CLEEN Foundation is a non-governmental organization established in January 1998 with the mission to promote public safety, security and accessible justice through the strategies of empirical research, legislative advocacy, demonstration programmes and publications, in partnership with government, civil society and the private sector.

According to its Executive Director, Benson Olugbuo, at a 3-Day Capacity building workshop on Gender awareness for female Police officers in Borno state, the Police in a conflict-context require a deeper understanding of the dynamics and nuances of such environment and the right skills in addressing gender issues.

Olugbuo said the training program organised by CLEEN Foundation will draw strengths from the experiences of female police officers and the role that security actors such as the Police can play in preventing sexual and gender based violence, improve their awareness as well as facilitate entry points for women and girls in Borno to be part of peace-building and resilience processes.

He said the training would be contextually delivered drawing experiences from prevailing practices on the field, saying it was expected that trained personnel would be equipped with the rights skillset to deliver on their mandate and were better able to provide safer spaces for women and girls to participate fully in the development of their communities.

Olugbuo said the training workshop and the project intervention by CLEEN was coming at an crucial time in our country in view of the multiplicity of national and international reports of gender rights violations in conflict and emergency situations and the plethora of policy frameworks and laws for the prevention of gender discrimination and violence in the country.

He said call for enhanced gender awareness by the police in conflict situations also resonates globally with international instruments in place and gender based violence increasingly featuring on international development agenda.

Olugbuo said since the liberation of most of the LGAs in Borno, the police have been largely deployed to stay among the populace ensuring the return of civil authority, protection of lives and properties of the returnees in the communities, saying in 2016, over 100 police women were posted to protect victims and women in the communities in Borno state.

The Group Boss said sequel to this, the Commissioner of Police, Borno command approached international development partners for support in building the capacity of its female officers to engage in gender policing owing to the gaps identified in this regard.

According to him, it was against this background, that CLEEN is implementing this project targeted at training 60 female police officers in Maiduguri, Borno state to address the identified gaps through training exercises that suites the needs of the female police officers in Borno state.

He hoped that this intervention will inspire a greater urge for the entire Police institution to scale up this training across all other states facing similar challenges.