On the 19^th of March, 2016 we unveiled our maiden project – #InvestInHer in line with our vision of financially independent rural women in our society through creating a circle of financial and psychological empowerment among the less privileged rural women.

The event which took place at AG auditorium in Mararaba 2, Nassarawa state was a huge success from the turn up of participants to the organization of the event.

Sessions at the event Included Motivational talks, Training on Fruit Juice Production, Liquid Soap Production and Recharge Card Sales as well as speeches on understanding the markets around them and standing out in the face of competition. There was also a free clothing giveaway session were participants at the program were able to select and go home with choice clothing from a variety of fabrics made available for free by the E2E Team.

At the end of the event, Three (3) participants were empowered with startup resources for Liquid Soap Production business, Two (2) participants were empowered with startup resources for Fruit Juice Production business and One (1) participant was empowered with startup resources for Recharge Card Sales business.

Enough of the writing though, Here is a Slide show of pictures from the program.

HAPPY VIEWING!

See singular pictures after the cut.

The Emir of Karu, Abuja, Dr Emmanuel Yepwi, has been invested as the birth defect Ambassador by the Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus Care Foundation, an NGO.

At an event in Abuja on Thursday, the President of the foundation, Mrs Olubunmi Lawal, said there was need for partnership with the traditional institution in the country.

Lawal described the traditional rulers as the closest to the people in rural areas.

She said the Yepwi had shown significant interest and support for children in Karu community and in the FCT.
Lawal said the foundation’s target was to promote healthy health for all women of child bearing age.

“Our aim as a foundation is to promote and support women of child bearing age.

“We promote preconception care folic acid, prevention of child defect, adolescent care and also to support children born with abnormalities.

“These are major concerns which the organization is focusing on,’’ she said.

Lawal said that for women to have positive pregnancy out comes there was need for daily intake of preconception folic acid.

She noted that it was paramount for women to live a healthy life style by abstaining from smoking, alcohol intake, herbs and drug abuse as such could have adverse effect on developing foetus.

Lawal further identified some diseases such as hypertension, diabetics and infections as risk factors that predispose women to birth defect.

However, she urged women in the community to visit health care facilities, adding that solutions could be proffered with early diagnoses.

She said adhering to a healthy life style and regular visit to clinics would help reduce the neonatal under-five maternal mortality in the country.

“Presently Nigeria ranks the second largest country with under five and maternal mortality in the whole world after India.

“The consumption of folic acid by women of child bearing age would also reduce the risk of birth defect by 70 per cent,’’ she said.

Responding, Yepwi appreciated the award presentation, saying that the emirate would embark on proper sensitisation programmes for the community on birth defects.

He said such gesture would ensure that women of child bearing age live a healthy life style with healthy pregnancies.

Source: http://peoplemonthlyonline.ng/women-foundation-appoints-emir-karu-ambassador/

Speaking at the well attended ceremony held in Karu, the Chief Servant/ founder of DWOPA, Dr (Mrs) Ijeoma Chikezie, said the training and empowerment which the association gave were designed to meet specific interest areas and aptitudes of the participants to firstly become productive members of the society, become self-reliant, attain happiness, and to reaffirm their self-worth.

Mrs Chikezie expressed gratitude to God for the provision of resources and on the enthusiasm displayed by the trainees, saying that the training was apt and critical for ‘economic development, happy person, happy family and a happy society’. She disclosed that DWOPA in less than two years of existence had impacted positively in several women and girls in different ways and at different levels.

Impacts made by the organization include assisting several women to discover themselves in the context of their potentials/talents and God’s purpose for their lives- spiritually, economically, marital, and character development and distributing customized exercise books and writing materials for the less privileged in the above mentioned communities. Also she said DWOPA partnered with three Orphanage Homes (Community Based organizations) in Karu, Nyanya and Mararaba by providing food and other life essentials to them.

The Chief servant said that the aim of the association was to provide the enabling environment and opportunities for women/girl child to discover and harness all they were and can be, to impact their generation, adding that that was cardinal ingredient to satisfaction in life and peace in the society. She explained that DWOPA has laid down a number of future projects to carry out.

In their planned projects, Mrs Chikezie said DWOPA will engage in community based food pantry (cbfp) which activities would include food supplies of various types such as rice, beans and gari, children wears, beverages, toiletries, mattresses and other necessities of life. It will also construct and equip its Children’s Home.

The founder, therefore, enjoined the trainees to be focused and judiciously make use of the equipment they had received. “You have been empowered to empower others. The association will monitor the recipients to ensure they judiciously make use of the gifts they receive,” she said Speaking on behalf of the recipients, a Muslim faithful in the group, Hajia Mairo Umaru expressed gratitude to the organisation and promised to impact the skill she acquired to others in her area as a way of effecting positive change in the society.

Source: http://nigerianpilot.com/dwopa-empowers-indigent-women-in-fct/

He enjoined the beneficiaries to use the fund judiciously in order to improve on their socio-economic conditions.
Modibbo restated the commitment of the organisation to continue to key into people oriented programmes in order to fight poverty, unemployment and boost the socio-economic development of the country.
Speaking to NAN, one of the beneficiaries, Mrs Salamatu Mohammed, thanked the NGO for the gesture and promised to use the funds to improve their socio-economic life.

Source: http://nannewsnigeria.com/ngo-disburses-n1m-cash-less-privileged-women-0

The event which held at the AGC auditorium, Mararaba 2, Nassarawa state focused on motivational talks, enlightenment speeches on understanding business branding and growing markets, skills acquisition training sessions on Fruit Juice production, Liquid Soap production and Recharge Card sales business plus the empowerment of some participants with equipment and resources to startup the businesses they were trained on. The participants were also afforded the opportunity to choose and go away with free clothing of various fabrics made available by the E2E Team.

E2E Initiative has the mission of eliminating poverty among the less privileged of the society with focus on creating a circle of empowerment among rural women.

Speaking at the event, the Founder, Mrs. Joy Anih reiterated the mission of the Initiative “Women ought to be self reliant and be able to come out of an impoverished life, however, we say a circle of empowerment because if you are empowered, you must be willing to do your bit to empower others”. She said “if something good has been done in your life, you need to be willing to do something good in the life of others”

One of the resource persons at the event, Mrs. Helen Ejembi said “been a widow or a housewife doesn’t make you helpless and shouldn’t leave you at the mercy of nature. I have been there and am stronger now even been able to take my children through tertiary education because i learnt fruit juice production and took it seriously”.

The COO of the Initiative, Mr. Sunday Unachi took the women on how to make a market out of their immediate environment and how to stand out in a competitive field.

Other resource persons were Mrs. Odor Chimerebere who took the participants on Liquid Soap production and Mr. Charles Azode (Administration Officer of the Initiative) who took the participants on Recharge Card Sales.

The high point of the event of was the presentation of startup resources to some of the participants. Three (3) women were empowered to startup Liquid Soap production, Two (2) women were empowered to startup Fruit Juice production while One (1) woman was empowered to startup the Recharge Card business.

The Founder added that the Initiative’s monitoring and evaluation team would keep close tabs on the empowered women with the aim of providing support, advisory and encouragement to the empowered women.

According to the Administration Officer, for the sake of public digest, photos from the event will be uploaded on the E2E Initiative’s Website and Blog.

The Nigeria Association of ​​Women Journalists (NAWOJ) has ​expressed with displeasure the recent rejection of the Gender Equality Bill by the Senate.

​​It would be recalled that senators who rejected the bill cited constitutional and religious violations.

Senator Bukola Saraki has stated that the Gender Equality bill will be revisited by the senate after it was unanimously thrown out on Tuesday.

Saraki in a statement issued by special adviser on Gender, Ms Fatima Kakuri, said the bill only suffered a slight setback, noting that, he is working with Senator Biodun Olujimi and Senator Bwacha to find mutual ground for the bill.

“Today, we discussed the Domestication of the Provisions of the United Nations Convention Eliminating all forms of discrimination against women under A Bill For An Act To Incorporate and Enforce Certain Provisions of The United Nations Convention On The Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women – the protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, and Other Matters Connected Therewith.

“As I said during the International Womens Day last week, I am of the opinion that there are substantial parts of the bill that are crucial to the development of our nation such as the Equal Access to Education, strengthening of the laws on Violence against Women, Ending Abduction of girls, Sustenance and Promotion of Entrepreneurship opportunities, Gender Mainstreaming and Gender equality, female participation in governance, among others.

“Unfortunately, the bill suffered a slight set back because there were some parts of the Bill that some Senators disagreed with along the lines of religion and tradition. The beauty of democracy is that it gives us the opportunity to consider different opinions and this bill can still be represented and reconsidered on the floor of the Senate.

“I have it on good authority that Senator Biodun Olujimi who introduced this bill will reintroduce it after re-drafting it to address some of the reservations that were expressed on the floor of the Senate.

Nigeria has the highest population of any African country. With a population of over 162 million, Nigeria is ranked the world’s seventh most populated country. Of this magnitude, forty-nine percent are female; some 80.2 million girls and women. Comparatively, thirty-eight percent of women in Nigeria lack formal education as against twenty-five for men and only four percent of women have higher education against the seven percent of their male counterpart. Nigeria ranks 118 of 134 countries in the Gender Equality Index.

Commenting on the fore, it is apparent that no appreciable development can be made either at the local, national or international platform without recognizing girls and women as equal players in the game of life whilst empowering, up-skilling and investing in them for a better world. “When we empower women, we empower communities, nations and entire human family” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

We live in a world where majority of girls and women face real-time poverty, gross inequality, molestation and injustice, which could run through from birth to death. From poor education to poor nutrition to violence and brutalization to vulnerable and low pay employment, the sequence of discrimination and atrocities a woman may suffer during her entire life is unacceptable but all too common in our global society.

Undoubtedly, Nigeria and the World at large has in the last decade witnessed an unprecedented expansion of women’s rights, being one of the most profound social revolutions the world has ever seen. Couple of decades back, only two countries allowed women to vote. Today, that right is virtually universal. Millions of men and women around the world now support the call for gender equality although there is much to be done especially in developing countries like Nigeria.

Reviewing the UK Department for International Development (DFID), 2012 Gender Report in Nigeria, exposed that over 1.5 million Nigeria children aged 6-14(8.1%) are currently not in school, a situation which has effortlessly earned Nigeria the world’s largest out of school children country-an unfortunate achievement of a robust nation. “In eight Northern States, over 80% of women are unable to read (compared with 54% for men). In Jigawa State, 94% of women (42% of men) are illiterate” and also“Nigeria has one of the lowest rates of female entrepreneurship in sub-Saharan Africa. The majority of women are concentrated in casual, low-skilled, low paid informal sector employment. Only 15% of women have a bank account”.

“Women around the world are dynamic leaders and powerful advocates of change. But space for their leadership and broader social and political participation remains constrained. By mid-2011, only 28 countries could claim that women’s parliamentary representation had reached a critical mass of 30 percent or more. Only 19 women were leading their countries as elected heads of state or government”.

In Nigeria, only 25 out of the 360 members of the Nigerian House of Representatives being women and only about 4% of local government councillors are women, confirming that “women are under-represented in all political decision making bodies and their representation has not increased since the inception of democratic rule”. This could perhaps be an explanation for Nigeria’s low investment in sections that are crucial to human development outcomes such as health and education.

Rape, sexual insult and assault, brutalization and molestation, domestic violence on girls and women have in recent time upsurge in Nigeria, with victims feeling embarrassed to report such incidence to the right agencies for justice. However, kudos must be given to some individuals, civil society and media organisations that have continually been campaigning against violence on the female folk, though, there is more to be done noting that women and girls pay an unjustifiable price for violence and discrimination, but they do not do so alone.

Curbing and stopping violence against women requires the creation and passage of laws regarding such violence, adopting action plans and budgets to implement legislation, instituting prevention programmes and protection services for women survivors, and campaigning to raise awareness whilst instilling sound moral and religious instructions in the girl-child towards a chaste and modest future.

This fight for gender equality can only be successful with YOU and I playing our individual yet concerted roles towards successful women’s leadership; strengthening women’s economic empowerment; ending violence against women; promoting women’s participation in peace and security processes; and ensuring that public planning and budgeting responds to the needs and rights of women. Together-we can make it happen!

According to the Executive Director, UN Women, Michelle Bachelet, “Gender equality must become a lived reality”.

Credit: Tayo Elegbede   Source: http://nigeriamasterweb.com/Masterweb/gender-inequality-nigerian-case