To ensure empowerment and poverty alleviation projects have direct impact on grassroots women, girls and children, federal and state governments have agreed to implement a bottom to top approach for all target interventions.
Minister of Women Affairs, Barrister Uju Kennedy-Ohaneye, made this known at a One-day Strategic Meeting with all States Commissioners of Women Affairs, yesterday in Abuja.
She said that government is poised to finding more efficient ways of reaching out and bettering the lives of rural dwellers especially poor Nigerian women and children since the previous ways of doing things has not yielded desired impacts and results.
Kennedy-Ohaneye points that what works for other countries may not work for Nigeria therefore, “This is the time to refocus ourselves because we are making a small mistake of not understanding who we are and what we need. Let us not live according to how others are living not knowing where we are headed.
“The method we are using thinking we are solving our problems is compounding our problems. Have we asked ourselves why previous methods are not working?
While explaining that new forms of interventions are being evolved to better the lives of the women and children, she adds, “We stand here and narration, we are narrating what someone else wrote for us. We need to change the narrative by looking down to find out what the issues are, finding the main issues because if you kill a tree, the branches cannot stand”
She said all empowerment interventions meant for poor Nigerian women and children, including those coming from donor organisations, the United Nations, (UN), the World Bank and other bodies, must be directed at the poor who are found at the grassroots to ensure it teaches them because the top bottom approach has failed to produce desired result hence, ye need for a bottom up approach.
UN Women and ECOWAS Country Representative to Nigeria, Beatrice Eyong, said the UN will partner with the ministry and its vision of reinventing intervention to the grassroots through its technical support in partnership with the government of Canada.
She said “The achievement of gender equality and protection of women’s rights is critical if Nigeria is to attain the SDGs targets.
“Gender equality means that women and men have equal opportunities, rights and responsibilities in all spheres of life. It means that women and men can equality contribute to and benefit from the development of our nation.
“Along this line, the ministry of women affairs is a vital institution in the society, working tirelessly to ensure that gender equality becomes a reality.”
Speaking on the significance of the strategy meeting, Chief Child Protection office of UNICEF, Ibrahim Sesay, pointed that the meeting is a defining moments for unified effort to support government efforts in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals especially goal number five.
“The minister while she was at the UN General Assembly (UNGA), was championing the cause of women in Nigeria and for the entire continent. She was advancing important interventions among which women empowerment not just by word of mouth and also narrating the key contributions of the government under his excellency, President Ahmed Tinubu,” he said.
Speaking on behalf of the states’ Commissioners of Women Affairs, Dean of Commissioners, Dr. Ini Adiakpan, noted that the states are ready to partner with the federal government for the attainment of key targets and policies.
She said “We want the federal ministry of women affairs to continue to interface with us so that we can synchronize our own practice with what the ministry does.
“Truly we are very happy that you came to see us and you immediately went into action to implement this and we see that this is a step in the right direction and we know that with this, our capacity will be felt.
