Empowering 250 Young Women in Nigeria

As we reflect on 2024, we are deeply grateful for the remarkable progress made at Women Inspiration Development Center (WIDC) This year has exemplified the power of collaboration, and shared determination to transform the lives of vulnerable adolescent girls in Nigeria.  Through Obama foundation fund from Girls Opportunity Alliance, we were able to train 20 NGOs leaders from 10 organizations from seven states in Nigeria to take agency development to the population of vulnerable adolescents they were serving and these alone has translated to helping 4,320 vulnerable girls to find their voices and discover their powers to live their dreams.

Through our efforts this year, about 12,000 girls were sensitized to protect themselves from every form of domestic violence, have education on mensuration and 500 were supplied with sanitary pads. We supported 101 girls in vocational training in the year 2024. We are supporting 7 girls presently in court on rape cases, 2 girls were rescued from human traffickers and were still at our center having vocational training in tailoring that will settle them for life.  A girl with pregnancy as a result of rape is doing well in our center with her baby and preparing to go back to school. Our advocacy for gender equality, life skills, sexual and reproductive health rights, and early childhood development has positively impacted 10 rural communities.

Through many of our efforts this year, wife battering in the communities around us is reducing drastically because survivors were getting justice. There is more reporting of cases of rape because survivors are now sure of support, getting justice and the issue of naming and shaming survivors are going down as a result of our awareness campaigns.

During the Giving Tuesday, 2024, we joined others in the world in giving to humanity as we gave the gift of books to 5,600 students of high schools in our community.

This year also, Women Inspiration Development Center joined Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All (CSACEFA) continue to work with Child Protection Network in Nigeria.

None of these would have been possible without our dedicated team, partners, your donations  and the dedication of the population and community we are working with

• The 2024 full annual report (PDF)
  

In September, 20^th, 2024, one of our volunteers discovered Chioma, a 16 years old girl heavily pregnant engaging in hard labour giving to her by a trafficker who brought her to our community with the promise of helping her in exchange with the baby she was carrying.

Listening to Chioma’s story, we got to know that she dropped out of school because her only parent got sick and could not pay her school fees again. She then decided to go into helping work in homes. In one of the homes where she was working, the man of the house raped her which resulted to pregnancy. Immediately they discovered she was pregnant Chioma was sent packing from their home back to her father who was bedridden.

The father saw Chioma’s pregnancy as something who could bring shame to him in their community and so was looking for a way of sending her away from home to go and give birth to her child and give the child away and that was how she was brought to our community.

At 34 weeks of pregnancy, Chioma was not attending any anti natal clinic and nor seeing any private doctor. Immediately we discovered her, we took her straight to the hospital and did the scan of her baby, The baby was doing well but too big for Chioma to be able to give to him naturally but only through Cesarian operation.

A week later, she gave birth to a baby boy through cesarian operation. Our center paid the hospital bill took her to our shelter where we have been taking care of both mother and child.

Chioma presently is receiving home lesson through teachers that are coming home to teacher her so that she can finished high school education. She is now very happy that she can keep her baby and at the same time continue her education.

The teenage pregnancy rate in Nigeria is high. According to the 2018 Nigeria Demographic Health Survey, 1 in 5 adolescent females had begun childbearing. The rate varies from 28.5 births per 1000 adolescent females aged 15-19 years in the North-West geopolitical zone to 5.5 in the South-West

One of the key initiatives of Women inspiration development Center is providing support and resources to teenage mothers, enabling them to complete their education and build a brighter future. We have helped 5 teenage mothers since we got our shelter in 2022 through a corporate giver at GlobalGiving

WIDC works with healthcare providers to ensure that teenage mothers receive quality prenatal and postnatal care, reducing risks associated with childbirth and promoting the health of both mother and child.

We also provides counseling and mentor ship services to teenage mothers, addressing their emotional and psychological challenges they may face. We also have in place the Flexible Education Programs tailored to the needs of teenage mothers for them to continue their education in their convenient time with balancing their responsibilities as parents.

We want to thank our few donors at GlobalGiving for your support which has been helping us to continue to do this work even though with so much challenges. Your support is keeping us going! Our deep appreciations to you!