The development Research and Projects Centre (dRPC), under the Partnership for Advancing Women in Economic Development ( PAWED), is conducting a one-day technical review of the Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) components of the National Development Plan 2022 – 2025.
This is part of efforts to ensure women’s involvement in Nigeria’s economic development.
The event which is in collaboration with Nigerian Economic Society (NES), the Dangote Business School and Bayero University, Kano, will hold in Abuja on Tuesday.
PAWED is a coalition that aims to build and nurture sustainable Nigerian Civil Society (CSO) advocacy to support leading WEE interventions at the national and states level.
The PAWED project works at the national level and in selected states in each of the six geopolitical zones to increase the salience of WEE amongst policymakers in Nigeria.
The event is expected to bring together economic analysts and economic analysis associations and Women’s Economic Collectives (WEC) to review the component.
Some of the objectives of the event is to determine the comprehensives in which WEE is situated within the strategic areas of the plan and the adequacy of provisions to readdress gender based barriers against women in economic development.
The event also seek to determine the logical consistency of WEE design issues from primary objective formulation to operationalisation to monitoring and evaluation.
Other objectives of the event is to strengthen the technical capacity of WECs and WEE coalition anchors to conduct gender analysis of medium-term national government’s policy.
The PAWED coalition civil society groups participating in the technical review are – the NACCIMA Women Business Group ( NAWORG); the National Association of Women Entrepreneurs (NAWE); National Association Women in Agriculture (NAWIA); Market Women Association of Nigeria (MATAN); and the Association of Women in Trade and Agriculture ( AWITA).
About WEE?
WEE is an intervention sponsored by the Gates Foundation, which believes that women’s economic empowerment is beneficial not only to individual women but also to their children, households, and communities.
The programme aims to help women and girls move from limited power, voice, and chores at home and in the economy to having the skills, resources, and opportunities needed to compete equitably and benefit from economic gains.
The Nigerian government had in September 2021 inaugurated a technical working group for the pilot monitoring and evaluation framework for the WEE interventions.
The group was inaugurated following a national symposium organised by the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) in collaboration with the dRPC on the application framework as it relates to WEE.
The participants had at the event recommended that a working group be set up to follow up the implementation of the framework.
Stay on this page as PREMIUM TIMES provides live updates of the technical review scheduled to commence by 9:00 a.m.
LIVE UPDATE
9:10 a.m.-It’s a beautiful Tuesday morning here at Jades hotel, Abuja.
We are live at the one-day technical review of the Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) components of the National Development Plan 2022 – 2025 anchored by the development Research and Projects Centre (dRPC), under the Partnership for Advancing Women in Economic Development ( PAWED).
This session was expected to start by 9:10 am, unfortunately it will be starting late as participants are yet to settle in.
9:30 a.m. – Participants are still trooping into the hall and registration is ongoing.
9:35 a.m.- The hall is almost filled and the session should begin any moment from now.
9:41 a.m- All is set for the commencement of the event. The lead facilitator of the event, Umar Kawu, welcomes the participants to the event.
9:42 a.m. – The event begins with the National Anthem.
9:44 a.m- Mr Kawu reads out the objectives of today’s event. He said the programme is sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation.
9: 45 a.m- The lead facilitator invites some guests to the high table. Amongst them is the National President of National Association of Women Entrepreneurs (NAWE), Veronica Ndanusa and the National president of Nigerian Economic Society (NES) Ummu Jalingo who is also the keynote speaker of the event.
9: 48 a.m- Ms Ndanusa is up to give her welcome remarks. She said the programme is a great development and welcomes everyone to the event.
9: 49 a.m- She said the journey has been a long one but the government agencies involved in the programme has been supportive.
9: 50 a.m- She said with the commitment shown so far, more successes will be recorded in no time.
9: 51 a.m.- She said the impact of WEE will be felt in everyone’s lives and the nation in general in years to come.
9: 54 a.m- The NACCIMA Women Group National President and former minister of Trade and Investment, Aisha Abubakar is set to give her remarks.
Ms Abubakar commended the dRPC and PAWED for putting this event together.
9: 55 a.m- She said the review of the WEE components of the National Development plan 2022-2025 is important to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 5 geared towards achieving gender equality and to empower all women and girls.
9: 56 a.m- She said the plan supports WEE by facilitating access to finance, providing capacity building programmes and supporting MSMEs business viability.
9: 58 a.m- “As you are all aware, women play vital roles in the development of the nation’s economy and the implementation of these plans should be holistic for its success,” she said.
10:00 a.m- She concluded by saying today’s event is one of the many events in the gender-based value chain activities.
10:00 a.m- Giving his remarks, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Funsho Adebiyi, said it is impossible for a nation to grow without involving women economically.
10: 03 a.m- Mr Adebiyi who was represented by Olisah JD, a director in the ministry, said women empowerment is about equality and as long as women are not allowed to contribute, it will fail.
“As long as women are not fully incorporated into the development strategies of their nation as active participants, and their voices are not heard in the discuss, their countries will be operating at half capacity,” he said.
10: 06 a.m- Mr Adebiyi said it is important to empower the women not only economically or financially, but socially as well as politically because the role of a woman cannot be ignored.
“It is important to ensure that the voices of women are heard,” he said.
10: 15 a.m- Plangsat Dayil is on the podium to give her presentation. The presentation is titled “Introduction to gender review of national policies”.
Ms Dayil gender mainstreaming can be achieved by creating machineries for advancing various gender integrations.
She explained that public policy is the collections of laws and rules to ensure mainstreaming is goal-oriented and formulated to attain objectives with a view of improvements.
She said policy analysis is concerned with policy alternatives to determine the usefulness of such policies. She said this will further enlighten policy makers to avoid same mistakes.
She said making such policies will ensure advancement is achieved in gender equality.
She said gender perspective analysis is important because all policies and facilities affects both gender equally.
10:27 a.m- Ms Dayil said policy makers tend to implement policies and programmes with the thought that all is carried along, without realising that some are being left behind.
“Most times when we talk about gender equality, some assume that women want to be men which is untrue,” she said.
“If you look at the creation of most policies, you will realise that women are excluded, making it difficult to achieve inclusiveness.”
She said gender mainstreaming requires adequate resources and synergy across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA) to ensure integration across all Policies.
She urges everyone to play their role in ensuring gender balance in every aspect of life.
10:40 a.m- A representative of the Dangote Business School, Amina Leman, gives her remarks. Ms Leman said the group is always ready for collaborations aimed at improving women’s involvement in Economic development.
10: 42 a.m- The ational president of Nigerian Economic Society (NES), Ummu Jalingo, is set to give the keynote address of the event.
Ms Jalingo is speaking on the importance of investing in women economic projects.
She said investing in women can make a world of difference for not only the women themselves, who by numerical strength constitute 50 per cent of Nigeria’s population, but also for their families, communities and the nation at large.
She said investment in women will ensure reduction in poverty rates across the country. She noted that women give multiplier effect real meaning in economic parlance.
“To drive economic empowerment process, engender higher productivity and fast track economic growth, reduce poverty through the reduction of maternal and child mortality, women participation in economic ownership and control of productive assets is key,” she said.
Gender equality
Ms Jalingo explained that gender equality is a right that must be fulfilled to mitigate number of challenges facing humanity most especially women ranging from economic crisis, healthcare issues, violence against women, climate change among others.
She said women are not only more affected by these problems, but also possess ideas, will and leadership capacity to solve them.
She lamented that gender discrimination is holding many women back, there by decelerating global economic growth.
“WEE is necessary for inclusive and equitable economic growth of any nation,” she said.
Ms Jalingo noted that there is increasing recognition that economically empowering women is essential both to realise women’s rights and to achieve broader development goals such as economic growth, poverty reduction, health, education and welfare.
10: 58 a.m – Ms Jalingo said when women have a source of income, they are on the path to becoming a healthy, empowered economic actor. She said this includes right to education, employment and income assets.
She also explained that women who are able to decide where, when, and how to spend their income see improvements in their social and economic status and the level of resources devoted to their children.
She said women’s economic empowerment comes with lots of benefits. One of such benefits of WEE is that, it boosts productivity, increases economic diversification and income equality.
Ms Jalingo noted that WEE is key to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: “Particularly Goal 5, to achieve gender equality, and Goal 8, to promote full and productive employment and decent work for all; also Goal 1 on ending poverty, Goal 2 on food security, Goal 3 on ensuring health and Goal 10 on reducing inequalities,” she said.
She added that it is estimated that companies with three or more women in senior management functions score higher in all dimensions of organisational performance.
11: 12 a.m- She said women should be engaging at all times in every aspect of life. She said achieving WEE is not an easy task but continuous efforts will lead to success.
Ms Jalingo has ended her presentation and the lead facilitator, Kawu takes the podium.
He makes the announcement for tea break and group photo.
Second session
12: 12 a.m- The tea break is over and all participants are back to the hall.
The participants are being divided into Four groups to commence discussion on different aspect of WEE.
12: 17 p.m: The co-facilitator, Fatai Aremu, has taken to the podium. He will be leading the participants through this session.
Mr Aremu said the groups will be working on four different topics pointing to the component of the National development plan 2022-2025.
These are “The comprehensives in which WEE is situated within all strategic areas of the plan.
“The logical consistency of WEE design issues from primary objective formulation to operationalisation to monitoring and evaluation.
“The adequacy of provisions in the plan to readdress gender-based barriers against women in economic development.
“Provisions for including women’s Economic collectives in plan implementation,” he said.
He said group one will focus on economic growth and development while group two will work on infrastructure relating to logistics and others.
Group three is expected to consider how well women economic empowerment is embedded in public Administration and human capital development and group four is expected to deliver on social development.
The participants are now in various groups and this is expected to last for about 30 minutes.
1:50 p.m: The groups are rounding up their discussions and should be set for presentation in the next few minutes.
1:54 p.m: The Executive Director of Heroine omen foundation, Onyinye Mamah, is on the podium and set to present for group one.
Ms Mamah said the group focused on economic growth and development. She said the group discussed the strategy of the Nigerian government and identified some huge existing gaps.
She said there is a lack of communication chain between the government and women at the grassroots level.
She said government representatives must adopt the local languages of women in agriculture to achieve effective communication.
She noted that there is need for mechanised farming equipment. She said most farmers still rely on hoe to farm, whereas, there are better farming equipment that can be used.
She also calls for security around farm settlements. She said women and youths are no longer safe cultivating on their farms.
She explained that it is very important to promote agriculture to empower women in the society.
She says to prevent the relation of Agriculture to poverty, the government should publish stories of successful farmers.
The co-facilitator, Mr Aremu, is on the podium now. He calls for reactions to group one presentation.
2:03 p.m: Ogunbiyi Elizabeth is on the podium and ready to present on behalf of group Two.
Ms Elizabeth said group Two discussion is on infrastructures, including transportation, housing, digital economy amongst others.
She said the digital economy captured in the government’s plan is too minimal and should be improved on.
She said the federal government should encourage female child to go for engineering courses. She said this can be achieved by prioritising female in scholarship schemes relating to engineering courses.
She said women must be involved in the planning process of such plans. “Women should be involved from the very beginning, women’s inputs should also be conducted,” she said.
She said women are not at the top in the country’s transportation system. She calls for women involvement in transport systems to encourage them to take ownership of businesses that have to do with infrastructures.
She noted that women should be given opportunities of grants to encourage them to get involved in the country’s economic development.
She calls for sensitisation of women in both urban and rural communities.
A representative of group three, Deborah Obot, is set to present.
Ms Obot said the group discussion bothers around how well women’s economic empowerment is embedded in public administration and human capital development.
She said women involvement in public administration is quite low. She said the government should give a higher percentage of public affairs to women.
She said some women are still lacking behind due to failure to maximise their resources. She said some husbands are also responding for squandering resources provided for their wives.
She calls for sensitisation for men who takes their wives resources, especially those in rural communities.
2: 32 p.m: A representative of group Four, Stella Ani is set to present.
Ms Ani said the group’s discussion is on social development.
She said the federal government should prioritise any issues relating to WEE to improve economic development.
She also calls on the government to form partnership with stakeholders to implement programmes associated with WEE.
She said there is need for strategy development to achieve visible results.
Ms Ani recommends that government should develop key performance indicator for WEE projects in the country.
2: 46 p.m: Mr Aremu, the co-facilitator is back to the podium. He applauds the participants for an amazing presentation.
He said he is optimistic of the success of WEE projects because an empowered woman is of value to everyone in the society.
It’s time for lunch. The session will break for 30 minutes.
3:40 pm: The lunch break is over and we are awaiting the return of some participants.
Mr Kawu, the lead facilitator, takes the podium to welcome everyone back from lunch
We are still expecting other participants to join in for the concluding session of the technical review.
Last session
3:50 p.m: All is set for the commencement of the last session of the event.
Mr Aremu the co facilitator is speaking now. He directed all participants to regroup for the last session of the event.
He said each group is expected to discuss the adequacy of provisions in the national development plan to readdress gender-based barriers against women in Economic development.
Each group is also expected to discuss the provisions for including women’s economic collectives in the implementation of the plan.
4:34 p.m: Ms Mamah is back on the podium to present for group one.
She said the National development document failed to address cultural barriers against women.
She noted that the documents also failed to address women’s involvement in agricultural practices.
She said the issue of storage facilities for farm produce was not adequately addressed in the plan.
She said more women need to be employed in training and sensitising other women especially those in rural communities.
4:45 p.m: Group 3 is presenting ahead of Group 2.
Deborah Obot is on the podium to represent Group 3.
Ms Obot said forced marriage, poor maternal health and reproductive care, low remuneration and low land ownership are some of the barriers highlighted by the group.
She said Primary Health Centre (PHC) must be fully equipped to standard to provide quality health services to the people. She also called for training and deployment of health workers to these rural areas.
She said these health workers must also be encouraged to stay in these communities as some of them tend to leave.
5:03 p.m: Stella Ani is on the podium to represent Group 4.
Ms Ani said the National Development Plan failed to identify the need for awareness creation.
She said the educational system in Nigeria is biased and most parents support the male child to go to school than the female child.
She also said the land acquisition process for women is not as flexible as that of men.
The lead facilitator of the event, Mr Kawu, is on the podium now. He applauds the groups for their presentations.
5: 10 p.m: He said the dRPC will keep in touch with the participants. He wishes everyone safe travels to their various destinations.
And that brings us to the end of this event. Thank you for staying with us.
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