The Grannies Network for Change (G-NEC) project is a fresh and new approach to addressing the persistence of GBV in Northern Nigeria. The G-NEC project is based on the dRPC’s pathbreaking ethnographic research findings that at the household level, especially in multigenerational households, grandmothers are the most influential shapers of gender norms and practices related to wives and daughters of their sons. While sons in multigenerational households acknowledge the persuasive power of key male influentials such as local Imams on their views and beliefs related to wives and daughters, within the households, grandmothers, or the KaKa are the predominant influentials, directly shaping the decision of sons and providing justifications for son’s decisions based on tradition and culture.
The G-NEC project is a household-centered, community level project anchored on the reality of traditional social structure in African gerontocratic societies where the elderly are associated with wisdom derived from tradition. The project will work in 6 communities in Kano state and 4 communities in Jigawa state with the highest reported rates of physical violence against wives and the highest drop-out rates, highest early marriage rates and the lowest enrollment rates at secondary school rates for girls 12 to 17 years. Readmore