1 week ago
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From Sola Ojo, Abuja
The Empowering Women for Excellence Initiative (EWEI), with support from the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women under the “Together We Can” project, is set to launch a financial empowerment programme for 60 displaced women and girls in Kaduna State.
The programme is expected to provide free interest loans to women and girls who have survived violence and been forced to flee their communities in Kujama, and Kasuwan Magani located in Chikun and Kajuru local government areas respectively
Speaking on the sideline of a one-day financial empowerment for women and girls in Kujama yesterday , February 11, 2025, Deputy Director of Gender Affairs, Ministry for Human Services and Social Development, Kaduna state, Lami Usman, reiterated the commitment of the State government to supporting women’s economic empowerment.
According to her, the government is working with stakeholders to ensure that women in the state are economically empowered.
“Since the idea is all about women empowerment, it is in line with the mandate of the ministry and the current administration attached so much importance to it. Also, our commissioner, Hajiya Rabi Salizu, has been working with stakeholders to ensure that Kaduna women are economically empowered as a deliberate effort to reduce violence against women and girls in the State.
“Now, the women in Kasuwan Magani in Kajuru and their counterparts in Kujama, Chikun, are category of women that have survived one form of violence or the other which forced them out of their various communities.
“And because they are displaced, they need help such as this. And mind you, they are not just going to be left alone after the start-up capital must have been given them”, she said.
Earlier, Programme Manager of “Together We Can”, Juliana Joseph, said the initiative aimed at making men and boys champions against violence on women.
According to her, “To ensure the success of the project, we also launched an initiative to engage men and boys in the fight against violence against women.
“Economic violence means taking undue advantage of another person by virtue of his or her economic standing because the people who cannot pay their bills will become vulnerable to those who can.
“But when you have the information that will build you economically, you will be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with others.
“We are going to empower the 60 women and girls financially which is why they have formed themselves into cooperative groups. We have people from the microfinance bank taking them through the nitty-gritty of what it takes to multiply their seeds for economic freedom.
“And since it is the microfinance bank that will assess them, it will be easy to know whether they are making progress or not.
“In the long run, we want to see a change, a smile on their faces. Don’t forget that these individuals have gone through a lot of trauma.
“Some of them have their husbands killed in their presence in communal clashes and general insecurity. We have taken them to access psychosocial support in hospitals.
“They have also gone through extensive counselling. If you were here the first time we identified and assembled them, you will see that we now have a different crop of women around today.
A participant, Martha Amos, thank the collaborating organizations for coming to their aid, promising to take the training seriously and make judicious use of the planned free interest loans when it is released to them in March this year.
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