Working on the Front Lines of Gender-Based Violence

Naw Phaw Pa Klay (front row center) and colleagues at a UNFPA/CPI gender-based violence training workshop in May 2017.

Naw Phaw Pa Klay is a Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Worker with Community Partners International (CPI) partner the Karen Department of Health and Welfare (KDHW) at Kawet Nwe village in Kayin State, southeast Myanmar. This is one of the locations that CPI’s clinic supports with training, outreach and referral services focused on gender-based violence.
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In May, she attended a workshop organized by CPI and the United Nations Populations Fund (UNFPA) to learn how to identify and manage cases of gender-based violence.
 
In her work, she has come across several serious incidents of violence against women and girls in the communities she serves but says that addressing the issue is challenging. “Until now it has been very difficult for us to deal with these kinds of situations because we had no training or support. These things are rarely openly discussed in the villages – people just don’t want to talk about it.”
 
With training and support from CPI, Naw Phaw Pa Klay can offer specialized services and support to survivors of gender-based violence for the first time. “I now understand better the different types of gender-based violence, how to manage cases, and how and when to refer to the CPI clinic.”
 
Alongside medical services, Naw Phaw Pa Klay would like to offer more counseling to survivors and family members, and is keen to push for community-wide solutions to this ongoing issue. “We need strong coordination and a shared resolve between village leadership, community organizations, clinics and schools to address this problem. Health workers can’t solve this alone.”