WARIF BOYS CONVERSATION CAFES

In Nigeria today, 1 in 8 boys would have experienced at least one violent sexual encounter before the age of 18 and 61% of the affected boys do not know where to seek services.

Currently, there is no curriculum on the prevention of sexual violence based on best practices that has been designed and made available for boys.

The WARIF Boys Conversation Café Initiative aims to change this.

With existing support structures that are available in the schools and communities that we work with; the Foundation will set up informal sessions with cohort groups of young secondary school boys between the ages of 12 and 16. These sessions, referred to as “conversation cafes” with the assistance of vetted male volunteers recruited from the Law Enforcement, Ministries of Justice and Education as well as other organizations serving as mentors/role models at each session.

Implemented through dialogue and with the assistance of skilled WARIF facilitators, a curriculum designed to influence peer-to-peer education will be administered. Shared discussions on identifying and measuring the prevalence of sexual violence as well as to educate and change the mind-set of the young boys in their attitudes towards gender inequality that already exists in our society today will be highlighted. This preventative measure will have a positive measured impact on the incidence of Gender Based Violence that is likely to occur due to the potential for violence against women that these boys may have ordinarily displayed without it, as they reach adulthood.