Yiaga Africa equips young female activists for policy advocacy

To increase the number of youths and women participating in the 2023 general elections, Yiaga Africa, has kicked off a four-day ‘Community Organising Training’ for 40 young female activists and political parties in Lagos, aimed at equipping them with the needed skills.

According to the organisers, the training would expose the participants to a new approach to community organising and policy advocacy.

Governance Adviser at the United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth, Development Office (FCDO), Matthew Ayebakuro, said the community organising training was an important element of the group in deepening democracy in Nigeria, considering the vital role community organisers play in providing a connecting link between the needs of the people and their voices, most of whom are unable to be heard within the democratic context of Nigeria, to the institutions and processes that could solve them.

Yiaga Africa’s Director of Programmes, Cynthia Mbamalu, said the training was where organisers would learn how to build strategic capacity by mobilising people to use their collective power to solve social problems.

She said the training, which is held under the TurnUp Democracy Project and supported by the FCDO, combines the theory and practice of organising in building the capacity of young activists, youth organisations and young leaders.

She added that the community organising training is part of Yiaga Africa’s community organising institute, which was established over 10 years ago to build a new generation of community organisers across Nigeria and West Africa with the capacity to drive social change and transformation.