The Canadian Government has supported ActionAid Nigeria to empower more than 1.5m women and girls with economic and leadership skills in Cross River State, southern Nigeria.
The organisation through its Women’s Voice and Leadership Project, WVLP, partnered with 15 Community-Based Organistions (CBOs), selected from the three Senatorial districts of Cross River State, to build the capacities of the women and girls.
Testimonials
The Executive Director of Neighbourhood Care Foundation (NCF), Victoria Emah-Emah said that “the organisation works for the protection of women, children and youths against Gender-Based Violence (GBV).”
“NCF was selected for the Actionaid – Global Affairs Canada fund in 2019 to strengthen areas which needed support. We received support to enhance implementation of our Gender Based Violence (GBV) programmes in the past 4 four years.
“So far, we have 240 women direct services and children, in terms of defilement, ranging from 2 to 17 years old. Our core deliverables are to provide immediate services to women and girls, who have been abused including medical care, legal services, psychosocial therapy and at times, emergency evacuation services for survivors,” she stated.
Another beneficiary organisation, Akpabuyo Women Development Association, a political mobilisation group led by the newly appointed Cross River State Commission for Commerce, Mrs. Abigail Orok has recorded successes.
Orok who is the Executive Direction of the Organisation said; “Before the advent of ActionAid Nigeria, our association was only mobilizing women to attend political rallies. However, ActionAid through the Childcare and Adult Protection Initiative (CAPI) trained us to be a stronger voice for women in politics at the community level.
“The training we received was transformational and through voices of political relevance under the WVLP, we now have 70 women from the 10 wards of Akpabuyo actively involved in politics and decision-making.”
Also, the Executive Director of CAPI, Miss Evelyn Otti stated that her organisation cares for children and provides financial assistance to vulnerable women and girls including widows.
Otti stated; “Under WVLP, we empowered 717 women with vocational skills and tools in tailoring, catering, bead making and assisted 10 functional women cooperative groups to develop products suitable for export.
“We assisted 50 women in Bakassi, Calabar South, Akpabuyo and Odukpani areas to overcome exploitation by illegal tax collectors. Significantly, we assisted widows recovering their seized farmlands. So far, 20 farmlands have been recovered.”
Rights
The Programme Manager of Women’s Rights Unit in ActionAid, Niri Goyit said that the objective of agency was to reduce and eliminate poverty in Nigerian communities especially among women.
Goyit said, “Actionaid Nigeria has a feminist approach. We have worked to promote women’s rights to ownership of resources, rights to a life free of violence and the right to participate in decision-making at the family, community, state and national levels.”
According to her, “From 2019, the 15 CBOs have been able to touch the lives of over 1.5 million women and girls in different communities. For instance, a lot of women voted during the 2023 election and learned to stand against GBV.”
While urging the Cross River State Government to collaborate with the organisations for sustainability of the successes recorded, she commended the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs for the interest shown in the project.
Mercy Chukwudiebere
