Acting Together to End Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in Nigerian Tertiary Institutions: An Action-Oriented Study

Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) is a public health and human rights concern globally. Incidents of SGBV are increasingly reported in Nigerian tertiary institutions, making the teaching and learning environment unconducive for many students and staff, especially females. This action-oriented study aimed to institutionalise an enabling environment for reducing SGBV in Nigerian tertiary institutions. This project also aimed at strengthening Nigerian higher institutions and its regulatory bodies’ response to SGBV through selected tertiary institutions across the country zones and scaling up the initiatives into other institutions not reached in the project at the post-intervention stage. This study was guided by the socio-ecological theory of violence against women and the theory of change. These two theories were used to identify and develop policies and programs related to sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), as well as the interventions needed to achieve zero SGBV in Nigerian higher education institutions. The aim was to produce early and intermediate outcomes leading to the ultimate goal of eliminating SGBV.

Findings from the baseline study revealed that SGBV is widespread in the selected study locations, with reported cases across all the institutions visited. The drivers of SGBV were categorised into personal, structural, and environmental factors. Perpetrators of SGBV include academic and non-academic staff, family members, strangers, and neighbours of students living outside the campus. The study findings shed light on critical roles played by stakeholders across the different tertiary institutions. Some available SGBV policies across the selected campuses include anti-sexual harassment policies, codes of conduct, and various SGBV laws and policies. The project aimed to unite all identified stakeholders to develop strategies to end SGBV in tertiary institutions in Nigeria and is at the intervention stage, The study concluded that for SDGs 5 and 10 to be achieved, deliberate SGBV plans and actions are necessary.