REPORT OF THE FIRST CDD/AMwA NIGERIA ALUMNI CONFERENCE

1ST – 3RD JULY 2002

NICON HILTON, ABUJA

Amina Salihu

1. BACKGROUND

The first National Conference for the African Women’s Leadership Institute (AWLI) Alumna in Nigeria held from 1 – 3rd July 2002. The AWLI in Nigeria has been organized by the CDD and AMWA since 1999. The Conference provided an opportunity for a reunion amongst course mates and other Nigeria Alumna. In addition to reaffirming old friendships, the Conference was an opportunity for Alumna to assess how well they have kept the feminist space and faith; to examine lessons learnt and works out strategies for consolidating our gains. 45 Alumna- women NGO leaders across three years of AWLI – (1999 – 2001) attended from all parts of Nigeria.

Professor Bolanle Awe delivered the keynote address. The address focused on the workshop theme- Transformative change through sisterhood. Two papers were presented during the first session of day 2. The first presentation was on Expanding Women’s Advocacy Space Using Local And International Opportunities Dr Timiebi Koripamo – Agary.

Lady Ime Essien Udom delivered a second paper on Transformative Politics Through Sisterhood The Nigerian Experience.

2. CONFERENCE OBJECTIVES & FINDINGS

The specific objectives of the reunion conference were to determine:

• The State of Feminism in Nigeria

• The Platform(s) for organizing

• Challenges since the AWLI training

• How much of Alumna’s initial action plans have been realized

• A way forward

 

Conference activities

Advocacy visit

July 1st, Alumna and the Executive Directors of AMwA and CDD, paid an advocacy visit to Honourable Minister for women’s Affairs and Youth Development, Hajiya Aisha Ismail at the Ministry of Women’s Affairs. Alumna raised issues on women trafficking, greater participation of women in politics, access to policy documents. Other issues discussed with the Minister include, absence of data on women in public life, incidence of sharia and women’s rights in Nigeria and the inability of the Legislature to pass into law, the bill on the domestication of CEDAW. The Minister in her response reiterated the ministry’s efforts to get political parties to keep to agreements on affirmative action for women. There is also a plan to launch an appeal fund for women in Politics. The Minister attributed delay in the domestication of CEDAW was attributed to public antagonism to the tenets of CEDAW and bureaucratic bottlenecks. The Minister advised NGOs to embark on advocacy through the media, participation in Public Hearings in support of CEDAW. Women can only win the battle against sharia based on knowledge she said. Alumna presented copies of the LACVAW bill on Violence Against Women, to the Minister. The Minister in turn presented copies of the National Policy on women was by the advocacy visit to the Minister was reported on national television.

Opening Dinner July 1st

The opening dinner brought together friends of women, members of the media and the funding community in Abuja. Professor Bolanle Awe delivered the keynote address. Professor Awe spoke to issues of feminisation of poverty, HIV/ AIDS, invisibility of women in the decision-making arenas and the need to work with men as a strategy of protecting women’s rights. Other issues raised were increasing public awareness of women’s human rights through the media, the state and civil society. The challenge is for Alumna to seize the local and international spaces opening up, in order to ensure better participation of women in politics, get reproductive right issues firmly on the national agenda. Alumna were challenged to be a part of the fund raising for the CDD West Africa training centre, which will be launched in November 2002. Guests and Alumna took away learning points from an advocacy dance drama theatre Sisterhood is Strength

The State of Feminism in Nigeria

There does not yet exist a women’s movement in Nigeria. There is the need to build alliances across groups and social categories to achieve this. Strong institutions also need to emerge. This means a lot of work needs to be done in advocacy with the legislature, building capacities within civil society aimed at evolving a critical mass.

One of the lessons learned is in earlier initiatives towards women empowerment had been that programmes were designed for women only, to the exclusion of men. Thus there had been a gradual alienation of men from women issues. This further worsened the relationship between women activists and men policy makers.

The Platform(s) for organizing

Alumna agreed that fluid multi- strategy forms of organising are more important than physical structures. Alumna recognised that a strong network of support amongst Alumna and across civil society and government is important. It was agreed that Individual platforms should be strengthened; organisations need to practice internal democracy and carry out regular SWOT analysis to maximise resources and opportunities.

Challenges since the training:

The Alumna recognised the following challenges:

Lack of gender awareness in society hinders advocacy work on women’s rights, inadequate access to resources delays realisation of Alumna’s work plans. A recurring issue was the need for a regular update of Alumna’s knowledge of feminist principles, theories and practices as they affect the realities of Alumna’s work environment.

How much of Alumna’s initial action plans have been realized?

Alumna shared skills and strategy of work since attending the AWLI Alumna shared their work through pictorial, IECs and narrative format. Many personal and organizational action plans have been realised and added to. Works include advocacy training on Violence Against Women, working with members of state legislature on a bill on domestic violence, sensitising female undergraduates and women in labour movement on gender equality, use of media - articles, radio jingles and popular theatre for advocacy on women’s human rights, Formation of a network of women in politics, Exhibitions on women’s human rights, community advocacy against harmful traditional practices, training of women community leaders and personal reorganising i.e. ‘ shedding monkeys’ ! A gallery documentation of Alumna’s work was open to guests and Alumna, for the duration of the workshop.

A way forward:

After series of debates, syndicate exercises and report back, dimensions on a logical way to carry forward the vision of the AWLI emerged. Key strategies adopted were

• Encouragement of Networking amongst Alumna as opposed to formation of rigid network structures. Fluid networks based on regional linkages and needs may be formed at the discretion of Alumna.

• Annual Alumna conference as a platform for continuity and evaluation of AWLI objectives

• Collation and transfer of Information: CDD agreed to be the focal point for Information Management and dissemination

• Publication of Newsletter: Contributions from Sisters will be published in CDD and AMwA Publications.

 

3. PLAN OF ACTION

4. HIGHLIGHTS OF THE CONFERENCE

• The concept of the Conference was in itself an achievement in broadening women’s space to organise. This is because it brought together female NGO leaders working on women’ s human rights, to think out new issues and challenges in monitoring and evaluation tool for the Leadership Training.

• The conference brought together Policy makers and leaders of national affirmative action initiatives to share ideas, opportunities and challenges for organising within regional and local contexts

• A Communiqué, which captured the critical issues and strategies from the conference, was widely shared amongst a network of civil society organisations.

• Renewal of commitment through emergence of new personal and organisational plan of action

• A resolution to hold annual conference of Alumna is a strategy to ensure sustainability.