WSRN STATE COORDINATORS’ MEETING ACROSS THE SIX GEOPOLITICAL ZONES OF THE NATION SUPPORTED BY WILPF NIEGRIA.
The Women Situation Room Nigeria (WSRN) had inaugural meetings organized by Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) Nigeria which cut across the six geopolitical zones of the nation. The event was held in six selected states (Gombe, Kaduna, Benue, Edo, Enugu and Ondo) of each region where a one-day capacity building training for the WSRN state coordinators was conducted. While other states only had training on advocacy; two states, Ondo and Edo state, also carried out advocacy visits to INEC and Commissioner of Police due to the upcoming gubernatorial elections in their states. Below are short narratives on each zone’s event.
Gombe State (North East Zone) held on the 15th August, 2016
The one-day Capacity building workshop drew participants (State Coordinators) from the six states of the North-East region (Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe) with the aim of equipping them with requisite skills necessary for effective mobilization and coordination of women and their groups, effective engagement with stakeholders and policy makers.
Joy Onyesoh, WSRN National Coordinator (4th left) with North East state coordinators
Ondo State (South West Zone) held on the 17th August, 2016
A team comprising the WSRN South West coordinator and the coordinators for the states in the zone had an advocacy visit to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Resident Electoral Commissioner for Ondo State, Olusegun Agbaje, MFR, and sought the Commission’s partnership and support for WSRN proposed activities in the scheduled gubernatorial election in the state. The team and WSRN’s National Coordinator also paid advocacy visit to the Commissioner of Police, The Nigeria Police, Ondo State Command, Hilda Ibifuro-Harrison at her office in Akure and got the commitment of the Commissioner to support WSRN’s observatory of the 2016 gubernatorial elections in the state as well as assigning an officer to support the proposed Situation Room for the election.
Advocacy visit to the Commission of Police, Hilda Ibifuro-Harrison
Group picture with the Commission of Police, Hilda Ibifuro-Harrison
Advocacy visit to INEC, Resident Electoral Commissioner for Ondo State, Olusegun Agbaje, MFR.
Training session in Ondo state on WSRN processes by Joy Onyesoh- WSRN National Coordinator
Edo State (South South Zone) held on the 19th August, 2016
An inaugural meeting of the South South state Coordinators with the Zonal Coordinator and the National Coordinator of the Women Situation Room Nigeria. There was a training on Advocacy, Communication and Reporting and Monitoring and Evaluation. There was an Advocacy Visit to the Commissioner of Police and the INEC Edo State. The Major reasons for the Advocacy was to familiarize with these major stakeholders and also to partner with them in Observing the forth coming Gubernatorial Election with Gender lens.
Advocacy visit to the commission of police Ondo state
Advocacy visit of south south zonal and state coordinators to INEC Office
Wsrn National Coordinator, Joy Onyesoh(3rd left); Doris Onyeneke Zonal coordinator(4th left) and S.S state coordinators.
Kaduna State (North West Zone) held on the 20th August, 2016
Participants were carefully selected from every state in the North West geopolitical zone and from reputable and stable NGO’s already working on several women’s issues. All participants were women with vast experience in their field and natives of the North West which will be an invaluable asset going forward as they have thorough knowledge of the political climate of the various states within which they operate. Participants of the training were from the following states: Zamfara, Sokoto, Kano, Jigawa, Katsina, and Kaduna.
The WSRN National coordinator, Joy Onyesoh dished out a broad outline of the vision of WSRN going forward and the basic requirements for active participation of all of the state coordinators. Followed by interactive lectures on advocacy skills, communication and administration, leadership and networking in the development sector.
North West Zonal Coordinator, Talatu Zamani (4th left) and her state coordinators
Training session in the North West Zone on WSRN processes
Enugu State (South East Zone) held on the 23rd August, 2016
The inaugural meeting of the South Eastern States Coordinators of the Women’s Situation Room Nigeria (WSRN) comprising of individuals from Civil Society Organizations operating at the community levels within the 5 South Eastern States – Imo, Abia, Enugu, Ebonyi and Anambra was held at Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) Nigeria Enugu Office on Tuesday 23rd August, 2016. The whole idea behind the WSRN is to put in motion the early forewarning and rapid response mechanism against violence arising before, during and after elections.
WSRN is an ongoing process which will run through 2016 to 2019 in addressing the issues that causes low participation of women during election, mitigate causes of electoral violence; it will also address the economic and social challenges of Nigerian women entirely. The program is designed to target the six geo political zones in Nigeria, with one Zonal coordinator (ZC) for each zone, 36 State coordinators (SC) and 774 Local Government coordinators (LC) all factored in the program.
An interactive session of south east coordinators with the WSRN National coordinator, Joy Onyesoh
Training session of south east coordinators with the WSRN coordinator, Joy Onyesoh