ABANTU: Gender for development (II)

Most of the projects were women focused drawing from ABANTU’s mission of poverty reduction and empowering women in our communities. About 64% of Nigerians live below the poverty line, this condition is worst for women who make up a higher percentage of the poor. Poverty is said to have a female face because the majority […]

Most of the projects were women focused drawing from ABANTU’s mission of poverty reduction and empowering women in our communities. About 64% of Nigerians live below the poverty line, this condition is worst for women who make up a higher percentage of the poor. Poverty is said to have a female face because the majority of the poorest of the poor are women. This is linked to their social roles and entrenched traditional and cultural practices that have prevented them from participating in economic activities at the same rate as men. The goal of the ABANTU’s gender and poverty program is to improve the living conditions of people in Nigeria especially women, by building their capacity to attain self-reliance and contribute to economic development in Nigeria. It is expected that the program will improve the living conditions of women in Nigeria and they will be better informed and positioned to cater for their basic necessities.  
One of our ongoing project is titled: Empowerment of Women with Disabilities through Community Based Rehabilitation in Kaduna State.
The aim of the project is to enable women with disabilities to improve their social and eco-nomic circumstances through strengthening their individual businesses. With a strong business base, the project is designed to bring the beneficiaries and their families out of poverty and dependence.  It is funded by an Abuja based organisation, T. Y. Danjuma Foun-dation.  
The objectives are -to establish an advisory body made up to guide and advice on the best approaches to poverty reduction, establish an electronic data base and profile of potential beneficiaries. The initiative will also enhance the capacity of twenty women with disabilities on effective business management skills and ensure that these women have opportunities to earn their livelihood through self employment. It will also provide a support platform for networking among the beneficiaries and effective running of their businesses.
Some of the activities organised are: identification of potential beneficiaries and developing their profile, formation of the Project Technical Advisory Group (PTAG), providing entrepreneurial training for the women who are the selected beneficiaries and implementation of the livelihood project.
Some of the successes recorded are establishment of the Project Advisory Group, and conducting training workshops for twenty women who have been provided with entrepreneurship skills.
A similar project was also funded by the Ghana based African Women Development Fund on Strengthening the Capacity of Women in Hand-made Manufacturing Industry in Kaduna State towards Sustainability.
The focus of the project which began in 2011 is still ongoing is to create a Women Entrepreneur’s Association with the purpose of enhancing the business skills, advocacy skills of the beneficiaries and also to facilitate access to capital. The objectives of the project are: to enhance access to micro credit for women in micro and small scale enterprise through the establishment of an effective cooperative/association for women in handmade manufacturing businesses. Others are to strengthen the capacity of women in hand made manufacturing (micro and small scale) enterprises on business management, access to micro finance and market.
The capacity building component also involves strengthening the capacity of established women in hand made manufacturing cooperative/association on business environment, advocacy and access to business information.
Activities organised were identification of beneficiaries, formation into groups and development of a data base.  Also vital was the capacity building component of the project which included training for identified women on entrepreneurship, business plan development and setting of business goals and objectives.  For outreach to markets a bazaar held for 150 women from Kaduna North, Kaduna South and Igabi LGA to showcase their products and improve access to micro-finance and markets. Linkages to selected financial institutions were also explored as a strategy to expand access to capital.
 It is a tradition for ABANTU to build rights education into its economic empowerment projects. In line with this it is implementing a project titled Improving the Socio-political and Economic Status of Women in Kano and Kaduna States (North West Nigeria) through Rights Education and Micro-credit Scheme. The focus of the project is empower women to identify their needs, advocate for women issues, participate in decision making and carry-out activities that will promote the contributions of women in community development. The objectives are to educate women on leadership, women’s right and recognition of gender stereotyping in community affairs,  to raise the awareness of women on the importance of their involvement in decision making especially in community affairs and  
to educate women on how to practice good hygiene as a preventative measure to common diseases. The expected results are: Women creating a unifying voice in their communities, providing access to revolving loans to enhance individual businesses,
Others include creating a platform to enable women demand increase in access and participation in community governance,
To achieve these objectives ABANTU undertook a rapid assessment/mapping of selected communities, organised pre-workshop advocacies and established community women’s network and leadership and disbursement of business equipments to beneficiaries.
In pursuit of the governance component of its mandate ABANTU also implemented a two year project titled Building Stepping Stones for Promoting Good Governance and Democracy in Kaduna State Nigeria.
 It was funded by the Washington based National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and implemented between 2012 and 2013.It was designed to strengthen the capacity of community-based and civil society organisations to conduct effective advocacy and bridge the gap between the citizens and the government.
The objectives were to strengthen the capacity of civil society and groups in Kaduna State to effectively engage with government and governance processes at local and state levels. It was envisaged that this will reduce the gap between citizens, government and governance processes in Kaduna State. It was also supposed to develop a replicable model of participatory community development for other local governments and state.
  ABANTU for Development organised capacity building and media outreach programmes that led to formation of Community and Civil Society Social Forum, “Good governance listeners’ forum,” Media Chat “Good governance forum” and compiling reports in order to document the outcome and impact of the project. The results recorded were establishment of local networks and community listeners’ forums on related community issues. Communities and traditional leaders were able to collaborate and build initiatives with local government authorities leading to stronger community and government engagement in selected local governments.