Also, laws that continue to undermine the rights of women and girls to be free from violence and discrimination need to be urgently reformed, such as the Law of Marriage Act whose repeal is still pending. In addition, significant gender gaps persist at the upper-secondary school level, where there is an average of 78 women enrolled for every men.
Drivers of the gender gap at the secondary level are explained by financial constraints at higher education levels, gender norms that prioritize the education of boys over girls, and early marriage and childbirth. Despite having the NPAs in place, the GBV Assessment findings point to several challenges and persisting gaps that undermine the efforts to address the crisis.
For example, the limited allocation of resources in support of the implementation of the NPAs and the lack of monitoring frameworks, which is exacerbated by low funding.
In addition, overall GBV systems and coordination are not sufficiently resourced from the national level to the local level, while the paper system of data collection on service delivery statistics for GBV inhibits understanding of trends and needs. The authors identify further gaps across all sectors in GBV response and prevention programming, particularly in terms of quality of services and ensuring survivor-centered care.
The authors make several recommendations for addressing the imbalances. A particularly salient policy priority is urgently taking action to change the legislative framework to address child-marriage as a key driver of GBV.
