing comment or a confrontation, we all must challenge any sign of hate”, Mr Henry charged.

“We have received a lot of positive feedback from trainees, evaluators and in the communities where the programme is being administered. The report shows that people have increased their understanding and are much more likely to intervene when they see women in compromising situations. It is a tried-and –tested model but we are always looking for ways to improve it and keep it up to date”, he said.

Mr Henry said they conduct an evaluation survey at the end of every training, and they do see a significant shift in the response of the participants showcasing their level of knowledge before and after the training. Most of the times, in a scale of 1-5 he continued, participants will give a 2 before the training which often changes up to a number 5 after completing the training.

“It is a serious subject, and we try to break it down so that it would not overwhelm the participants because the videos that are played during the workshops are quite captivating and sometimes difficult to watch and we want to inspire people to do good things rather than make them feel guilty and bad, and just try to get the balance right”, he explained.

Mr Henry further said some men do not give much to such things, but it also depends on their upbringing and peer groups – who they hang around with, their life experiences; some people have a negative view of women, and people who have those views probably would not attend this kind of training. “This training is for men who know women get a bad deal of society but want to do more and want to support them during such difficult moments,” he concluded.

We live in a society where 97% of young women have been sexually harassed. Men’s violence against women is widespread but still perceived as purely a women’s issue. It’s time to change the focus and narrative.

AFRICAN LEADERS PUSH FOR AN END ON WESTERN ZIMBABWE

SANCTIONS - By Peter Makossah

African presidents say the Western sanctions against Zimbabwe are hurting ordinary people and the entire continent and must be put to an end. The African leaders used the United Nations General Assembly held in New York, United States of America to push for an end to a two-decade-long Western embargo against Zimbabwe, arguing that the sanctions are hurting ordinary people and the region. African Union (AU) Chairman and Senegalese President Macky Sall led the charge when he delivered his address at the UNGA 77th session in September, where he said the sanctions should be removed immediately to enable Zimbabwe to realise its full potential. “The AU once again calls for the lifting of foreign sanctions against Zimbabwe,” President Sall said. “These harsh measures continue to inflict a sense of injustice against an entire people and aggravate their suffering in these times of deep crisis”, he lamented. Mr Sall’s impassioned plea was echoed by leaders from Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and South Africa in their addresses to the UNGA summit. DRC’s President Felix Tshisekedi, the current Chair of the Southern African Development Community, described the sanctions on Zimbabwe as “a crime against an innocent people.” In his maiden UNGA address, Kenyan President William Ruto said, “unilateral coercive actions, such as those imposed on Zimbabwe and Cuba, apart from undermining the sovereign equality of nations, also indiscriminately punish the general citizenry, reserving their bitterest sting for innocent hustlers and the vulnerable.” South Africa’s Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Naledi Pandor, representing President Cyril Ramaphosa, also condemned the actions on the two countries. “South Africa calls for an end to the embargo against Cuba, which continues to impede the right to development of her people,” said Dr Pandor. “In the same vein, we call for an end to unilateral coercive measures against Zimbabwe, which have compounded the problems experienced by the people of Zimbabwe” he concluded. President Ramaphosa used his meeting with United States President Joe Biden in early September to call for an end to Washington’s sanctions against Zimbabwe, which he said were also negatively affecting neighbouring countries. He said countries such as South Africa and Botswana were battling an influx of Zimbabwean immigrants running away from economic problems in their country, which he attributed to the sanctions.

In his address, Chairperson of the world’s Least Developed Countries (LDCs) Dr. Lazarus Chakwera, who is also the president of Malawi, called the West and rich countries to treat African countries with respect and dignity and never to leave anyone behind in as far as development is concerned. “There is an urgent need for the West to treat Africa and all Least Developed Countries with a measure of equality, dignity and respect. Let no one be left behind,” said Chakwera. He urged the rich countries and global financial lending institutions to cancel African countries’ debts.

Western countries, including the US, European Union member states, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, imposed different forms of targeted sanctions against the regime of the late Robert Mugabe following a disputed presidential election in 2002. Mugabe’s regime was accused of human rights violations and electoral fraud, but Harare insisted it was being punished for a land reform programme that saw over 2000 white Zimbabweans losing their commercial farms without compensation. The embargoes have remained in place nearly six years after Zimbabwe’s long-serving ruler was toppled in a military coup. His successor, President Emmerson Mnangagwa, is accused of failing to honour his promises to implement reforms that were set as a precondition for lifting the sanctions.

The US, EU and the UK maintain that the sanctions do not affect ordinary people as they are targeted at government officials that are linked to human rights abuses. As a result of the sanctions imposed by the West on Zimbabwe during Robert Mugabe’s iron-fist rule, the Southern African nation, a former British colony and formerly known as Southern Rhodesia has had its economy down-spiralling and this forced a lot of its citizens to migrate overseas in search for better life following the draconian rule. Nottingham is a host to a sizeable population to Zimbabwean migrants. Patrice Musarurwa, businessperson, and owner of Braii King Delight located along Aspley Lane said, “it’s time the sanctions on Zimbabwe are lifted. If they want to keep the sanctions on, then they should restrict them only to the leaders and not the innocent people.” https://mojatu.com/2022/11/15/ african-leaders-push-for-an-endon-western-zimbabwe-sanctions/