Bhubaneswar: The smart city implementing agency has teamed up with the civic body and the United Nation Population Fund (UNFPA) to begin a campaign against gender violence from Saturday.
Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited (BSCL) and the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation have collaborated with UNFPA on a series of activities in higher education institutions in the city. The campaign theme “Leave No One Behind: End Violence against Women and Girls”, adopted from the 2017 theme for the UN Secretary-General’s 16-day UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign.
“The theme reinforces our commitment to create a world free of violence for all women and girls. This is one of our focus areas to build a socially smart Bhubaneswar under the BSCL-UNFPA collaboration,” said mayor Ananta Narayan Jena.
The authorities plan to organise activities such as poster, wall painting and slogan writing competitions at the B.K. College of Art and Crafts, a workshop on “Sexual Harassment at Workplace” at the KIIT University, 10 street plays at busy locations in the city by students.
“We have planned a series of events in education institutions and open spaces as part of our commitment to create a safer society for women,” said a BSCL official.
Besides, two legal awareness workshops for women self-help groups and community leaders of slums will also be organised by the Humara Bachpan Trust, the implementing partner for the socially smart project.
The authorities plan to conduct a state-level workshop on “Safety of Girls and Women – Issues and Challenges”.
Over the past year, various initiatives have been taken under the Socially Smart Bhubaneswar initiative to empower the city’s women. The authorities have also tried to create awareness on gender-based violence through interventions at slums and educational institutions.
Source: The Telegraph
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