In Nigeria, where I live and where the Ford Foundation has worked for more than six decades, 99 per cent of Nigerians are Christian or Muslim, alongside and intertwined with traditional and customary religions. In this highly religious society, faith and traditional leaders are seen as the custodians of culture. They have both wide reach and deep influence: when they speak, people listen. If we don’t cultivate their support to tackle the root causes of GBV, we won’t get far.
Nearly every country in Africa has a law prohibiting violence against women and girls. Feminist movements have driven this incredible achievement, using their voices to spur governments to action and accountability. In West Africa, for example, advocates have worked tirelessly for an end to violence, insisting that rape is a national emergency and pioneering new approaches to keep women and girls safe online.
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Yet, one in three women and girls continues to experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, with a woman or girl killed every 10 minutes by an intimate partner or close relative. A shockingly low level of investment in the prevention of gender-based violence (GBV) is certainly a driving factor of this reality: only 0.2 per cent of development assistance goes to GBV prevention. We can’t expect to reduce GBV if we don’t invest in doing so – but there is another important reason. Those of us working to prevent GBV have overlooked some of our most powerful potential allies in shifting the harmful social and cultural norms that perpetuate GBV: faith and traditional leaders.
Culture, tradition, and religion shape the lives of women and girls, more than the words of a law or policy. Patriarchal cultural norms embedded in religious and traditional beliefs often serve to justify and normalise GBV. Looking to faith and traditional leaders to lead the fight against GBV may seem counterintuitive. How can we expect those who often preach harmful values about women and girls – including condoning violence, at times – to lead efforts to end that violence?
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In Nigeria, where I live and where the Ford Foundation has worked for more than six decades, 99 per cent of Nigerians are Christian or Muslim, alongside and intertwined with traditional and customary religions. In this highly religious society, faith and traditional leaders are seen as the custodians of culture. They have both wide reach and deep influence: when they speak, people listen. If we don’t cultivate their support to tackle the root causes of GBV, we won’t get far.
In February, more than 100 faith and traditional leaders from 23 countries in Africa will convene in Nigeria for a historic dialogue about the outsize role they can play in preventing GBV. It sends a powerful signal that many leaders across the continent are ready to use their influence to ensure women and girls can live safer lives.
Some traditional leaders across Cross River, Plateau, and Ekiti states are revising community guidelines to allow women to remain in their homes and keep their property. Widows are being accompanied by church members and linked with local police to prevent dispossession. This is critical, as economic insecurity is one of the strongest determinants of women’s vulnerability to violence. From domesticating laws into community guidelines to engaging community leaders in reflection and action, these partners are catalysing a set of changes…
Two years into Ford’s partnerships with traditional leaders in West Africa, we have gleaned valuable lessons about advancing this solution. First, a moving sermon or two is not enough. A commitment to preventing GBV must be institutionalised into the policies and practices of religious and cultural institutions. Our grantee partner, Anglican Compassion and Development Initiative worked with 25 dioceses of the Anglican Church to train clergy, bishops, lay leaders, and community members on GBV prevention, including how to address it in pastoral counselling. This work revealed that cultural and religious teachings in the church often uphold the acceptance of violence within marriages.
A breakthrough came when the Anglican Church in Nigeria endorsed the institutionalisation of GBV prevention into the premarital counselling curriculum. Work is now underway to formalise this shift into church policy. Institutionalising change is key to making it durable. Second, changing cultural norms require a shift in the way donors and communities approach GBV work. Donors traditionally prioritise response work — support given to survivors once violence has already taken place, where the number of shelter beds, hotline calls, or livelihoods programmes can be counted to show impact.
Efforts that prevent violence from happening in the first place are often unseen because they are harder to measure and track. Both approaches are important, but an overemphasis on response has created challenges for the field to move toward a prevention mindset that addresses the root causes of violence. When properly resourced and supported, organisations and communities championing prevention efforts demonstrate that it is possible to shift cultural norms and practices.
For example, several of our partners are working with faith and traditional leaders to protect the rights of widows who face stigma, rejection, and disinheritance that leave them destitute and vulnerable to gender-based violence. While Nigeria’s laws ban discrimination against widows, traditional practices based on deeply rooted patriarchal norms often take precedence. Following years of community-based interventions from organisations such as Lux Terra Leadership Foundation — run by a Catholic priest – wives are now increasingly being included in wills, safeguarding their inheritance and property rights.
Some traditional leaders across Cross River, Plateau, and Ekiti states are revising community guidelines to allow women to remain in their homes and keep their property. Widows are being accompanied by church members and linked with local police to prevent dispossession. This is critical, as economic insecurity is one of the strongest determinants of women’s vulnerability to violence. From domesticating laws into community guidelines to engaging community leaders in reflection and action, these partners are catalysing a set of changes that need ongoing support to sustain and deepen over time. This means that funders must commit for the long-term, too.
While certainly a promising solution, working with faith and cultural leaders alone will not bring the change we need. The importance of the continuum of prevention, response, and care for survivors cannot be overemphasised, and the continued leadership of feminist movements is vital to ensure accountability. What we need is a diverse chorus of voices speaking out against violence and for gender equality.
Third, it is important to understand that progress won’t be linear. Religious teachings and cultural beliefs inform our morals and guide our behaviour and relationships. They are deeply held, and many will resist ideas that appear to contradict them. Development Research and Projects Centre (dRPC) works with Muslim leaders in northern Nigeria, leveraging their influence to champion the protection of women’s and girls’ rights within Islamic teachings. dRPC builds the capacity of Muslim leaders, who then share their knowledge with Imams, Mufassirun (interpreters of the Quran), and Sharia court judges.
Following a study tour to Egypt, where leading religious authorities, including the Grand Mufti of Egypt, emphasised Islamic provisions that condemn violence against women, 81 per cent of participants reported a change in their perceptions about GBV. These leaders have started to advocate for the implementation of GBV prevention policies within mosques, Sharia bureaucracies, and the state. But real change takes time, and some members of their communities disagree with these proposals. That is why creating continuous spaces for dialogue, like the upcoming convening, is an essential tool to help those involved navigate through differences and ultimately move the work forward.
While certainly a promising solution, working with faith and cultural leaders alone will not bring the change we need. The importance of the continuum of prevention, response, and care for survivors cannot be overemphasised, and the continued leadership of feminist movements is vital to ensure accountability. What we need is a diverse chorus of voices speaking out against violence and for gender equality.
Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie asserted, “Culture does not make people. People make culture.” And, promisingly, we are beginning to see some real indicators of culture change. 71 per cent of Nigerian women and 74 per cent of Nigerian men now believe that female genital mutilation (FGM) should not continue, compared to 64 and 62 per cent just six years earlier. The prevalence of FGM dropped by 6 per cent in this time period as well. Our partner, UN Women, pointed out notable progress in Akwa Ibom and Oyo States, where traditional and community leaders have championed the abandonment of FGM. This is a powerful sign of progress, and we must keep going.
On the eve of this historic conference, we say to funders and practitioners addressing GBV: let’s scale up efforts to leverage the power of faith and traditional leaders to stop violence before it starts. Women and girls can’t wait.
Izeduwa Derex-Briggs is a program officer at Ford Foundation’s Office for West Africa.
