The Kano State Government has initiated a commitment to partner with Bridge Connect Africa Initiative to promote women’s economic empowerment in order to reduce poverty and gender-based violence.

The collaboration with the non-governmental organisation is intended to stimulate a sustainable environment conducive to clean energy initiatives designed to mitigate carbon gas emissions and other related impacts on climate conditions in Kano.

The Senior Special Adviser to Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf on Women’s Education, Yasmin Muktar, who gave the commitment, disclosed that the new vista of opportunity with Bridge Connect would further complement government programmes and policies on women’s empowerment.

Muktar, speaking when she received the team on a courtesy call at her office at the Government House, stressed that Governor Yusuf is committed to promoting access to sustainable farming and creating an enabling environment for women to become self-reliant.

She noted that the government, through her office, has anchored several capacity-building trainings for young women on clean bio-cooking systems and digital skills, designed to improve the living conditions of women.

By so doing, Muktar emphasised Governor Yusuf’s policy framework to sustain micro and small-scale businesses for women as a means of alleviating poverty.

“Recall that in recent times, Kano State embarked on an environmental sustainability programme essentially to cut down carbon emissions and to protect women from toxic emissions during cooking.

“Government, through my office, has also trained over 400 women in cattle rearing, fisheries, animal husbandry, and crop farming. It has distributed goats, rams, and cows to farmers to support farming programmes. So, with this impending collaboration, government intends to broaden the opportunity to accommodate more women,” Muktar explained.

Communications Lead for Bridge Connect Africa Initiative, Juliet Nwobodo, said the collaboration with the Kano State Government, especially in the area of women’s empowerment and ending gender-based violence with a focus on climate change, will further expand the scope of projects being anchored by BCAI.

Nwobodo, who also serves as Project Lead for the WAVES Project (Women Against Biodiversity and Poultry Sustainability), disclosed that the recently concluded capacity-building programme for 50 women in Kano would benefit from the collaboration, enriching technical support and widening the number of beneficiaries.

“Bridge Connect has trained about 50 women in agricultural production and processing, and we appreciate the N500,000 support from the Kano State Government through the office of the SSA on Women’s Education.

“This is a way for us to end gender-based violence, because when women are empowered, they can begin to actively engage in improving their own circumstances. During the course of our discussions, she acknowledged that the Government is genuinely interested in projects like this and is willing to continue supporting women and initiatives that support women.

“So, we saw an area of collaboration with her on future projects, and also an opportunity to expand the scope of our initiatives. In the beginning, we had just 15 women involved. But with this collaboration, we believe we will actually achieve our goal of reaching more women by working alongside the Government and other development partners to improve the project’s reach,” Nwobodo noted.