Jeremie, Haiti, March 30, 2017 – Marie Yves Antoine, 24, is a nurse and works at the Pestel health center, a landlocked community in the southwest of Haiti. She now feels better armed to mentor women and children after attending training on the Information Management System (IMS) related to gender-based violence (GBV).

Some 100 people - local elected officials and health professionals from the departments of Grand'Anse and the South - took part in this workshop organized by the Ministry for the Status of Women and Women's Rights (MCFDF), the Ministry of Health and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), with the support of USAID, from 27 to 30 March 2017, in Jeremie.

Idélie Denis is the Mayor of Tiburon and president of a women's association. Like Miss Antoine, she says she is now more aware of the GBV.

¨ After this training, I understand better the concepts such as GBV, gender, gender stereotype, gender equity and gender inequality, as well as the causes and consequences of GBV¨, explains Idélie Denis, adding that she intends to restore this new knowledge to her community and her association.

¨The objective of this training is also to familiarize the community agents and field workers of the MSPP and the MCFDF with the collection tools of the GBV cases¨, explains the GBV field Gender Coordinator for UNFPA.

These agents will be deployed in the South and Grand'Anse on March 30 and 31 in health institutions, communities, courts and women's organizations, "adds Marie Keteline Parfait.

¨The data collected and captured will be analyzed in order to guide actions aimed at creating an environment conducive to the prevention and response to GBV, ¨ emphasizes the UNFPA Gender and Youth Program Officer.

Another important aspect of the training concerns, according to Marie Josée Salomon, the advocacy with the newly elected local authorities of the 13 communes of the department of Grand'Anse, with a view to a better understanding of the Protection theme, in particular the structure of Coordination of the GBV sub-sector and the integration of GBV into other humanitarian sectors.

Sylmatha Pierre is both Mayor of Jérémie and President of the Association of Women Mayors of Grand'Anse (COFMGA). "This training will enable me to set up a program of mobilization and awareness-raising on violence against women and girls," she said.

A study carried out in 2012 by SOFA (Solidarity of Haitian Women) showed that rape was the most common form of GBV in the department of Grand'Anse.

According to the EMMUS V-2012 survey, in Haiti, 28% of women between the ages of 15 and 49 have been physically abused since the age of 15, and 13% have been sexually abused at any time in their lives. The department of Grand'Anse slightly exceeds the national rate with 13.8% victims of sexual violence.