WOMEN AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN THE NIGER DELTA NIGERIA
Niger Delta Women's movement for Peace and Development (NDWPD) is a women Non-Governmental Organization in Special Consultative Status with the United Nations ECOSOC based in Delta State and has been
About You
About You
First Name
Caroline
Last Name
Usikpedo-Omoniye
Twitter URL
Facebook URL
About Your Organization
Organization Name
NIGER DELTA WOMEN'S MOVEMENT FOR PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT
Organization Website
Organization Country
Nigeria, DE, UGHELLI
Country where this project is creating social impact
Nigeria, DE, UGHELLI
Is your organization a
Non‐profit/NGO/citizen sector organization
How long has your organization been operating?
More than 5 years
Has the organization received awards or honors? Please tell us about them
AWARD OF SPECIAL RECOGNITION BY THE UNITED NATIONS MILLENNIUM CAMPAIGN 2009.
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Innovation
Name Your Entry
WOMEN AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN THE NIGER DELTA NIGERIA
Select the stage that best applies to your solution
Start-Up (a pilot that has just begun operating)
How long have you been in operation?
Operating for 1‐5 years
The Need: What problem are you trying to solve?
Solving the problems of Women’s Economic Activities and the Environment of the Niger Delta Using ICT to support women businesses in communities in Nigeria.
The ecology of the Niger Delta region largely determines the economic activities of the
women and is substantially different from the other parts of the country. Coastal ridge barriers, mangrove and
fresh water swamp and forests combine with the soil types, water, climate, plants, animals and the overall ecosystem to dictate the extent and type of women activities.
Thus, women in the Niger Delta mangrove forests are found mainly in fishing and gathering seafood whilst those in the mangrove and fresh water swamp systems are farmers.
The Solution: What is your solution? Be specific!
To support improved access of women in selected communities to information for economic decision - making through increased use of ICT facilities and training.
It also supports the provision of technical and entrepreneurship skills to women in selected communities and provides relevant and appropriate equipment
such as farm implements, cassava processing equipment, sewing machines, catering equipment and other tools for small scale enterprises to the women groups.
To strengthen women's interaction and influence in local decision making, the project supported the facilitation of advocacy meetings to sensitize community leaders, local government elected and appointed officials in the benefits of participatory budgeting and inclusive governance at the local level.
The Model: Walk us through a specific example of how your solution makes a difference; include your primary activities
To improve access of at least 100 women in the three selected communities to
information for economic decision making through increased use of ICT facilities and training.
• To improve the technical and entrepreneurship skills of women including their ability to identify business prospects and opportunities within their locality.
• To provide relevant and appropriate equipment such as farm implements, cassava, and palm oil
processing equipment etc to the women groups at selected project sites in order to enhance their productivity.
• To facilitate advocacy meetings to sensitize community leaders, women groups, local government elected
and appointed officials of the benefits of participatory budgeting and inclusive governance at the local
level
The Marketplace: Who are your peers and competitors? Identify others also working to address the needs you are and what differentiates you from them. What challenges could these players pose to your success or growth?
In the Niger Delta, Women Empowerment through ICTs are rare, so we at grassrots have not identified anyone as peers and competitors. Nevertheless, the government seldom empower youth in the Niger Delta.
Social Impact
This Entry is about (Issues)
What solution(s) does your initiative address to better the lives of girls and women by leveraging technology? (select all applicable)
Access to technology, Access to education/training, Access to health care, Access to economic opportunity, Policy change/advocacy.
What has been the impact of your solution to date?
The women working in groups are provided an avenue to work together towards a common goal while supporting
each other. The women will have the capacity to manage their income and take decisions that affect their lives
and those of their children. The human rights education component of the programme has enabled the women to
begin to challenge the status quo and ask themselves basic questions on how their rights have been protected
over the years. This shift in thinking provides the appropriate avenue for women to move for a change in those
practices that subordinate them.
What is your projected impact over the next 1-3 years?
The project, in addition to meeting the basic needs of women in terms of their
economic empowerment will also provided skills for women to begin to value themselves as people who have the
capacity to earn income and provide for family needs. This form of empowerment changes the way women are
viewed and increases their level of participation in decision making at home, thereby moving them from their
subordinate positions to a more visible position in the affairs within the home and by extension, in the community.
Winning entries present a strong plan for how they will achieve and track growth. Identify your six-month milestone for growing your impact
Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your six-month milestone
Task 1
Rights based approach to development
Task 2
Working with the Women Development Centre
Task 3
Continuous programme monitoring by Niger Delta Women's movement for Peace and Development
Now think bigger! Identify your 12-month impact milestone
Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your 12-month milestone
Task 1
Gender Training
Task 2
Working with flexibility / responsiveness
Task 3
Working with partners
Founding Story: We want to hear about your "Aha!" moment. Share the story of where and when the founder(s) saw this solution's potential to change the world.
“When my husband died my children were very young. Some of them were in primary school, only one was in secondary
school, others were in primary school. So I have to struggle a long way for them to go to school. And it’s not easy doing
this farming, farm work. Sometimes we sell at a very meager rate which it’s not enough to pay everybody’s school fees at
the same time, and to eat was very difficult. Now, everyone around me is improving because of all of us are now busy,
doing what we’re supposed to do.” Nfon Etete Ituen
" I want to use this medium to say that this programme has effectively changed my relationship with my boyfriend in the
sense that formerly when I needed anything like (to) make my hair, I always had to demand money from him but since I
learnt how make chin chin on own and sell, I have been able to afford those things I used to always ask him for. Since
then, he too has come to always say that there is a need to educate a wife or a sister on a certain skill.
Sustainability
Tell us about your partnerships
As part of the NDWPD capacity building project, the organization has been in partnership with various international organizations and as a result, the National president, Mrs. Caroline Usikpedo Omoniye, the National President has reached out internationally to initiate local-to-global links with other women’s, anti-poverty and environmental organizations and networks.
We serve as the African Coordinator for Ways Women Lead, member of the Wehealth millennia, one of the African Focal Point/ Facilitation Team Member of GlobalCall to Action Against Poverty-Feminist Task Force, AWID e.t.c
Please elaborate on any needs or offers you have mentioned above and/or suggest categories of support that aren't specified within the list
it was obvious that the project will perform particularly well in contributing to reducing poverty and elevating the status of the women of Niger Delta and more widely, those of Nigeria because of the demand .Logistics and Technical support.
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