Women’s Voice and Leadership - Response to Coronavirus (COVID-19) - Nigeria

As part of Canada’s international efforts to respond to COVID-19 the project is supporting local women’s rights organizations to address an increase in sexual and gender-based violence and a widening gap in services for survivors in Nigeria. These additional resources work to help Nigerian women’s rights organizations play a critical role in response ramping up activities such as protection services emergency support and increasing awareness and advocacy efforts. This project is part of Canada’s Women’s Voice and Leadership Program which supports local and regional women’s organizations and networks working to promote women’s rights and advance women’s empowerment and gender equality in developing countries. This is done by supporting activities building institutional capacity and promoting network and alliance-building as women’s rights and feminist organizations are critical agents of change. The program also responds to the significant globally recognized gap in funding and support to women’s rights organizations and movements worldwide. This project implemented by ActionAid Nigeria is expected to directly benefit 100 local women's rights organizations and their extended networks in six states across Nigeria. The project also aims to support the implementation of innovative ideas and approaches led by local women’s rights organizations.

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) improved institutional capacity of local women’s and girls’ rights organizations (WROs) to set their agendas and manage the delivery of their programs in Nigeria; (2) improved effectiveness of WROs to deliver programs and advocate for women’s rights including through innovative approaches; and (3) increased effectiveness of local women’s rights platforms movements and networks to influence policy legislation social beliefs and practices in favour of gender equality and innovative approaches in Nigeria.