Justice, Development & Peace Movement

Catholic Diocese Of Oyo

Justice, Development And Peace Movement Catholic Diocese Of Oyo

Posted by Admin
On 2020-11-04

A PUSH FOR FAMILY STABILITY

Family is a primary social group consisting of parents and children or a social unit living together while instability means a state of disequilibrium. Thus, family instability is a state of imbalance in the family which may be as a result of parent?s inability to manage their homes, conflicts, divorce, economic hardships, job loss, frictions or tensions which may be due to financial, emotional or social factors.

Ideally, when children live together with their parents, it has a great impact on the social, welfare and emotional state. Family is a core agent of socialisation, when children are positively influenced at home, it engenders a secure society. However, in a situation whereby either or both parents are absent, the responsibility of taking care of the children is outsourced to another person who may not be willing to do a thorough job at ensuring the welfare of such affected children.

With such a vacuum in existence, the children are exposed to both social vices and can be victims of child abuse such as child labour, sexual abuse, prostitution, child, neglect. It can also impact their performance in school and deteriorating social relations with fellow age mates and even adults.
In essence, family instability affects proper nutrition, low social interaction and may also impact emotional climate. It has also been observed that children from dysfunctional or unstable homes usually portray attitudes and behaviours that are anti-social due to the absence of care and attention from their parents.

No doubt family imbalance is a situational challenge that poses a great threat to the integral development of any child as it endangers and robs children of the support and care they are entitled to under the law. If unchecked, it poses a greater risk for family preservation. Family instability can be said to be a greater clog in the wheel of realising children?s rights as guaranteed under the various provision of laws.

In ensuring that family instability is greatly reduced, options like economic, legal and social respites can be provided to parents to allay its negative effects on children. Therefore, managing conflicts is crucial in reducing the rate of family instability noticed in society. It can be avoided if parties get immediate attention through mediation and peaceful resolution of conflicts. And if such options fail, it will be in the best interest of the child for the affected parent to approach the court to assert the rights of the child.
Likewise, an economic stimulus can be given to lessen the effects of hardships rising from inflation, increase in taxes, job insecurity etc. particularly witnessed during the COVID 19 pandemic.

As an organisation with a vision to raise people?s dignity, JDPM through various interventions has been able to reduce significantly the impact of family instability under its coverage areas. Some of the cases that were referred to the organisation received prompt attention, and children which were once neglected or have been affected by imbalance in the home have begun to see changes with their parents. Some absent fathers have also buckled up responsibilities for the welfare and maintenance of their children.

Likewise, over 250 families are being economically empowered through Child Rights and Welfare project interventions, seminars and workshops. Parents who hitherto lack saving and investment culture have started contributing in preparation for rainy days. Parents are also being introduced to the dynamics of multiple streams of incomes and its beneficial consequences which many have come to see its benefits and are now reaping from its good.

CONCLUSION
Instability in any form is difficult for children. Thereby, JDPM educated parents to model positive ways of managing conflicts as change is inevitable in life. To sustain healthy relationships, parents have to deliberately expose themselves to skills and empowerment initiatives that can help maintain balance in their family life.

Parents play an important role in how children manage tough situations; parents must keep in mind the long-term impact of how their behaviour will impact their children now and in the future. Therefore they must be encouraging, accommodating and show understanding in ensuring that they maintain their positive roles of assisting their children to have a positive future free from any shades of enmeshed discontentment by triggered by the parent?s actions and omissions.

Posted by Admin
On 2020-10-13

Child Rights; PHR Trains New School Teachers

The Child Right and Welfare Project of the Justice Development and Peace Movement (JDPM) has begun sensitization of teachers in the newly added schools in Oyo and environs. This is coming after a particular Muslim school misconstrued the rationale behind the project. The said primary school erroneously assume the child rights project is an attempt to introduce christian faith to their school system which was untrue and needless.

The project in the last few years (2017)till date was designed for young pupils in formal school structure in Oyo, Ogbomoso and Oke-Ogun zones of Oyo State, Nigeria with funding partner being Kindermissionwerk, a child development organization in Germany. The project goal is; institutionalize rights, responsibilities and welfare of the child in Oyo State as specified by the United Nations Convention on the rights of the child.

The School are; Ifedapo Community Basic School II and III,Opapa, Anwar-ul-Islam Nursery and Primary School, Ojongbodu,Griffin Memorial Methodist Primary School, Akeetan Titun and Methodist Primary School II and III, Durbar Oyo town bringing the total number of schools under the project to 82 in 10 Local government area in Oyo State.

The lead facilitators, Mr Taiwo Dominic said "either as teachers, parents or guardians in schools and homes, every child must be taught how to accept responsibilities in schools and how it affect families".

He urged teachers to discipline their pupils responsively and compassionately to pass the rightful message while effort should also be made to establish Child Rights Clubs in the school so that pupils will learn leadership roles for the future.

Posted by Admin
On 2020-08-24

JDPM ENGAGES STAKEHOLDERS ON CHILD ABUSE IN OYO

The societal ills have gone from a mere assumption to complicated dimension in recent time and child abuse is not excluded either. While finding the causes of these social problems remain sacrosanct, the wheel of progress to nib it in the bud continues to wax stronger daily. That is why the Child Rights Officers of the Justice, Development and Peace Movement (JDPM) of the Catholic Diocese of Oyo organized a-Day Public Discourse on Child Abuse in Oyo and environs.
The event featured participants from the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC), Oyo State Command; Ministry of Women Affairs; Social Welfare Department, Oyo Zonal Office; members of Justice of Peace (JPs); Neighbourhoods Initiative for Civic Engagement Promotion (NICE-P); Omo Iyakunmi Foundation (OIK); religious leaders; artisans; market women; traders; Landlord/lady Associations; Okada Riders; transporters; amongst others.

The lead facilitators at the forum are Assistance Supretendent Commandant (ASC) Afe Olurotimi, the Head of Anti-Human Trafficking and Child Protection Unit, Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC), Oyo State Command, and Mrs Olaposi I.B, the Principal Social Welfare Officer from the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Inclusion, Oyo Zonal Office.

ASC Afe Olurotimi started with a warning that the public should stop focusing on girl child abuse alone because boys were also sexually abused through anal sex. He said "Child molestation is for underage children while rape is for those above 18 years of age. But the truth of the matter is that whether underage or matured, sexual abuse is a condemnable offence under the law. He explained that in defilement, there is threatening of victims by the abusers while in rape; there is a higher possibility of forcefully penetration of the victims by perpetrators through the physical force that causes injuries".

He observed that many parents keep pornographic materials on their smartphones, laptops, IPad and other electronic gadgets which their children can access at will. Experiences abound that the children can open any of such gadget without a lesson from anyone, even if they are locked. In support of that fact, research shows that most children born after the year 2000 have a higher IQ than the previous generations.

He reminded the participants that the acquaintances are the most abusers, not strangers. They are closer to the parents of their targets.It begins with unusual closeness and admiration for the children by an acquaintance. He urged the parents, guardians and caregivers to be careful and watchful

According to him, "Covid-19 lockdown has brought out many unreported cases of child molestation, domestic violence and gender-based violence". He expressed happiness that an increased number of people are now coming out to report what they are experiencing. He pleaded that all hands must be on deck to put an end to this serious challenge and deconstruct the ugly trend.


He wants all stakeholders to work towards bringing back the Juvenile Panel Committee for the rehabilitation of children with bad social behaviours.

"There must be advocacy for the important stakeholders, public sensitization, capacity building for officers of the Customary Courts where most of these issues are tried". He clamoured for continuous training and retraining of participants, social workers, development officers for better understanding of the challenge and how best to handle it before causing other evils.

On marital instability, the Principal Social Welfare Officer from the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Inclusion, Oyo Zonal Office, Mrs Olaposi I.B noted that child abuse and rape remains stronger in our society because most families have lost value for their marriage and child welfare. She emphasized that when the house does not have peace, the children suffers the most because they are vulnerable to many abusers who exploit their predicament to lure into danger.


She thought that couples must fight for their marriage because of the benefits of a stable family to couples, children and society. "The care for the children these days produces better adults and leaders tomorrow". He urged the couples to cooperate to fulfil their marital visions.

She categorically stated that most families breaks down when there is a lack of love, especially where couples pretend to get the hand of their partner in marriage for certain gains apart from love. Her words "Some couples do not realize that marriage is a big responsibility that must be faced squarely beyond sexual intimacy, procreation and companionship. Mrs Olaposi added that marital instability could also occur if couples are not working especially when it is the husband that is fulfilling all marital responsibility alone. She urged housewives to assist their husbands by contributing to the smooth running of the house financially and in other necessary areas.

She stressed that unexpected or unwanted pregnancies contribute to broken homes. Whereas most couples failed to realize that unprotected sexual intimacy could result in unexpected or unwanted pregnancies. She maintained that wives must strive hard in their business, jobs and other areas of endeavour to assist their husbands which could mitigate frequent frustration in marital homes.

The guest speakers bemoaned public disregard for abused victims through a culture of silence which has continued to give more powers to paedophiles and other perpetrators.

A member of Justice of Peace (JP) Chief Lucas Adekunle, advocates for the resuscitation of Juvenile Court where children with certain social abnormal behaviours are rehabilitated to become better citizens in the future. He appealed to the Oyo State government to look into abuse of office by most officials of Magistrate Courts who have been reportedly frustrating the efforts of child rights officers in Oyo.

Other participants, Dr Adetunji ------ a para-legal official observes that majority of social problems in Nigeria are borne by the government because of poor law enforcement on the importation of clothes which allows free flows of nude clothes and styles, laxity on film censorship which encourages the proliferation of adult material contents on digital television and movie industry. He cited abuse of social media by young people where they imbibe abnormal social behaviours such as suicide, drug abuse and promiscuity which has increased the index of sexual abuse in recent time. He also condemned government insensitivity and selfishness to advertising agency and regulation that encourage nudity by using females for advertisement and endorsement.

A representative of Anti-Rape, Child Rights and Women Protection Movement (ANCROMEEN), Mrs Adeyemi ----- said child abuse and molestation in Oyo and its environs is alarming because most couples do not create time for their wards. She maintained that failed parental responsibility accounts for high cases of child defilement and sexual abuse probably because there is no speedy justice system to try perpetrators who often exploit the society?s continuous support for a culture of silence. She charged parents to cooperate in disciplining their children, monitor their behaviours, teaches them in the way of the Lord and creates valuable time to train them how to be a responsible global citizen.

The Chief Imam of Atiba, Oyo town, Alhaji Abdulrasheed Adebayo in his contribution said all religion supports moral upbringing of a child and likewise must remain united in combating child abuse and all forms of sexual molestation.

The HOD, Politics and Human Rights Department, JDPM Oyo, Mr Taiwo Dominic appreciated the guest speakers for their time and commitment towards an egalitarian and peaceful society. He equally assured NSCDC and Ministry of Women and Social Inclusion of JDPM?s support for their programmes through collaboration, public enlightenment and sensitization on any important development challenges that could affect children positively in Oyo State.

In his closing remark, a Child Right Officer, JDPM Oyo, Mr Rasaq Olasunkanmi appreciated the participants and facilitators for sparing their time to attend the forum. He appealed to all parents and guardians to take good care of their children and manage domestic disagreement with diplomacy without compromising their parental responsibilities.

It was generally agreed that representatives of different groups would go to their groups to educate them on child rights, care and protection. Whereas JDPM should be prepared to organize more of the forum to spread knowledge on child rights, care and child protection from abuse for a better future.

Posted by Admin
On 2020-06-08

Child Rights; JDPM Touches Over 22,000 Pupils in Oyo State

All children are born with fundamental rights and freedom. These rights of children are not only core developmental goals in itself but a key to the survival and development of children. Therefore, the Justice, Development and Peace Movement (JDPM) of Catholic Diocese of Oyo have achieved a feat in its Child Rights and Welfare project in the selected basic schools in Oyo, Ogbomoso and Oke-Ogun.

The project which was made possible to kick-start in 2017 with till date through the assistance of Kindermissionswerk, a child development international organization in Germany has witnessed unprecedented development since inception as it recorded an increase in the number of schools from 50 to 81 across 10 LGAs whilst the geometric increase in the number of teachers trained on Child Rights from the initial 1000 to 1,585 from April 2017 (1st phase) with the second phase which began in March 2019 is expected to run till April 2021.
The spread of the 81 Basic Schools that benefited from the project run are Afijio 7 schools; Atiba 12 schools; Atisbo 6 schools; Kajola 6 schools; Iseyin 11 schools; Itesiwaju 5 schools; Iwajowa 6 schools; Ogbomoso south 9 schools; Oyo East 10 schools; and Oyo West 9 schools.

The Inauguration of 30 {20 males, 10 females} Child's Rights Ambassadors across 10 LGAs with 162 {26 males, 136 females} teacher-facilitators across 81 basic schools to deepen education on child's rights foster community-wide care of children and respond to abuse against children. Directly, 21, 954 pupils have benefited from the project in one way or the other. Indirectly about 65, 862 other children must have benefited from the project through interactions with the direct beneficiaries in the societies as playmates. Some other indirect beneficiaries benefited through 411 Parent-Teachers Executives and the 206 selected families.

The Coordinator of JDPM Oyo, Rev Father Gabriel Adeleke said there is a need to improve the rights and welfare of the child to attain the desired standard. According to him, "the governments, teachers, parents/guardians, and other adults must look ahead to the future of childhood at the community level. All must be committed to urgent specific actions to promote and protect the rights of every child everywhere because they are part of our society. Whether Covid-19 has pushed many pupils out of schools for now or not, every child must be protected from all forms of discrimination, abuse and neglect".

Similarly, the Head of Department, Politics and Human Rights (PHR), JDPM Oyo, Mr Taiwo Dominic noted that "It is essential for every citizen to be aware of the rights that all children have, upholds rights of every child, and enable every child to claim those rights. By that, we can jointly make the moment a turning point for every child."

He maintained that it is possible for the adults to protect, respect and fulfill child's rights by educating the child, families, caregivers, and government institutions on the subject matter. But, it is essential to provide the right support for the child to overcome challenges of life. This will propel full realization of the UNCRC in alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals where no-one; no child; is left behind.

After several training and capacity building on Child Rights, some Child Rights Ambassadors in Oyo, Ogbomoso and Oke-Ogun region observed that adults have a responsibility to encourage the child to speak up for himself and educate families about what is and what is not acceptable behaviour towards the child.

During the International 2019 Annual Children Day celebration, quite a large number of pupils said when the rights of the child are protected, the child stands a much better chance of growing up in a society that allows him/her to thrive. They passed the messages to the stakeholders through poems, playlets, Ijala among others to give the message a solid weight in their respective localities.

Parents and guardians are now fully aware and understand why every child needed to be treated fairly and equally as members of the society. These children have been equipped with the necessary knowledge to challenge their parents, guardians and teachers if they feel cheated or maltreated in any way because of the institutionalization of Child Rights Vanguards who created Child Rights Civic Club in basic schools where pupils can take part in leadership and nation building exercises.

Testimonies from parents and guardians revealed that child right programme has awakened them to the full parental responsibilities at homes. Likewise, the rate of child abuse has reduced because the pupils now feel safer to open up to their teachers on whatever bothers them in schools and at homes.


Posted by Admin
On 2020-06-04

COVID-19; PHR OFFICERS MEETS WITH CHILD RIGHTS AMBASSADORS IN OKE-OGUN

Street awareness and community infiltration have been identified as one of the best ways through which Child Right education could be taught at a time like this when the scourge of COVID-19 have led to the closure of many schools in Nigeria. This was made known by the Parish Priest of St Mary Magdalene Catholic Church, Tede, Atisbo LGA of Oyo State, Rev Father Martins Badejo during the meeting between the Politics and Human Rights Officers of the Justice, Development and Peace Movement (JDPM) of the Catholic Diocese of Oyo and Child Right Ambassadors in Atisbo LGA.

Welcoming the team to Tede, the Parish priest said, JDPM is well known in Oke-Ogun and beyond not just as a social arm of the Church but also as a champion of good cause on different development issues over the years. He added that following the closure of schools in Oyo State and other parts of Nigeria as a result of coronavirus pandemic, many families have been battling with domestic violence, sexual abuse and most importantly hunger because of lockdown.

Rev Father Martin Badejo maintained that Human Rights Officers of JDPM should consider street awareness and visitation to communities where parents and guardians could arrange children in their respective communities to certain groups where lectures could be delivered on Child Rights to educate both parents and their wards instead of waiting for the opening of schools to carry more weigh outside the classroom.

In his address, the Programme Manager/Head of Department, Politics and Human Rights, JDPM Oyo, Mr Taiwo Dominic noted that 2020 has left everyone bewildered because the global pandemic of COVID-19 was never pre-empted.

According to him, "Child right is a civic right which no responsible parents should deny their children. With the COVID-19 emergence, many activities of organizations and private individuals have been seriously affected. But this unexpected situation should not give loopholes to abuse of human rights in any form."

Mr Taiwo said the partial closure of schools by the Oyo State government since March 28, 2020, to avoid the spread of coronavirus through social interactions, the experiences of isolation, not having a gathering of more than 20 people and social distancing serves as a cautious reminder of the importance of human face-to-face interactions; and has disrupted the implementation of Child Rights project.

"The situation we find ourselves now is a serious one because the conditions gave the project officers time to interrogate the current coronavirus-related disruption in the light of the pandemic on development work and re-think on how to modify interventions strategies so that the implementation of the project would continue."

Similarly, the officers visited Okeho, Kajola LGA where the same meeting was held. The brainstorming session was also engaging as many ambassadors made their opinions known especially on the use of family cluster formation instead of street awareness where each ambassador in a different part of the town would mobilize parents to bring their wards into a meeting where the number of people would be limited to create more awareness on the project at hand.

Speaking further, a Child Rights Officer, Mrs Kehinde Adedolapo said the emergence of COVID-19 has made it difficult to reach pupils through class teachers and other stakeholders cannot be invited for workshops or interface as before. The situation according to her is about to jeopardize the child right defence as it disrupted the early warning mechanism in operation which has forced the team to re-schedule meetings, seminars and workshop.

In his presentation, Mr Taiwo Dominic said all planned workshops involving large numbers of participants would now be disaggregated into smaller units to accommodate a few numbers of participants to conform to the new realities social gathering imposed by COVID-19.

"Henceforth, workshops such as engagement with teachers-facilitators, annual paralegal conversation with the Child Rights Ambassadors and dealing with the school teachers, annual review exercise, among others would now be re-organized to accommodate the new normal"

Child Rights Ambassadors were charged to remain proactive and attentive to the resultant effects of lockdown where tensions have built up within families because of dwindling family income which has led to increase in domestic violence and infringement on child rights and arise to the needs of families to mediate on gender-based violence within families.

Emphasis was also made on the use of smartphones and suitable telecommunication service provider peculiar to the areas by the ambassadors to allow prompt dissemination of information whenever need be regardless of the poor network connections in some part of Oke-Ogun region.

The facilitating officers were later made it known that to reach more audience on the project implementation and comparative awareness, radio is the best important medium through which families engage themselves for updated information, unwind and keep abreast of news happening around them. An effort has started being made to make use of at least two community-based radio stations to keep the people in the region more aware of Child Rights education.



Posted by Admin
On 2020-04-22

Child Right Education and Welfare Project

The Child Rights Education and Welfare Project was designed to target young pupils in formal school structure in Oyo, Oke-Ogun and Ogbomoso zones of Oyo State. The Project is funded by Kindermissionwerk, a child development international organization in Germany for different phases beginning from March 2017 till date.

The Child Right Project was conceived against the background that the myriads of developmental challenges militating against Nigeria did not just spring up abruptly. Research, through Need Assessment Surveys, had consistently shown that those problems build, accumulate and fester because people lack the basic knowledge and understanding of their rights at a tender age.

Thus, through the instrumentality of research, the child right project was conceived and birthed, as an intervention process to inculcate in school children at primary levels, the basic and essential values of their rights. This was to be achieved through various strategies like developing manuals on child rights, simplification and presentation of Child Rights Act in a less complicated manner devoid of technicalities, direct teaching of child rights to school pupils through their teachers, teaching of child rights to school teachers, facilitating child rights education to parents and providing stipends per academic term to schools to promote child rights activities

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