Luapula Province Permanent Secretary, Mighty Mumba, says the Government is committed to ending all forms of gender inequalities in the province.
Speaking during the Gender Based Violence, (GBV) Response Meeting Programme at the Provincial Administration in Mansa District today, Mr Mumba noted that the Government has shown commitment to ending all forms of gender inequalities and its outcomes such as GBV.
Mr Mumba observed that statistics from Zambia Police indicate that in 2023, Luapula Province recorded 10,522 of both criminal and non-criminal GBV cases alone.
“If we are to look at these statistics they are alarming. The Ministry of Education also recorded 757 cases of early child marriages who were married off and left school,” he said.
Mr Mumba stated that the statistics show that the government and cooperating partners such as the Zambia Centre for Communications Programme (ZCCP)-Kwatu have a lot of work to do.
“We are happy to see new partners coming on board such as the USAID-Stop GBV Now project being implemented by ZCCP-Kwatu who have taken up all One Stop Centres and other GBV interventions of course not forgetting other partners implementing similar programs in Luapula province,” he said.
Meanwhile, ZCCP-Kwatu Chief Executive Officer, Johans Mtonga, observed that GBV is a big problem in Zambia which is mostly perpetrated by men.
Mr Mtonga added that over 62 percent of women in Zambia fail to seek help once they are faced with GBV.
“Even if they report GBV they end up in the hands of perpetrators, and Luapula is not exceptional, 44 percent of physical violence and 21 percent of sexual violence is recorded in Luapula making it the second highest province with cases of GBV countrywide,” he said.
Mr Mtonga lamented that sexual violence is directly linked to HIV/AIDS and if not curbed it will continue to be a danger to society.
“The Stop GBV Now Project which we are implementing as ZCCP-Kwatu will also be looking at the girl child and also collaborate with response and prevention partners to curb GBV and HIV/AIDS in our society,” he said.
Mr Mtonga stated that the project will replicate the semi-one-stop Centres known as gender-based violence desks which will be available in various health posts.
“We want to scale up the good practices that Natwapane left and we are willing to share any other new inventions to make sure that we accelerate the response and prevention measures,” he said.
Mr Mtonga therefore added that the traditional leaders will be heavily involved in fighting GBV in their Chiefdoms.
“Traditional leaders are our partners and for this Programme we will involve them in this fight against any forms of GBV,” he said.
