By Danjuma Amodu
The Federal Government and UN Women have named traditional, religious and community leaders as the most critical force to end gender-based violence (GBV) in Nigeria and West Africa. At a closing event in Abuja on Monday, they also unveiled a new regional programme to tackle the rising threat of online violence against women and girls.
The announcement came at the close-out of the three-year Leadership, Engagement, Advocacy and Prevention (LEAP) Project, funded by the Ford Foundation and implemented by UN Women to mobilise cultural gatekeepers against GBV.
“Traditional and religious institutions are powerful agents capable of transforming attitudes that perpetuate violence and discrimination against women and girls.”
– Hajiya Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, Minister of Women Affairs
Speaking at the event, the Minister of Women Affairs, Hajiya Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, said sustainable progress in ending violence against women and girls would depend on influential community leaders challenging harmful cultural practices and championing gender equality.
She stressed that changing harmful social norms would require collective action beyond government interventions. She urged community leaders to continue using their influence to promote dignity, justice and equal opportunities.
UN Women said the conclusion of the LEAP Project marked not the end of the movement but the beginning of a broader regional campaign.
In remarks delivered on behalf of the UN Women Representative to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Beatrice Eyong, the organisation announced that the Ford Foundation had approved renewed funding for a new initiative titled “Community-Led Advocacy and Digital Spaces for the Safety of Women and Girls in West Africa.”
The programme will be implemented in Nigeria, Ghana and Senegal. It will build on the gains of LEAP by strengthening collaboration with traditional and religious leaders, community institutions and women’s rights organisations.
According to UN Women, the new initiative will also confront one of the fastest-growing forms of violence affecting women and girls: technology-facilitated gender-based violence. This includes online harassment, cyberstalking, image-based abuse and online exploitation.
The organisation said trusted traditional and religious leaders who had driven change within their communities would now be equipped to promote safe, respectful and inclusive digital spaces, extending the fight against GBV from physical communities to the online environment.
UN Women also highlighted encouraging national data suggesting that prevention efforts are beginning to yield results.
Citing findings from the 2024 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey, the agency said the prevalence of sexual violence against women declined from nine per cent in 2018 to five per cent in 2024. Physical violence since age 15 dropped from 31 per cent to 19 per cent. Intimate partner violence fell from 36 per cent to 23 per cent, and female genital mutilation declined from 20 per cent to 14 per cent over the same period.
Nevertheless, UN Women cautioned that declining rates of help-seeking among survivors underscored the need for stronger survivor-centred services, improved reporting mechanisms, psychosocial support and greater access to justice.
The organisation noted that over three years, the LEAP Project helped traditional and religious leaders publicly reject harmful practices. It also strengthened partnerships between governments and traditional institutions, engaged more men and boys as allies, and established community accountability mechanisms that empowered women and girls to seek support.
The project also facilitated collaboration with Liberia, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Niger and Ghana to develop a Regional Accountability Framework for Traditional Leaders on Gender-Based Violence Prevention.
Stakeholders at the event maintained that while significant progress had been made, sustained investment in prevention, stronger partnerships with community leaders and continued regional cooperation would be critical to eliminating GBV and ensuring that cultural and religious institutions become enduring champions of women’s rights across West Africa.
