After three years of navigating Nigeria’s criminal justice system through the pandemic, BraveHeart Initiative helped attain justice for a young woman with a disability who had been assaulted. The youth-led organization successfully facilitated the 14-year sentencing and conviction of one of four perpetrators who, with a machete, physically and sexually assaulted her.
Based in Edo State, Nigeria, BraveHeart Initiative for Youth & Women is a youth-led organization supported by MacArthur that promotes social justice by mobilizing collective voices against sexual and gender-based violence. The organization works to strengthen local response mechanisms and pursue prosecutions of sexual and gender-based violence cases, particularly in rural communities and of women and girls.
To date, the organization has overseen the court convictions of 29 sex offenders in 26 cases. BraveHeart also provides psychosocial support to women and girl survivors of sexual violence and encourages the collaboration of youth activists, law enforcement, neighborhood watch groups, community leaders and ministries of justice, fostering a new generation of sexual and reproductive health and rights advocates.
