Combating Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in Tertiary Institutions

This book tackles the widespread problem of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) in Nigerian tertiary institutions through a proactive, stakeholder-collaborated intervention that connects research, policy, and practice. Drawing on a national study called Acting Together, this book intentionally closes the gap from diagnosis to durable systems change. The project used a sequential mixed-methods design that involved large-scale quantitative surveying followed by focus group discussions, key informant interviews, and in-depth Interviews to anchor statistical trends in lived experience and institutional narratives. Unlike similar projects that focus on prevalence statistics and isolated interventions, this project foregrounds the systemic drivers of SGBV, ranging from personal, structural, and environmental factors, and then translates findings into multi-level actions. By engaging students, management, academic and non-academic staff, regulatory bodies, law enforcement, civil society, and community actors, the project demonstrates how coordinated stakeholder synergy amplifies impact. It further documents patterns of perpetration, institutional responses, and survivors’ pathways to care, enabling interventions that address how SGBV is experienced on campuses.