Rise Up Together, a global social impact advocacy group, has launched a new initiative aimed at strengthening gender equity and justice in Nigeria.
Supported by the multinational power solutions company Cummins Inc., the initiative, tagged the 2025 Leadership and Advocacy Accelerator, aims to equip 25 civil society leaders from the Federal Capital Territory, Rivers, Anambra, Kaduna and Nasarawa States with skills to advance the rights of women, girls and gender-nonconforming people.
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This was made known in a press statement sent to PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday.
The week-long Accelerator, scheduled for 16 to 22 November, is a globally recognised programme designed to build leadership, advocacy, and policy-change capacity.
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Participants will receive intensive training on movement-building and how to strengthen health, education and economic opportunities through improved laws, policies and programmes.
Investing in leaders
Theresa Effa, Rise Up Together’s Nigeria country director, said the initiative comes at a time when local actors are driving critical interventions for women and girls.
“Nigeria is blessed with extraordinary civil society leaders who are driving solutions to some of the most pressing challenges facing women and girls,” Ms Effa said.
She noted that Rise Up Together invests in their vision and leadership, amplifying their voices and equipping them to create systemic, lasting change.
After completing the Accelerator, the statement added that participants will be eligible to apply for competitive grants to support locally led advocacy projects focused on economic inclusion, education, access to healthcare and women’s rights.
Impact in Nigeria
Rise Up Together highlighted the work of 2018 alumna Nsini Udonta as evidence of the programme’s long-term impact.
Ms Udonta leveraged her training and funding to expand Project Alert on Violence Against Women, helping protect an estimated 4.5 million women and girls from gender-based violence through fast-tracked domestic violence cases in Lagos.
Nawani Aboki, executive director of the Centre for Women, Youth and Community Action and one of the facilitators of the 2025 Accelerator, said Nigerian leaders are uniquely positioned to drive transformative change.
Mr Aboki said the energy, creativity and dedication he has seen from Nigerian leaders is truly inspiring, noting that they are poised to lead change that will be felt for generations.
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Global footprint
The statement also noted that Mr Aboki and Toyin Akpan, director of Auricle Services, will lead sessions to strengthen participants’ advocacy and leadership skills, enabling them to influence policy, expand access to education and healthcare, and promote economic opportunities in their communities.
It added that, since 2009, Rise Up Together has built a network of more than 800 leaders across Africa, Latin America, South Asia and the United States, who have collectively advocated for over 218 new and improved laws and policies, impacting more than 172 million people worldwide.
