People’s Choice Award 2024 Bronze International Impact
My name is Dada and I live in a place called Bauchi in Northern Nigeria.
I would like to share a little bit about myself and show you how your support is helping me and my community make big and positive changes.
We came to Bauchi when my husband’s friend was killed by Boko Haram insurgents. My husband is a retired policeman and he heard he was next in line, so he fled. Later that night, my two little girls and I heard gunshots and ran too.
Everyone in my community in Bauchi is an internally displaced person. I enrolled in Women for Women International’s Stronger Women Stronger Nations programme because I heard from a graduate how it changed her life. Women living in rural areas face many problems. There is constant conflict and all forms of violence, including rape, poverty and food insecurity. Many young girls are forced into child marriage which limits their ability to go to school and earn an independent income.
But thanks to the programme, I am learning so many things: how to make a nutritious breakfast for my family, why my daughters should go to school, how to expand my business of selling rice and save money for the future. I dream of having my own shop someday.
The impact of the training goes far beyond me. All 25 women in my class are learning to support each other. Thanks to Women for Women International, even our husbands, fathers and brothers are starting to change how they think and are including us in family decisions.
Come, see how my life is.
You can watch a day through my eyes. See my home and meet my family.
As we say in Hausa, our local language, na gode! (thank you!)
In sisterhood,
Dada
Women for Women International invests where inequality is greatest by helping women who are forgotten — the women survivors of war and conflict. Since 1993, our global community has invested in the power of over 550,000 women across 17 conflict-affected countries, to create a ripple effect that makes the world more equal, peaceful, and prosperous.
Through Women for Women International’s Stronger Women, Stronger Nations Programme, women learn the skills they need to rebuild their families and communities. In Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, Kosovo, Nigeria, Rwanda, and South Sudan, women who join the programme connect with each other to form support networks, are equipped with the skills to earn an income and save, and gain knowledge and resources to care for their families, and defend their rights. Women use their power together, passing it on to neighbours and their children for lasting change.
That is the power of women, for women.
Over the next ten years, our goal is to scale our impact to improve the lives of millions of the most marginalised women affected by war and conflict. Our vision is to create a world in which all women determine the course of their lives and reach their full potential.
To learn more about the power of women, for women, visit womenforwomen.org.uk or follow @WomenforWomenUK on social media.
We align with the following UN Sustainable Development Goals:
