Christian Aid Nigeria is helping women #BeBoldForChange this International Women’s Day
Hannah Gbidye, a rural farmer, had the sole responsibility of raising her children. She was responsible for their physical care and she also had to find a way to support them financially.
Helping her family survive placed a huge strain on Hannah, with her husband doing little to contribute.
While implementing the Strengthening Community Health project in Hannah’s community, Christian Aid Nigeria adopted the Gender, Empowerment and Development Organising Resource (GEADOR) strategy. This ensures that safe spaces are created for all groups in communities to make their voices heard.
Hannah became a facilitator of the women’s sub-circle and was empowered to present issues faced by women to other members of the community for resolution.
Like the theme of this year’s International Women’s Day, Hannah became bold for change.
Discrimination and exclusion in rural communities
In rural communities in Nigeria, women like Hannah face discrimination, unequal treatment, exclusion and marginalisation. This deepens the effects of poverty on their lives.
Harmful social norms practiced in these communities often affect women’s access to essential services like healthcare and deprive them of the right to make their voices heard, even in decisions that concern them.
Christian Aid Nigeria’s work
Christian Aid Nigeria has contributed to empowering women in Nigeria to be bold to demand their rights, including essential services like healthcare. Through inclusive programming, we ensure that women’s rights and views are protected in all our development programmes, whether in health, governance, gender or in humanitarian interventions.
UK aid
We also target women specifically to be beneficiaries of projects to improve quality of life. In the Partnership for Improved Child Health project funded by the UK government, women of reproductive age are specifically targeted in recognition of their role as primary caregivers to children under five. This equips them with knowledge and access to healthcare for their children.
Through this project, the burden of financing healthcare or seeking alternative care for under-five children that suffer any of the iCCM conditions like malaria, diarrhoea and pneumonia will be removed for women who, like Hannah, have sole responsibility for caring for their children.
