Church-Based Advocacy Campaign(ACBARSS Project)

As part of the Survivor Voices Against Rape (SUVAR 2024) initiative led by Rescue Women Cameroon, Safe Haven Cameroon will be launching a pilot phase community-based advocacy campaign aimed at combating rape and other forms of sexual violence within Yaoundé 6. This initiative is rooted in the urgent need to create awareness and strengthen community responses to rape, especially in conflict-affected zones and urban settlements hosting displaced populations.

This project will focus on a combination of advocacy, education, and psychosocial support, with activities specifically tailored for schools, churches, internally displaced persons (IDPs), and community groups such as bike riders. These interventions are designed to break the silence surrounding rape, challenge the harmful cultural narratives that normalize it, and empower survivors with the tools to seek justice and healing.

Church-Based Advocacy Campaign

Safe Haven will organize advocacy sessions with five different churches across Yaoundé 6, representing a variety of Christian denominations. Churches hold tremendous influence in shaping community values and are often the first point of support for people in crisis. However, they can also unknowingly perpetuate silence or stigma when it comes to sexual violence.

These sessions will focus on engaging congregants, youth groups, women’s fellowships, and church leaders in open dialogue about the realities of rape, especially when it occurs within family or religious institutions—contexts where survivors often feel most betrayed and silenced.

Participants will receive advocacy materials that address the legal, psychological, and medical responses to rape. The campaign will emphasize the role of faith leaders as allies, challenging harmful narratives that shame survivors or downplay abuse. Clergy will be encouraged to incorporate themes of justice, healing, and accountability into their sermons, and to commit to building a church environment that protects the vulnerable and supports survivors.

The goal of this church engagement is to activate faith communities as centers of healing, advocacy, and systemic change, equipping them with knowledge and moral authority to help break the cycle of silence and inaction.

This project stems from powerful statistics and testimonies shared during the SUVAR 2024 session in Limbe, where survivors revealed alarming patterns of abuse—ranging from familial rape to violations by clergy and strangers. The Safe Haven team aims to use this data to guide and inform the campaign’s message across communities in Yaoundé.

Through these actions, Safe Haven Cameroon hopes to build a collective, community-led movement that stands against rape and sexual violence, supports survivors, and transforms public attitudes from silence and shame to empathy, justice, and healing.