Students in tertiary learning institutions are not immune to gender-based violence and suffer in silence because they lack safe spaces to share their lived experiences for fear of being judged and socially excluded. The Criminal Justice Legal Clinic and Gender Justice Clinic of the University of Malawi (UNIMA) in partnership with ArtGlo organized a two-day Sexual harassment awareness campaign on campus meant to unearth GBV cases and also raise awareness of available reporting mechanisms at the institution.
On the second day of the campaign, ArtGlo’s Social Inclusion and Diversity Programme Officer, Chisomo Liwimbi, facilitated an Umunthu circle dialogue that created a platform for the participants to discuss sensitive issues about GBV. This encouraged even the Male students to also share some personal and second experiences with regards to the vice.
“From a young age, most men have been socially told that sex is manly and this has made them normalize even sexual harassment,” emphasized one of the male students.
He further said that some societal tendencies of siding with the perpetrators of violence demotivates survivors from reporting and some withdraw already reported cases. Several critical issues came out and the students assessed their understanding of the institution’s sexual harassment policy, limitations, and gaps among others.
“Yes, the UNIMA policy provides that people should report and the burden of evidence will be laid on a special commission that the administration will set up to investigate the matter,” explained one of the female students.
Participants explored what it means to be a good or bad Gender Justice advocate through role plays apart from understanding the reporting mechanisms at their disposal. The campaign ended with a call to action for the students to be their brother’s or sister’s keepers to deal with the vice.
The two-day campaign leveraged the 16 days of activism period to intensify awareness and advocacy against the vice at the institution.
