DOHS Cares Foundation Marks International Women’s Day with A Virtual Campaign on Trauma Healing and the Urgent Need to Protect Women Human Rights Defenders.

 

On International Women’s Day 2026, the DOHS Cares Foundation convened a Virtual Campaign titled “In  Solidarity with Women Human Rights Defenders” which was a  Support Space to bring together frontline activists, feminists, and human rights advocates to address the psychological toll of defending women’s rights, share experiences of secondary trauma, and chart a path toward collective wellness and stronger institutional support.

The event, hosted by Ololade Ajayi, founder of the DOHS Cares Foundation, featured original poetry, open-mic contributions, a trauma education segment, and a call to action demanding government accountability for the safety and resourcing of women human rights defenders.

Poetry as Healing: Voices for the Defenders

Ajayi opened the Space with readings from her poetry collection, “The Rheavolution,” which she described as therapeutic tools for Advocates and Survivors.

Poems read during the Space includes “Womanity; “The Fundamental Women’s Law”, which honors women who protect one another across continents, survive loss, and thrive in solidarity. Another poem, titled “Girl!” was  written as a memo to the next generation, urges young women to resist stereotyping, claim power, and live fully; a reminder to defenders that preserving their own joy is also an act of resistance.

A third poem, “Dear Nameless Girl in My Dreams,” was  inspired by Ajayi’s encounter with a young girl on a flight from Lagos to Abuja whom she suspected was a victim of trafficking. Despite alerting airport security, they refused to intervene. The girl’s eyes haunted her in recurring dreams for years afterward.

She described the encounter as a prime example of secondary trauma which she carried for a long time.

Ajayi outlined the neurological and psychological effects of secondary traumatic stress on women human rights defenders who are first responders to SGBV.

According to  a training guide developed by the foundation’s trauma healing team,  Trauma may reflect  as fragmented memory and cast self-doubt about one’s own experiences, causing erratic emotional response or numbness. It can also lead to  difficulty in making rapid decisions in high-risk cases; sleep disturbances; and a sense of hopelessness when survivors decline to pursue justice. 

women human rights defenders are doubly at risk , due to the threats they face because they are women and because of the work they do. Advocates on the Space recalled instances  of facing threats which arose from their advocacy roles.

The training guide also helps defenders respond empathetically to survivors without causing retraumatization; while protecting their own mental health as a non-negotiable foundation of sustainable advocacy.

Wellness Recommendations for Women Human Rights Defenders

The Foundation’s Trauma Healing Team recommended speaking openly about mental health, risk sharing, and emotional fatigue within peer women rights networks for mutual protection and solidarity.

Etido Pius, A Femicide Research Intern read a love poem by Rudy Francisco, offered as an act of care toward the women present, and called for support of the DOHS Cares Foundations’ fundrasing drive to establish a physical safe space where feminists, survivors, and defenders can access trauma healing services, meditation facilities, counselling, and community support (  https://gofund.me/0de1259bc  )  She urged fellow defenders not to be deterred by coordinated online attacks, arguing that survivor resilience should inspire greater, not lesser, advocacy.

In her words, “If you were speaking before, we must now be shouting. If you were shouting before, we must be wailing. Our voices must be amplified; heard in corridors of power, in political spaces.”

Key Calls to Action and Policy Demands

In conclusion, Ajayi noted that the scale of violence against women and girls demands concrete action, with the DOHS Femicide Dashboard revealing an alarming ratio of a woman being killed every 49 hours in Nigeria.  She listed out lines of action for  Governments, Institutions, and Civil Society to implement in support of those tackling this crisis ;

• Government protection for women human rights defenders, including legal support and digital security resources.
• Direct and flexible financial support for grassroots organizations and individual defender must be provided.
• Conversion of unused government properties into safe shelters and trauma healing spaces for survivors and defenders. Nigeria currently has 50 safe shelters across 24 states and the FCT, for a population of over 200 million).
• Inclusion of women human rights defenders in peace, development, and political decision-making processes.
• Access to international advocacy forums to amplify the voices of Nigerian women rights defenders globally.
• Public recognition and visibility for defenders, who are contributions to raising social  consciousness.

DOHS Cares Foundation is a Nigerian women and child rights organisation dedicated to prevention  of Femicide and supporting survivors of sexual and gender-based violence.