Nivia belongs to a communal patrol led by women that seeks to support victims of gender-based violence, accompany them in filing the reports and promote justice both within the community and the legal system.
© Aura Guío/Conservación Internacional Perú
You don't have to suffer from violence to confront it. Nivia Cumbia is a 28-year-old mother who is a member of the comunal patrol of Shampuyacu. She is proud of her responsibility and believes that with the awareness work that is underway, many things will change in her indigenous community. "We women must confront violence," she says energetically. She is a witness of abuse and aggressions against women who most of the time chose to remain silent due to a lack of trust in the authorities and shame or fear of their partner.
"There is a lot of family violence that is not made public," says Nivia. Nivia believes that women have to break their silence. "Many of them keep quiet because they know that when they get home, their partner will beat them," she says apalled. It was only early this year that it was decided to create a female-led communal patrol during Shampuyacu’s general assembly, a community located in the upper basin of the Mayo River, in the San Martín region, North of Peru.
A support network has been set up to ensure that complaints do not go unheeded. "We are constantly receiving training, for example, from psychologists and the Women's Emergency Center. They explain to us how to denounce and how to support a woman," she explains.
© Aura Guío/Conservación Internacional Perú
In Shampuyacu alone there are more than 300 women who Nivia defines as silent. "A woman should not allow even one scream," she points out, wearing her safety shirt in the communal office. In her eyes one can see the hope for change.
For the past year, 70 women from the native community of Shampuyacu have been receiving training and guidance to address gender-based violence in their community, seeking to change harmful gender norms and beliefs about the role of women and men in society. Thanks to the joint work of Conservation International Peru with PROMSEX and the support received by USAID through the RISE CHALLENGE, the nuwas (women) of this community have been trained on their legal rights related to gender-based violence and their sexual and reproductive health. They have organized themselves to address gender-based violence through this communal patrol, which aims to seek a just solution to gender-based violence in their community.