By Ololade Ajayi
A Nigerian women and child rights organisation, DOHS Cares Foundation, has marked International Women’s Day 2026 with a virtual campaign focused on trauma healing, mental health support, and stronger protection for women human rights defenders.
The campaign, titled “In Solidarity with Women Human Rights Defenders,” brought together frontline activists, feminists, and human rights advocates to discuss the psychological toll of defending women’s rights and promote collective wellness and institutional support for defenders.
Founder of the foundation, Ololade Ajayi, who hosted the virtual session, said the initiative created a support space where advocates could share experiences of secondary trauma and explore ways to sustain their work while protecting their mental health.
Ajayi opened the session with readings from her poetry collection, The Rheavolution, which she described as therapeutic resources for advocates and survivors of gender-based violence.
Among the poems presented was “Womanity; The Fundamental Women’s Law,” which honours women who support one another across continents and endure loss through solidarity.
Another poem, “Girl!”, was described as a message to the next generation, urging young women to resist stereotypes, claim their power, and live fully.
A third poem, “Dear Nameless Girl in My Dreams,” was inspired by an encounter Ajayi had with a young girl during a flight from Lagos to Abuja, whom she suspected was a victim of trafficking.
Despite alerting airport security at the time, Ajayi said officials declined to intervene. She noted that the incident stayed with her for years and illustrated the emotional burden that activists often carry.
“It was an experience that left a deep psychological mark,” she said, explaining that the recurring memories represented a form of secondary trauma experienced by many human rights defenders.
During the session, Ajayi highlighted the neurological and psychological effects of secondary traumatic stress on women human rights defenders who serve as first responders in cases of sexual and gender-based violence.
According to a training guide developed by the foundation’s trauma healing team, trauma can manifest as fragmented memories, emotional numbness, sleep disturbances, difficulty making rapid decisions in high-risk situations, and feelings of hopelessness when survivors decline to pursue justice.
Participants in the discussion also shared experiences of threats and harassment linked to their advocacy work, noting that women defenders face heightened risks because of both their gender and the nature of their work.
The training guide also emphasises empathetic engagement with survivors while ensuring that advocates prioritise their own mental wellbeing as a foundation for sustainable activism.
Members of the foundation’s trauma healing team recommended that women defenders openly discuss emotional fatigue and mental health challenges within peer networks to build mutual protection and solidarity.
During the event, femicide research intern Etido Pius read a poem by Rudy Francisco as a gesture of care toward participants and urged support for the organisation’s fundraising campaign to establish a physical trauma-healing safe space where feminists, survivors, and defenders can access counselling, meditation facilities, and community support.
“If you were speaking before, we must now be shouting,” Pius said. “If you were shouting before, we must be wailing. Our voices must be amplified and heard in corridors of power and political spaces.”
In her closing remarks, Ajayi stressed that the scale of violence against women and girls in Nigeria requires urgent action from the government and institutions.
She cited data from the foundation’s DOHS Femicide Dashboard, which indicates that a woman is killed approximately every 49 hours in the country.
She called on the government to provide stronger protection for women human rights defenders, including legal assistance and digital security resources, and urged that flexible funding be made available to grassroots organisations and individual defenders working on the frontlines.
Ajayi also advocated the conversion of unused government properties into shelters and trauma healing centres for survivors and defenders, noting that Nigeria currently has only about 50 safe shelters across 24 states and the Federal Capital Territory for a population exceeding 200 million.
She further urged authorities and institutions to include women human rights defenders in peacebuilding, development and political decision-making processes, provide access to international advocacy platforms for Nigerian activists, and ensure greater public recognition for defenders whose work contributes to raising social consciousness and advancing women’s rights.
The DOHS Cares Foundation works to prevent femicide and support survivors of sexual and gender-based violence in Nigeria.
Operating as both a femicide observatory and a missing-women monitoring platform, the organisation focuses on addressing the root causes of gender-based violence, including inequality, poverty and illiteracy.
Its activities include drafting legislation, running advocacy campaigns, sensitising communities, and producing survivor-centred resources such as poetry and trauma healing guides.
The foundation operates through a network of feminist volunteers and relies entirely on grassroots support and private contributions, receiving no government funding. #Securitynewsalert.com
