When Silence is not Golden

On Thursday, 23 May 2024, the European Union Delegation and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Nigeria jointly hosted a private screening of “Deafening Silence”, a feature film that advocates for gender equality and women empowerment in Nigeria. The firm was produced in the framework of the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative, a programme that aligns strongly with the Government of Nigeria's gender priorities as well as the EU’s and the UN’s Gender Action Points. The intervention focuses on gender equality, women's empowerment, and combating SGBV and Violence Against Women (VAW).

“Deafening Silence” leverages the power of storytelling to explore themes of Gender Equality, Gender Empowerment, and Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) in Nigeria. The film aims to foster deep and honest conversations around these critical issues, with the goal of incentivizing social change.

This transformative initiative is part of a broader gender norm result-chain intervention developed by the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative in Nigeria. “Deafening Silence” seeks to raise awareness and inspire action to combat GBV, promoting a society where gender equality and empowerment are fundamental values.

 “Art is a powerful tool for promoting behavioural change, fight stigma and create awareness around negative social norms. It is, therefore, my hope that this film will contribute to promoting gender equality and prevent gender-based violence in Nigeria and build a more inclusive society,” EU Ambassador to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Samuela Isopi, said at the screening.

She expressed the hope is that the film would “speak to the public, to the older and the younger generations, about respect for women and girls, about respect for the dignity and integrity of everyone, about the important role and contribution that everyone can bring to the society.”

She hailed the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative, a global “alliance” the EU launched in partnership with the UN in 2018, to fight against gender based violence. The EU-funded Spotlight Initiative remains the largest investment ever made to work with partner countries on gender-based violence - with €500 million. 

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In her remarks, Ms. Elsie Attafuah, Resident Representative of UNDP Nigeria, described "Deafening Silence" as more than a film, harnessing the power of storytelling, communication, and mainstream media to catalyse societal change and promote gender equality. “We must all feel uncomfortable and react when there is deafening silence on the prevalence of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) and Violence Against Women and Girls (VAW). We must break the silence on an issue that remains a pressing concern, necessitating continued intervention,” she said.

Former Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Agba, called for a holistic approach to the fight against sexual and gender based violence, and commended the EU, the UNDP and other partners for the work they had done in that direction.

The joint EU-UN Spotlight Initiative, funded by the EU, is a global, multi-year partnership between the European Union and United Nations to eliminate all forms of violence and harmful practices against women and girls by 2030. It sought to pull together substantive work that has been done around GEWE and SGBV, leveraging on the power of storytelling and media to create a transformative impact in Nigeria, a country where gender-based violence and harmful gender norms persist.

In Nigeria, the Spotlight Initiative  was implemented in five states: Sokoto, Cross River, Lagos, Adamawa, and Ebonyi, as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and ended in December 2023