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The
16 day Activism against Gender Based
Violence.
Nov 25-Dec 10, 2004.
Introduction
One of BAOBAB s objectives is
collaborating with like-minded
organizations in mutually agreed
campaigns and programmes, such as 16
days of Activism against gender
based violence which is an
international campaign originating
from first women s global leadership
institute sponsored by the center
for women s global leadership in
1991.
For the past decade BAOBAB has
joined the rest of the world in
making the 16 days of activism
against gender violence through
various programmes such as press
briefing, media interviews,
solidarity treks, popular theatre
and thematic workshop etc.
The theme of this year campaign was
“for the health of women, for the
health of the world; no more
violence”.
Some of the activities of this year
include:
Press briefing:
BAOBAB organised a day press
briefing for both print and
electronic media on the 25 November
2004. The briefing was followed by a
press statement and analytical
discussion on issues of violence
against women and its link with the
health of women.
Student debate:
BAOBAB also invited students from
selected schools like holy Child
College and Queens College to a
debate on “sexuality education: a
way of addressing sexual abuse.
Popular theatre for the police:
BAOBAB held a one day gender
awareness raising popular theatre
presentation with the Police at
police training college in Lagos on
December 2, 2004. The drama focused
on violent against women issues.
This was followed by a general
discussion which the duly
participated in.
New tactic on human right media
workshop:
The workshop which was held on the 8
of December had in attendance media
representatives and BAOBAB
personnel. The workshop was aimed at
involving the media in promoting
women’s human rights through
developing new tactics and
strategies. The workshop discussion
gave rise to the formation of a
network of journalists against
violence against women.
Popular theatre at strategic
commercial garages: BAOBAB also took the campaign to the streets and popular “bus stops”
in Lagos by staging drama that
highlighted various aspects of
violence against women.
Community based outreach activities: activities: BAOBAB’s community based outreach teams
in different geo-political zones in
Nigeria also marked this year
campaign- Osun State team organized
a media workshop on issues of
violence against women and the event
was covered by the Osun State
Broadcasting Corporation, The
Sunday Tribune of December 12
2004, and The Punch of
December 9th 2004 (p10).
They created awareness on various
forms of violence against women and
the need to address them. The
BAOBAB Kogi State outreach team took
their anti gender based violence
campaign to the streets. They
distributed educational materials on
issues of violence against women to
members of the public. The
participants at the Sexuality
Education workshop held by the
BAOBAB Kano State outreach team
enthused that they had gained a
great deal in terms of their
sexuality and reproductive rights,
and further believed that it would
enhance their self esteem and
empowerment.
TALENT COMPETITION, Oct 28, 2004
Introduction
BAOBAB organized a talent
competition, the second of its type
and the start of a biennial
commitment to promoting women’s
rights amongst children and young
adults.
The proposed project was a
children's Talent competition,
designed to enable children to
exercise and develop their talents,
while raising their awareness of the
issue of women's rights as human
rights. The competition sought to
promote young people's appreciation
of human rights from a gender
perspective. It also encouraged
young people to think and talk about
rights in general and in particular,
recognize women's human rights as
basic human rights. The talent
competition was designed to
facilitate an early process for the
shaping of children and young men
and women's discourse in manner that
we take for granted that women's
rights are human rights and promote
their ability to recognize
violations of women's and girls'
rights in their own experiences.
There were three areas to the
competition - art, writing and
music. Children may make a design
for a t-shirt compose or write a
poem, essay or short on the theme of
women's human rights.
The three age categories are -
Children (under 13 years), teenagers
(13-19) and young adults (20-30
years of age).
The theme for this year’s talent
competition is “The Power of
Information in Promoting Women Human
Rights”.
We widely distributed the handbills
and posters for the competition and
we received about 200 entries from
different parts of the country.
Selections were made by a panel of
judges and the National prize giving
day took place on October 28, 2004.
The Award Ceremony
BAOBAB For Women’s Human Rights held
her second biennial Talent
Competition Award Ceremony on
October 28th, 2004 at the
Lagoon Restaurant, Victoria Island,
Lagos State.
The aim of the award ceremony was to
honour winners of BAOBAB’s 2004
Talent Competition by presenting
gifts to them as part of BAOBAB For
Women’s Human Rights effort in
promoting Women’s Human Rights
amongst young people. It was to
encourage the winners who displayed
a variety of skills during the
course of the competition.
In attendance were thirty (30)
winners who came from different
states in Nigeria. Guests invited
were top Government functionaries,
parents/guardian of winners,
students, teachers, media, Non
Governmental Organization (NGOs),
friends of BAOBAB, Artists and
Embassies.
To showcase the work of the winners,
there were theatre presentations,
musical performance, comedy and
recitation of poems.
Some of the gifts presented to the
winners were educational materials
such as encyclopedia, thesaurus,
storybooks, dictionaries, scrabble,
empty cassettes, tape recorder,
compact disks players, art frame,
reading lamps, standing fans, table
fans and BAOBAB’s publication.
Certificates of participation were
also given to all the winners. Gifts
were also presented to schools that
encouraged many of their students to
take part in the competition
Some of the comments and words of
encouragement included from the
invited guests were:
Ø
“I am pleased that children as young
as six years old understood what
women’s human rights are with their
work of art, essay, and cartoon. As
we are talking about information, we
should try and spread the word as
far as possible and that everybody
should try to teach other people
what they had learnt from the
ceremony because that is the only
way information can go round”.
Ø
“Thank you BAOBAB for teaching
children from early age a lesson
that would put them on the right
track and for backing it with an
award ceremony. Sunshine Nursery and
Primary School would be a strong
friend of BAOBAB”.
Ø
“Thank you BAOBAB for giving us
(winners) the opportunity to
participate in the competition and
for the gifts given to us”.
Ø
“BAOBAB is doing a tremendous job in
the promotion of women’s human
rights in a predominantly
male-dominated society.
Congratulations to all who sent in
their entries for the competition
and the award ceremony is a major
milestone in their lives". It was
important to note that this noble
event has been facilitated by a
woman’s organization.
Ø
“Congratulations to you all and best
of luck”.
Ø
“The award ceremony is a
demonstration of the fact that
Nigeria is greatly blessed with
talented and gifted people. It is
our duty either as men or women to
encourage the winners and to promote
talents. The winners should not to
see the sky as their limit, but they
can actually go beyond and also
congratulations to BAOBAB for
Women’s Human Rights”.
Ø
“Humility is the hallmark of
generosity” and were also encouraged
to see their success today as just a
stepping stone to greater successes.
“The sky is your limit, do not see
your success today as the end of it,
but strive and work hard”.
Leadership Training Workshops:
January – September 2004
Between January and September 2004,
thirteen (13) leadership training
workshops were held in different
parts of the country. In
collaboration with the Linkages and
Sponsored Research office of the
Obafemi Awolowo University (www.oauife.edu.ng),
BAOBAB for Women’s Human Rights
facilitated four leadership training
workshops for various sectors of the
university namely: junior
administrative staff, the non-formal
sector, academic and senior
administrative staff, as well as
postgraduate students of the
university. The remaining nine (9)
workshops were held for activists,
undergraduate students, academics,
women in the grassroots, public
servants, traditional birth
attendants, among others, in
outreach states in different parts
of the country – Borno, Kaduna, Kano,
Katsina, Lagos, Oyo, Plateau and
Zamfara. Two (2) of these workshops
were conducted in Hausa.
A collaborative project of the
Women’s Learning Partnership for
Rights, Development and Peace - USA
(www.learningpartnership.org) and
its partners Association
Democratique des Femmes du Maroc –
Morocco, BAOBAB for Women’s Human
Rights – Nigeria and Women’s Affairs
Technical Committee, Palestine (www.pal-watc.org),
the leadership training programme is
based on the following premises:
· In most communities, men
are seen as dominant and women as
inferior. Society would gain
politically, economically and
culturally if the genders were
evened out.
· Good leadership serves both
men and women in society.
· Good leadership is
inclusive, participatory and does
not leave out any part of the
community. It teaches men and women
to be partners, not to fight against
each other.
· Leadership is horizontal.
Horizontal leadership, as opposed to
vertical leadership creates the
conditions for the equal treatment
of men and women.
· True leadership leads to
greater choices for everyone.
The training was a new experience
for almost all the participants.
They were accustomed to the usual
lecturer/student forum where the
lecturer gives all the answers and
the students take notes. At the
workshops, participants were
encouraged to speak and to share
their ideas and experiences. The
facilitators created an environment
that was conducive to participatory
training. As the workshop
progressed, participants spoke up
more and more and shared very
personal experiences.
The majority of the workshop focused
on leadership including
characteristics of leaders and
different types of leadership. Most
of the participants never saw the
leadership potential within
themselves. They shared stories
about people in their lives who had
inspired them and the qualities
those individuals have. Through
brainstorming, they created a list
of all the qualities of a leader.
After this session participants came
to realize that they all had various
leadership qualities within them,
and that it was up to them to take
action.
The various sessions about
leadership, and the case studies
used in the workshop illustrated a
form of leadership called
horizontal leadership. There
was much discussion on the
differences between vertical and
horizontal leadership styles.
Vertical leadership is generally a
male-dominated phenomenon, which
works using a “top down” approach.
Horizontal leadership is inclusive
and participatory. Participants at
these workshops also distinguished
between a boss and a
leader
Although participants believed in
the many benefits of horizontal
leadership, and preferred its
principles to those found in
vertical leadership, many had
difficulty in believing it could
work in every case. Some felt that
there was not enough authority in
horizontal leadership, which could
be a problem in Nigeria where some
people had to be “beaten with a
stick” to make them do the work.
After brainstorming about the
characteristics of vertical and
horizontal leadership, the
participants agreed that many
characteristics in these types of
leadership are similar. There is
authority and discipline in
horizontal leadership; it is the
approach that is different.
A workshop session was devoted to
gender, as it is an underlying issue
in all of the sessions. It is
important to include a gender
perspective in the training because
women have been discriminated
against in so many different ways.
Participants shared experiences
where they had been discriminated
against or left out of
decision-making simply because they
were women. The group became more
sensitized to gender issues and came
to realize the importance of working
towards eliminating stereotypes of
men and women.
A main objective of this workshop is
to inspire the participants to get
involved in their communities to
make them better. Participants
shared ideas about issues in their
area they would like to address,
such as teenage pregnancies;
widowhood rites and rights; equal
treatment and opportunities for boys
and girls; etc. Participants
discussed their visions and helped
formulate them into vision
statements.
A session was held on communication,
as one of the important qualities of
a leader is the ability to
communicate effectively. Different
role-plays were used to illustrate
communication types. Through these
role-plays, the participants could
clearly recognize the “rights and
wrongs” of good communication.
They created a list of important
characteristics of good
communication. Choice of language
and approach were both identified as
particularly important in
communicating a sensitive issue
effectively.
This four /five-day training had a
profound effect on most of the
participants. Many expressed an
increase in their confidence level
and the feeling that they could
accomplish things they felt they
could not before. There was a
realization that they could be
leaders and make a difference in
their communities. Before the
workshop, the participants did not
see themselves as leaders.
The participants also expressed
appreciation for the teaching
methodology of the workshop. For
most of them it was a completely new
experience. They participated,
shared their experiences, and took
turns to present to the group. They
felt this helped build their
confidence and made them think more,
instead of just listening to a
lecturer. Some indicated they would
have appreciated more time for group
work as they enjoyed sharing ideas.
At the end of the workshop, many
participants had plans on ways they
wanted to get more involved in their
communities to stimulate positive
change. The training caused an
important attitude shift.
June
28-29, 2004
National Discussion on Sharia and
Women’s Human Rights in Nigeria
BAOBAB for Women’s Human Rights
organized this two-day meeting in
Abuja with participants from
different parts of the country and
resource persons from both within
and outside the country.
The objectives of the National
Discussion were as follows:
·
To follow up on earlier discussions
and programmes on the issue of
women’s human rights
·
To correct the wrong notion that
women’s human rights cannot be
discussed in relation to sharia in
particular and religion in general
·
To promote and protect the rights of
women under the present dispensation
of Sharia
·
To create the necessary atmosphere
for discourse on women’s human
rights
1st Session: Woman’s Human Rights and Sharia Implementation
in Nigeria by
Mufuliat Fijabi and Aisha Lawal
BAOBAB for Women’s Human Rights
2nd Session: Islam, Human Rights and Child Marriage
by Hameed Agberemi, Centre for the
Social Study of Islam in Nigeria
Session 3: Dress Code – The
Malaysian Experience by Masjalisa
Hamza, Sisters in Islam
Session 4: Hudud and Women’s Human
Rights
Dr Farid Esack
University Professor and ERS Chair,
Ethics/Religion & Society, Xavier
University, Cincinnati, OH.
Session
5: Divorce: An Issue for Women in
Nigeria
by Sherifat Hussein-Abubakar,College
of Arabic and Islamic Legal Studies,
Ilorin, Kwara
State.
Session 6: Child Custody by Fatima
Seedat,
South Africa
Session 7: An Overview of the
Judicial Sector and the Challenges
of Sharia Implementation by Justice
Abdul Mutalib Ambali, Sharia Court
of Appeal, Ilorin, Kwara State.
Seasoned Discussants did a summary
of each paper at the end of each
presentation. Time was also set
aside for discussing some of the
issues raised in the presentation.
The discussions centered on several
issues. The key learning points are
as follows:
·
That women’s human rights should
continue to be discussed against the
background of Sharia implementation
in Nigeria
·
That in implementing Sharia there
should be guarantee for the
protection and promotion of women’s
human rights
·
That women should be involved in the
planning and implementation of
programmes that affect them
·
That a number of women are
vulnerable to a lot of injustice
resulting from the lack of access to
justice and the inexperience of some
of the judicial officers especially
at the lower courts
·
That conservative interpretation of
the sources of laws generally
affects the attitude of the society
to women
·
That women and children are a
vulnerable group and as such issues
relating to them should be treated
with the attention it deserves.
·
That more of this type of forum
should be created for further
discussion and strategic planning
for the way forward.
The two-day discussion ended with a
call on the government to step up
action on the promotion and
protection of women’s human rights
under the systems of laws
operational in Nigeria
May 13, 2004
BAOBAB organizes one-day workshop for female Journalists
BAOBAB For Women’s Human Rights on
May 13th 2004 organised a
one-day workshop for female
journalists on "Reporting Human
Rights from a Gender Perspective".
The workshop, which took place in
BAOBAB’s conference room, had
twenty-two journalists from
different media houses in Lagos in
attendance. The objectives of
organizing this workshop were: to
contribute to the empowerment of
women in the media, to improve on
the working relationship between
BAOBAB and the media and to see how
we can assist journalists in writing
gender-balanced stories.
The one-day workshop focused on
understanding human rights and the
concept of gender. Some Newspaper
articles were identified and
examined from a gender perspective
with emphasis on the need to pay
attention to the use of language in
order to avoid discriminatory words.
The discussion also recognized the
need to write balanced stories that
do not appear discriminatory against
any sex.
A session was also devoted to a look
at some of the international
instruments which Nigeria has signed
and ratified. This includes the
Convention on the Rights of the
Child and the Convention on the
Elimination of all Forms of
Discrimination against Women. The
need to domesticate these
instruments was restated.
At the end of the workshop
participants expressed their
appreciation to BAOBAB for
organizing this type of workshop and
emphasized the need to organize
more, stressing that other NGOs
should also organize similar
workshops to improve the capacity of
journalist. Emphasis was also laid
on the importance of making
information available to the media
on various developments in the area
of women’s human rights in
particular and human rights in
general.
May 6-7,
2004
BAOBAB organized a two day
evaluation workshop for grass root
women. It was aimed at evaluating
what they learnt at the leadership
training they had attended and how
they put their vision into action.
The evaluation workshop helped us to
know if we should restrategize or
not.
Overview of BAOBAB National Planning
Meeting/Capacity Building Workshops.
Lagos, 2004
The forth edition of the annual
outreach national planning meeting
for volunteer outreach teams of
BAOBAB was held in Lagos, March
28-April 2 2004. Representatives of
each of BAOBAB’s 14 Outreach State
teams came together once again in
what has traditionally become an
annual event for BAOBAB. This year,
the main objective of the national
planning meeting was to strengthen
the capacity of the teams in two
main areas (1) Email/Internet
training (2) Paralegal Training of
Trainers. The main objectives of the
paralegal TOT include –(1) To run a
training of trainers paralegal
workshop to enable the teams train
more paralegals in their
communities, (2) To build a
networking structure amongst all the
outreach teams. This year’s national
planning meeting also provided an
opportunity for participants to plan
a programme calendar for the year.
The e-mail training took place at
‘Net near U’ cyber café in Victoria
Island Lagos. Each Outreach team was
represented by two of its outreach
team members except for Borno state
Outreach team which was undergoing
transition.
Summary of the Email Training
Before sharing the objectives and
the expectations for the email
training, participants were reminded
that
volunteering to work with BAOBAB was highly appreciated. The objectives
of the Email Training include – (1)
To enhance the capacity of outreach
teams in the area of information and
communication technology (ICT), (2)
To strengthen the communication
network between the teams and BAOBAB
coordinating office (3) To
facilitate transfer of information
from global to local through email
and the Internet (4) To enable
outreach teams share their ICT
skills with other women in their
respective communities.
In sharing their expectations, many
of the participants expected to
enhance their computer skills
especially those who have had very
basic computer knowledge but have
not had the opportunity to update
the knowledge. Participants also
expected to acquire email skills to
enable them network effectively with
one another as well as BAOBAB
coordinating office. They also
expect to learn how to browse the
internet to keep up with the global
world in terms of information
exchange, capacity building and
electronic solidarity campaigns. The
participants believed that the
training will be most beneficial if
the knowledge is transferred to
other women in their communities.
However, participants acknowledged
that certain challenges might
threaten the gains or expected gains
of the email training such as lack
of access to email/internet
facilities in some of the
communities. Another possible
challenge was seen from a gender
perspective; that of combining the
triple role of women including
production, reproduction and
community work with time for
internet browsing. A couple of
participants believed that men had
more advantage in terms of
flexibility of time to enable them
visit the cyber cafes due to gender
division of labour in the society
which places more burden on women.
It was highly debated but there was
a general consensus that, although
there might be gender implications
regarding house hold work and time
for internet browsing, people should
create time for browsing as this
will also reflect their level of
commitment. The issue of
availability of funds was discussed
as a possible challenge, but again
it was noted that BAOBAB would try
within its means to support the
teams in terms of internet café
bills etc.
Amongst the skills that participants
learned were –Basic computer skills
including using Microsoft Word,
Creating a document and
saving/retrieving it, creating an
email account, opening a
yahoo/hotmail account, attaching
files, finding relevant resources in
the internet, subscribing to list
serves and downloading from the
internet. Some of the participants
already had basic ICT knowledge.
Evaluating the workshop in line with
the objectives and expectations of
the workshop and participants,
respectively, a cross section of the
participants noted that the training
has been most useful. This was in
terms of basic email/internet
skills. Some of the outreach
volunteers were greatly motivated by
the training. One volunteer
specifically said “I feel I can not
be detached from the Internet.”
Some said they could not wait to get
back to their respective States, to
practice the ICT skills they had
just benefited from. Another
volunteer confessed that initially
she was “scared” of the internet but
that this training has put her at
ease. She further enthused that the
training has empowered her in the
area of computer and internet use.
Participants mentioned that the
programme content was good. There
was also a suggestion for BAOBAB to
produce a training manual that will
incorporate detailed steps to basic
ICT use as this will facilitate
personal follow-up. The participants
also mentioned that more time should
have been devoted to the training as
they needed ample time to practice
what they have learned. According to
most of the participants, they would
utilize what they have learnt from
this training by communicating with
the BAOBAB coordinating office and
other outreach teams; browsing the
internet for issues concerning
women’s human rights, as well as
train others in their communities.
Everybody agreed that the immediate
objectives of the workshop were met
and that hopefully, the long term
objectives would be met.
Summary of the Paralegal TOT
A few of BAOBAB’s outreach teams
already work as paralegals in their
various communities. However,
BAOBAB, having secured more funding
for capacity building for outreach
teams, felt it was pertinent to run
a paralegal Training of Trainers
(TOT) workshop to enable outreach
volunteer teams co-facilitate
paralegal training workshops in
their various communities this
year. It was also a way of
enhancing networking amongst the
outreach teams in the area of
paralegal work.
The paralegal modules have been
focused on information and training
relevant to women’s concerns,
situations and needs as well as
men’s. It is hoped that
beneficiaries of the training will
in addition to their work as
paralegals, share their experiences
with their colleagues and/or
community members.
The training modules cover the need,
functions and limitations of a
paralegal; the forms of law, the
court system, enforcers and the
application of international human
rights instrument in Nigeria. Issues
of marriage, divorce, inheritance,
child custody etc., under statutory,
religious and customary laws were
included from a gender perspective.
The paralegal TOT workshop no doubt
enabled the participants share
various strategies that could work
best in their respective communities
and context.
The last but not the least important
aspect of this year’s outreach
national planning meeting was that
the teams planned their programme
calendar of activities for the year.
In general, this year’s outreach
national planning meeting was a
success especially in the area of
ICT and Paralegal TOT capacity
building. At least, the outreach
teams have joined the rest of the
world in internet use. Once again
BAOBAB says Kudos! To these women
and men of varied professions who
have voluntarily committed
themselves towards achieving
BAOBAB’s vision.
To mark this year’s March 8th
International Women’s Day, BAOBAB
for Women’s Human Rights and the
British Council invited legislators
in Lagos State to a one-day workshop
on “Domesticating the Principles
of CEDAW in Lagos State.”
The main aim of the workshop was to
formulate a framework for the
domestication of the principles of
the Convention on the Elimination of
forms of Discrimination Against
Women (CEDAW) in Nigeria. It was
also aimed at working with the Media
to create awareness on the
importance of CEDAW as a tool for
social change in the society.
February
4, 2004
On 4th February 2004
BAOBAB for Women’s Human Rights
joined women all over the world to
celebrate African Women’s Health and
Rights Day, in commemoration of the
10th Anniversary of
International Conference on
Population and Development. The
theme of the year’s celebration is
“I Celebrate Protest Demand – A
decade of celebrating progress and
reclaiming rights”
The day’s celebration was jointly
hosted by BAOBAB for Women’s Human’s
Rights and Amanitare (African
partnership for the Sexual and
Reproductive Health and Rights of
women and girls – an initiative of
RAINBO). Representatives of the
media, policy making agencies,
educators NGOs and health
practitioners, were invited to a
workshop to discuss the progress
made so far and to deliberate on
other issues requiring attention to
ensure that by year 2015, the
mandate for the programme of action
would have been met. The goal of the
workshop was to enhance the
awareness of the public, health care
providers and policy makers on women
and their rights to sexual and
reproductive health.
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