Quality data critical in GBV fight—NGO

Communities in Development Activities has said quality data is critical in the fight against gender-based violence (GBV) in Nkhata Bay.

Speaking on Wednesday during a stakeholders orientation on the harmonised data collection in Nkhata Bay, the organisation’s executive director Patrick Mwale said without proper collection and storage of data, the fight against GBV will be difficult.

He said: “Without this harmonised data collection, it is difficult to plan and follow up on GBV cases.

“That is why as Spotlight Initiative family, we decided to come up with the harmonised data collection tool.”

Mwale said they will distribute tablets to child protection workers who are at the centre of data collection in this programme so that they can collect data and upload in real time to a server which will be stationed at the district gender office.

“Any partner or stakeholder in need of data will easily access it,” he said.

Mwale said previously, different organisations had their own way of collecting this data, which affected case management.

A participant, Vitumbiko Gandali from Traditional Authority Mbwana, said as a frontline worker in the fight against violence against women and girl, she was pleased with the harmonised tool.

“The tool is simple to use as compared to previous tools,” she said.

Nkhata Bay District social welfare assistant officer Geyazi Kameko said he liked the tool’s simplicity in design and language as it made it easy to use when collecting data.

“The local language used in the new tool will make it easy for all stakeholders on the ground to use, including chiefs and community police members,” he said.