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Creating Gender Inclusion in Sokoto   
October 3, 2012 ––The Local Government Area (LGA) Chairman of Silame, Alhaji Maishinko, has taken a bold stance in northern Nigeria. In a region where men are viewed as authority figures and women are generally viewed as subordinate, he is inviting women to actively participate in the decision-making process of the LGA. “I will always give them the chance to talk and they must make efforts to contribute because now, I know how important women’s views are to the development of my local government,” says the Chairman. “We have been exposed to a lot of LEAD trainings on gender, and women who we invite for programs in the local government are not here to just sit down.” The training he is referring to is through the USAID-sponsored Leadership, Empowerment, Advocacy and Development (LEAD) project. In December 2009, CEDPA signed a sub-agreement to lend its experience and expertise to the project, led by RTI International and in partnership with PACT as well. The project is designed to strengthen the capacity and increase effectiveness of local governments in Bauchi and Sokoto states in northern Nigeria. Based on its existing organizational expertise and prior work in Nigeria, CEDPA is working with the LEAD team to improve service delivery and mainstream gender throughout the project. In addition, CEDPA is building on its networks and history in Nigeria to engage in community mobilization and private sector participation. Since the inception of the project in Sokoto state, an appraisal of the governance settings for decision making revealed most of the middle and high-level government officials were men and there was a lack of an enabling environment and mechanisms that allowed for the active participation of women. There was also evidence that other groups were socially excluded in the budget process and service delivery planning, implementation and monitoring. To reverse this trend, the project designed specific modules on gender in leadership, management and the budget process, which were used to train local government officials under a series of capacity building activities. LGA women coordinators were included as part of the trainees for the capacity building programs for the senior LG officials. LEAD civil society organization partners were also trained and mentored on mainstreaming gender into their LEAD supported activities at the community level. The policy statement by a Chairman Alhaji Maishinko is evidence that the continued mainstreaming of gender and social inclusion into the developmental activities of the LGAs is having impact on the local governing bodies. Though there is still a long way to go, by creating enabling environments and strengthening capacities, the LEAD project will continue to empower women and men like Chairman Alhaji Maishinko to improve their communities in northern Nigeria. The LEAD project is made possible by the support of the American people through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and is led by RTI International in partnership with CEDPA and PACT. Read more about CEDPA’s projects in Nigeria. |
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