JDPC, since the early year 2000 has established peace club in schools. In each of those schools there are two co-ordinators that are trained and retrained by JDPC each year. The club is to empower the students and the coordinator on the tenets of Human rights, democratic principles and gender issues. The structure of the peace clubs has been of tremendous assistance to the success of the intervention. As peace club teachers are part of the campaign team .The structure of the peace club has enhanced the engagements among parents, teachers and policy maker.
In 2018 Justice Development and Peace Commission (JDPC), stated an intervention program in both primary and secondary schools. The program has reached 43 schools within Ogun East senatorial District of Ogun state, i.e. nine (9) local governments with over 4,000 pupils and over three hundred teachers reached, with more than 100 issues on gender based and child violence.
The programme is a campaign to end gender-based violence especially sexual violence against children. It is a structured intervention to educate, train and empower relevant stakeholders to “voice” out abuses and how to manage and get support in cases of such abuse.
The program is tagged “TOUCH ME NOT”. This program has also been taken to the motor parks, markets, religious organisations and communities.
The intervention has gained a buy-in and recognition in public spaces, with children acquiring the skills and boldness needed to report cases more regularly in school and at home.
As part of encouraging children and pupils to speak out, 40 speak out boxes, in form of complaint boxes were placed at strategic places in schools with one of the keys being in the custody of the school and the other with JDPC. Such boxes are opened from time to time to harvest complaints or remarks from the pupils. We have witnessed more cases of sexual abuse from pupils and children since the inception of this intervention more than before.
