Gender Based Violence (GBV): Perceptions, Prevalence and Implications for Socioeconomic Development in Northeast Nigeria: The Role of USAID Feed the Future Nigeria Integrated Agriculture Activity

Abstract

The issue of GBV has become rampant in developing countries and attracted the attention of researchers, community leaders, policymakers, and local and international development agencies over the past few years. In view of the prevalence of GBV and its devastating effects which are often worsened by insurgencies and crises, The USAID Feed the Future Nigeria Integrated Agriculture Activity mainstreamed gender equality training and GBV awareness campaigns into its activities in Northeast Nigeria in an effort to reduce Gender stereotypes and the occurrence of GBV. This study focused on the intervention areas and examined the perceptions, prevalence and implications of GBV in Adamawa, Borno, Gombe and Yobe states. The study employed survey research design and adopted purposive sampling and snowball strategies in selecting the study locations as well as the respondents (participants).  Using proportional method to determine the sample size, the study collected data on 671 respondents/participants. The descriptive analysis shows that 62.12% of the respondents were female, 79.51% were married, over 60% have senior school education qualifications and above, about 74% fell within the ages of 18-45, over 60% have family size between 6 and 20, 45.83% were crop farmers and 64.74% have annual income between N100, 000-N500, 000. More than 90% of the respondents indicated that the USAID/IITA GBV awareness campaign increased their understanding of GBV and their rights to speak out against it, 63% indicated witnessing GBV in either their households or communities, 69% reported rape as the most frequent GBV incidences followed by domestic violence. Lack of education/illiteracy was reported as the number one cause of GBV followed by poverty. The results of the regression analysis showed that age, annual income and educational level of the respondents are more likely to reduce GBV by 0.994 times, 1 time and 0.992 times, respectively while household size, marital status, gender (male) are more likely to increase GBV by 0.935 times, 1.312 times, and 1.371 times. The result further showed that USAID/IITA GBV awareness campaigns have contributed immensely towards reducing the incidence of GBV by improving the understanding of the participants through training. The study therefore recommended that more GBV awareness, education, income generating capacity building and support services should be provided to further reduce the incidence of GBV in Northeast Nigeria.