Narok – Thirty police officers in Narok County have completed a training program focused on combating Gender-Based Violence (GBV), a prevalent issue in the region.

According to a new release by Kenya News Agency, an Assistant Inspector General of Police, the training was sponsored by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and was conducted at a hotel in Narok town.

The officers were trained on the investigation, prosecution, and prevention of GBV cases, which tend to rise during long school holidays. Ndambuki stated that the training equips the officers stationed at the GBV desk with the skills required to professionally handle such cases. He also noted that Narok County has some of the highest GBV statistics in the country, emphasizing the necessity for this specialized training.

Inspector John Kamau, one of the training participants, expressed gratitude for the timely training. Kamau also pledged to disseminate the acquired knowledge to officers who couldn't attend, aiming to handle GBV cases more effectively during the long school holidays.

Corporal Sheilla Metto, another participant, thanked the organizers for the training opportunity, expressing the officers' collective commitment to reducing GBV incidences in the county.

This training initiative occurs as gender stakeholders face growing pressure to collaboratively tackle Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), another form of GBV rampant in the county. Anti-FGM Board Chairperson Mrs. Ipato Surum revealed that the county's FGM rate is 51 percent, well above the national average of 15 percent. Surum called on Community Service Organizations, government institutions, and religious organizations to unite in lowering this figure.

Besides FGM, other prevalent forms of GBV in Narok County include early forced marriages, child labor, teenage pregnancies, and a rising trend of the sodomy of young boys by older individuals.