Women in southeast Nigeria face many hurdles in their quest for economic empowerment. They contend with gender discriminatory cultural practices, social norms, unpaid domestic labor, and low access to capital. These constraints keep women poor and financially dependent on their male counterparts.
Understanding these needs, the development Research and Project Centre, in partnership with South Saharan Social Development Organization, is implementing the Partnership for the Advancement of Women’s Economic Development
(PAWED) project.
In June 2022, the PAWED project held a follow-up policy dialogue session to provide a platform for synergy between the women’s economic empowerment stakeholders and the Enugu State government for effective advocacy for Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE). The stakeholders included:
Women-led, women-focused Civil Society Organizations
Women’s Economic Empowerment Cooperatives
Representatives from relevant government ministries.
Academia – University of Nigeria (UNN) Gender and Development Centre.
Media representatives
The PAWED project was formed to strengthen the capacity of women’s economic collectives in Enugu state to conduct high-impact evidence-informed advocacy to improve the livelihood of economically active women and girls in the state.
The dialogue session aimed to achieve the following:
Identify key policies and regulatory frameworks to facilitate the delivery of women’s economic empowerment projects.
To proffer solutions and recommendations to improve women’s empowerment.
To create an effective advocacy strategy for policy reform among stakeholders.
The Commissioner for Budget and Planning in Enugu state, Dr. David Ugwunta, addressed pressing women empowerment issues as fielded by participants. He urged women groups to take advantage of the economic empowerment opportunities provided by the state government.
Participants discussed and proposed several recommendations to tackle women’s economic empowerment issues in Enugu State. Proposed solutions include:
Advocating for the government to create a centralized database system to
access empowerment opportunities.
Ensuring economic opportunities are well publicized in traditional media.
Capacity building for women in rural areas to access opportunities
