CVSS to Host Forum on Gender-Based Violence

As part of efforts to tackle the problem of violence in the society, the Council for Voluntary Social Services (CVSS) will host a forum titled: ‘The Role of the Women in Breaking the Cycle of Gender-based Violence in the Jamaican Society’.
The event, which will be held on November 15 at the Terra Nova Hotel starting at 8:30 a.m., is a collaborative venture with the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), and will attract some 120 persons from non-governmental organizations (NGOs), community and faith-based groups, private and public sector bodies, tertiary institutions, and the justice system.
Gerlin Bean, Chairperson of the Gender Sector for the CVSS, told JIS News that the objective of the forum is to explore a comprehensive multi-sectoral strategy and plan, for stemming gender-based violence against women and children.
According to Ms. Bean, the level of violence in the society is a serious issue for the public as well as the CVSS. Of deep concern, she said, is the high level of domestic violence; violence against children and women; and how women themselves are sometimes participants in these violent acts.
The forum, she told JIS News, will bring groups together “to explore what are the root causes of this violence and what role the women play in terms of protecting the perpetrators themselves, among other issues.”
In terms of expectations from the forum, Ms. Bean said she hoped that the participants will be encouraged to go back to their communities and establish linkages such as home-based community groups, to have serious discourse on the problem.
“We want them to start speaking with each other and relate the things that come out of this forum, where they will [certainly] have ideas in how to communicate with each other and start putting strategies in place to help stem the spate of violence,” she expounded.
Ms. Bean also said that it is the intention of the Gender Sector of the CVSS to have follow-up sessions and also get feedback to determine the challenges and how to overcome them.