The French Embassy in Abuja under the PISSCA initiative has set to empower 50 widows in entrepreneurial skills in FCT, Niger and Nassarawa States with funding support to a Non-Governmental Organization, Alex & Grace Izinyon Foundation (AGIF).
The project tagged: “DREAM IT”, Developing Rural Widow Entrepreneur in Agriculture and Digital Marketing, Investing and Technology, is set to provide a free, interactive and engaging platform based on the success of the previous Wi-preneurship initiative.
The President and the Chief Executive Officer of AGIF, Praise Izinyon said, DREAM IT, AGIF and the French Embassy aims to empower 50 widowed farmers in the F.C.T, Niger and Nasarawa States.
Izinyon further said the Initiative also aims to celebrate the development of women who are farmers in Agriculture through Climate-Smart Agricultural Practices, Digital Marketing, Financial Literacy, Governance, Investment, Technology and more.
“Our project research has shown that a number of widowed women that are farmers in rural areas find it difficult to cultivate a successful Agricultural business.
“The difficulty varies from environmental pressure to losing or selling land for farming due to immediate family needs as a result of the loss of their husband and or lack of knowledge or supplies to maintain businesses.
“Our project team together with extension agents from the Agricultural and Rural Development arm of the Federal Capital Territory Administration have made numerous visits to these locations and personally met with the community leaders as well as widowed women in the community who have shown immediate interest and readiness to learn.
“Having visited places like Kwali, Abaji and Gwagwalada to mention a few, we have been able to sign-up several women for the project.
“These meetings justified our initial findings and the immediate need to execute this project. Our visits helped us realise the need to quickly empower the women with skills in Climate Smart Agricultural Practices due to the rapidly changing climate pattern
“The need to empower the women with Digital marketing skills to enable them to become global entrepreneurs and the need to ensure the women can coordinate themselves as a group and demand change in their various local government areas”.
“Irrespective of the high populace of women in the rural areas; the number of widows who are left stranded for means to survive and live is equally high.
“This is majorly due to a lack of informed understanding to manage their properties and in this case: their farmlands. With an estimate of about 50% losing the land and 20% having to sell.
“Our focus group discussions helped us realise what the problem is, how we could help, and how these women would like to receive this help.
“Thus, we are positive about the impact of the DREAM IT Project and are very pleased to announce our partnership with the French Embassy in Nigeria as a major funder of this project under the PISSCA funding, together with other organisations that have joined us as technical partners such as Centre for Health Social Services for the Young People and our existing donors at AGIF, as it is together with them that we are able to move forward with this project.
“We are further, using this medium to reach out to potential partners and funders to give a hand in extending this project to help develop widows around the country.
“As we go forward in helping develop lives; we believe helping 1 person at a time is enough to make all the difference. And with this, every human being can thrive and achieve purpose when stirred in the right direction, Izinyon said.
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Also the LGA representative Passo under Gwagwalada Area council, Alolo Bala applauded the initiative and call for more of this to ameliorate the suffering of women and widows in the rural area.
One of the Participants of the project, Afiniki Fen, her remarks said a widow is vulnerable because of their position and the circumstances they found themselves.
She added that Women and widows don’t have the right to own land in Nigeria but by God’s grace and what they and the initiative, she and other participants believe women will move higher in the sense that whatever they learn here will be of help.
“Like the popular saying, if they teach you how to fish and you don’t know how to preserve the fish, the fish will spoil. With help of AGIF, we would produce for people in Nigeria and abroad”. She added.
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French Embassy moves to empower 50 widows across 3 states
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