The Executive Director of Gender Strategy Advancement International (GSAI), Mrs. Adaora Sydney-Jack has called for increased advocacy and collaboration to engage stakeholders and policymakers in highlighting the importance of government accountability and total inclusivity.
She made this made the call during a working visit to the Director-General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP, Professor Fatima Waziri-Azi, at her office in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.
Dr. Sydney-Jack said the meeting was an avenue to introduce the activities and projects been carried out by the agency to bridge the already existing gender gap.
She said; “GSAI is a women led NGO, working in the area of women’s rights and equal opportunities for women and girls, It has been at the forefront of discovering why there is a gap in representation for women in leadership positions and the revisit of the five gender bills during the Roundtable engagement on Gender Agenda, a programme on African Independence Television.”
According to the Executive Director, “GSAI is running a project called, Collaborative media project in partnership with Wole Soyinka Centre for investigative Journalism and MacArthur Foundation to hold government accountable for inclusivity. The meeting will also see how stakeholders and policymakers can enact new laws and policies that are inclusive of women to take roles in leadership positions.”
Responding, the Director General NAPTIP, Professor Fatima Azi, who was represented by the Director, VAPP Department of the Agency, Mrs. Ijeoma Amugo, noted that NAPTIP was able to record tremendous results due to its collaborations with other stakeholders.
She said; “In NAPTIP, there are so many structures put in place both policy wise and practically to address violence against persons in Abuja as the Act only gives the Agency the mandate to operate in Abuja. This this didn’t deter the organisation as they had to collaborate with all 36 states in the federation and established state task forces and NAPTIP liaises with them both on human trafficking and violence against persons. There is also the Service Providers’ Accountability Resource Committee, this comprises CSOs with various areas of concern and contribution to the fight against violence against persons.These services ranges from shelter to psychosocial support etc. we do these collaborations because we can’t achieve our aim alone.
“In the Agency, we have the 2 Protection Officers each in the 6 Area councils in Abuja permanently domiciled in the council secretariats. We innovated this path to push the fight to the grassroots and not just the towns.”
Professor Azi said that “NAPTIP cannot be everywhere at the same time but believes in the holistic way (the whole of society and the whole of Government) in fighting crime, so we want to engage everybody and that is why we welcome any NGO the is serious to work with us and encourage them to come onboard as that is the way we make sure that everyone is covered.
“It is really from the standpoint of advocacy as we need other stakeholders to amplify our cause for an increased budget especially for women, We need your support and collaboration for massive advocacy using the media platforms to bring to the limelight the low preference given to women especially those who intend to run for leadership positions.”
The visit to NAPTIP provided a viable platform to discuss the importance of collaboration with Government Agencies in fostering women representation in government and the need for supporting women empowerment.
Mercy Chukwudiebere
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