Kano to develop women empowerment framework

In a bid to address the wide range of issues affecting women in Kano, the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development in the state would organise a two-way dialogue event.  Expected at the event are women from all professions, including business and vocational occupations in the state.  It also expected that at the end […]

In a bid to address the wide range of issues affecting women in Kano, the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development in the state would organise a two-way dialogue event.
 Expected at the event are women from all professions, including business and vocational occupations in the state.
 It also expected that at the end of the dialogue, a Women Development and Strategic Empowerment Framework (WODSEF) template would be fashioned to guarantee long-term sustainable empowerment programme.
 The event would be declared open by the Governor of Kano State Dr. Umar Abdullahi Ganduje on Tuesday.
Barrister Zubaida Damakka Abubakar, the Commissioner for Women Affairs,  said the consultative forum will focus on women empowerment in agriculture, vocational skills acquisition, and other SMEs, girl-child education, early marriage, women health and well-being, forced marriage, drug abuse among women, prostitution, divorce, widowhood and street hawking.
 The first of an annual series, the theme of this edition is sustainable empowerment and its key purpose is to engender discussions that will assist in the identification of issues peculiar to women in the state, proffering sustainable and impactful solutions to them and prioritising the delivery of these solutions.
 The commissioner said: “The forum will examine each of these key areas with a view to   Identifying their current status, examine solutions and approaches employed in the past; suggest ways of strengthening the existing approaches and solutions; Identify existing gaps between needs and solutions; identify the challenges that hinder the closing of these gaps; explore opportunities for tackling them; and discuss expansion, growth and sustainability initiatives.”
 Among expected speakers are Mr. William Otabil of the Buy Naija Initiative, under the Federal Minstry of Trade and Investment, Prof. Talatu Musa Garba of Bayero University Kano and Anne Phillips of the Ripples Foundation, United Kingdom.
 “It is our firm belief that together, we can further improve the status of women in our dear state and contribute to achievement of our collective aspirations,” she added.
 “Women have a great role in the social and political economy of a society and one in which women have a greater percentage in negative indices such as unemployment, health and access to education will see a ripple effect of negatives across other indices for measuring the quality of life.”