Protecting Women, Children & the Elderly from Witchcraft Branding&Accusations, Killings, Sexual and Gender Based Violence & Harmful Traditional Practices in South-South Nigeria
Project Description
The Unbranded Lives Project is Bonnicare Foundation’s flagship community protection and transformation program designed to safeguard women, children, and the elderly across the South-South region of Nigeria. The project directly confronts one of the most devastating and under reported human rights crises in the region witchcraft branding, accusations, torture, abandonment, and killings.
Across Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, and Edo States, vulnerable people mostly children, widows, elderly persons, and young girls continue to be blamed for misfortunes, illnesses, poverty, and unexplained events. These accusations often lead to physical assault, torture, and burnings, psychological trauma and stigmatization, sexual abuse and exploitation, abandonment and homelessness, forced confessions and dangerous exorcisms and even death
The Unbranded Lives Project was created to stop this cycle of violence and replace it with protection, dignity, education, empowerment, and justice.
Our Approach
The project adopts a long-term, community-owned, and sustainability-driven strategy built on four pillars:
1. Direct Intervention & Survivor Support
We provide immediate assistance to survivors through Emergency rescue, safe shelter placement (We are also currently in the process of building our organization safe space shelter), trauma informed counseling, medical care, family tracing, foster placement, school reintegration and case management with a rights-based, gender-sensitive approach
2. Education, Reintegration & Economic Empowerment
- Children are enrolled or re-enrolled in school by our organization
- Learning materials, uniforms, and fees are provided
- Survivors receive skills acquisition opportunities
- Women are supported with start-up grants
3. Community Sensitization
We challenge harmful beliefs system through community dialogues and town hall meetings, church and faith leader engagement, school outreaches, radio programs, drama performances, sensitization walks (including our 2024 16 Days of Activism Street walk in Calabar against the killings of women, girls and the elderly), documentary screenings and survivor led storytelling sessions
4. Legislative & Traditional Reform for Sustainability
One of our most transformative approaches is supporting communities to create and adopt bylaws that formally prohibit witchcraft branding and accusations, Child Early and Forced Marriage (CEFM), harmful traditional practices, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) and violence against widows and the elderly.
This ensures protection becomes part of the community’s structure, not just a momentary intervention.
Sustainable Impact So Far
Since its inception, the Unbranded Lives Project has:
- Facilitated the development, review, signing, and adoption of the Igbo Imabana Community Bylaw that protects women, girls and the elderly from sexual and gender-based violence, witchcraft branding amongst others. (Our biggest milestone so far)
- Sensitized over 15,000 people across the South-South
- Conducted a major public awareness walk in Calabar in 2024 to mark the 16 days of activism on violence against women and girls.
- Produced a documentary featuring survivors in Akwa Ibom
- Rescued, provided counseling and enrolled dozens of children including “Favour,” pseudonym a 14-year-old orphan girl child who was denied education for three years after being accused of witchcraft and thrown out of the house by her relatives
Our activities include:
- Community dialogues
- Rescue and case management
- Sensitization walks
- Advocacy campaigns
- Survivor storytelling
- Research and documentation
- Development of community bylaws
- Strengthening protection systems at community levels
Why This Matters
This community bylaw marks a historic structural shift. For the first time, the community has a written, enforceable rule that clearly outlines protection for the most vulnerable. This bylaw now serves as a legal shield, cultural shift, a community-owned protection mechanism and a model for other LGAs across Cross River and Akwa Ibom State.
What makes this achievement especially powerful is that the community members themselves drove it. A turning point was when residents began contacting Bonnicare Foundation, asking to join sensitization activities, volunteering to spread information, and offering support which proofs that the message had truly taken root.
Sustainability & Long-Term Vision
The Unbranded Lives Project aims to ensure community protection systems remain strong and community-owned. Our long-term goals include:
- Sensitize the public through documentary production, short films to be premiered in every rural community we go in for sensitization and then screened in local communities during sensitization and also showcased to stakeholders locally, nationally and globally.
- Expanding bylaws across multiple rural communities
- Documenting cases for national advocacy
- Strengthening rural surveillance groups
- Providing more scholarships for affected children
- Training community responders
- Launching more storytelling and research projects on survivors.
You can support the Unbranded Lives Project by:
- Partnering with us on community campaigns
- Supporting survivor education funds
- Donating to rescue operations
- Sharing our stories to raise awareness
- Volunteering your skills
Our account detail is 0165410679 – Union Bank – Bonnicare Foundation.
You can also donate through the donate button on the website. Here is a link to our latest documentary of survivors of Witchcraft Branding and Accusations in Akwa Ibom State https://youtu.be/3a1F8VMQ1YA?si=42s8vgJHn7wEtvWj
