Nigeria has the most significant number of people living in extreme poverty worldwide. Nearly 50% of the population endures extreme poverty and hunger. According to the EFINA report for 2019, 60% of Nigeria’s population is still financially excluded, of which 36% are women. Female financial exclusion in Nigeria is majorly attributed to lower levels of income and Education which is in turn influenced by factors such as early marriages, and religion.
The 2019 National Statistics Domestic Violence Factsheets by National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV) indicates that; 1 in 4 women have experienced some form of physical violence by an intimate partner, 1 in 7 women have been injured by an intimate partner (compared with 1 in 25 men), 1 in 10 women have been raped by an intimate partner and 1 in 4 women have been victims of severe physical violence (i.e., beating, burning, strangling). Unfortunately, this means that women worldwide are unprotected from abuse and domestic violence.
In addition to being victims of intimate partner violence, women and girls are collateral damage from war and local conflict incidents. For example, in Nigeria, at least 8,000 women (girls inclusive) have been kidnapped, raped, or lost their homestead (becoming Internally displaced) and killed between 2011 and 2021. These data suggest a grim reality for women in Africa and worldwide.
Financially disadvantaged women are more likely to suffer from a myriad of problems, including but not limited to domestic violence, maternal mortality, extreme poverty and unstable sources of income; these problems would have been addressed or minimized if more women were financially literate, financially included and empowered.
The Absolute Women Empowerment Initiative is strategically placed to provide succour for Africa’s marginalized women, giving much-needed hope where it is lost.
Our Empower Me project is a skill acquisition training and capacity building program aimed at helping women acquire skills to earn incomes that would enable them to fend for themselves and their families. Here, we partner with artisans who volunteer to teach them wig making, tailoring, confectioneries, and agricultural products such as Garri Making, Tomato Paste making etc.
We partner with NGOs in health care to nurture their health, childbirth and child care to reduce child and maternal mortality rates, treat ailments and sensitize them on vaccinations and other disease prevention techniques for HIV, COVID-19, tuberculosis, malaria, hepatitis and other communicable diseases. Partner with other NGOs dealing with victims of abuse such as domestic abuse, rape e.tc. for re-orientation and counselling.
The Absolute Woman Empowerment Initiative (AWEI) carried out a medical outreach at the former Internally Displaced People’s (IDP) camp at Kabusa, Abuja on 15/12/2022. We
