By Fatima Aliyu, FRCN Kaduna
The Empowering Women for Excellence Initiative (EWEI) has called for stronger collaboration among government, civil society organisations and community stakeholders to sustain peace, empower women economically and address violence against women and girls in conflict-affected communities in Kaduna State.
The call was made at the dissemination and closing event of the three-year Together We Can (TWC) Project, which supported women and girls in Kasuwan Magani, Kajuru Local Government Area, and Kujama, Chikun Local Government Area, to rebuild their livelihoods and promote peaceful coexistence.
Presenting the project’s achievements, EWEI Executive Project Director, Safiya Ibn Garba, said the intervention had made progress in supporting survivors of violence, empowering women and girls, and strengthening community participation in preventing gender-based violence.
She said the project directly reached 276 women and girls through healing, counselling and empowerment activities, while 581 community members, including traditional and religious leaders and male champions, were engaged in advocating against violence and supporting community interventions.
According to her, the initiative also worked with 102 government representatives and institutional actors to strengthen survivor-centred referral pathways and institutional responses. Its digital advocacy, public awareness campaigns and online outreach reached more than 1.6 million people.
Safiya said the achievements demonstrated the importance of combining psychosocial support, economic empowerment, community mobilisation and institutional collaboration to help women and girls recover from conflict and rebuild their lives with dignity.
The project was implemented from November 2024 to October 2026 with support from the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women. It aimed to strengthen the safety, resilience and economic independence of women and girls in conflict-affected communities.
Speaking at the event, the Permanent Secretary, Kaduna State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, Malam Muhammad Hayyyatu, said the government could not address the challenges facing women, children and other vulnerable groups without support from civil society organisations, development partners and community initiatives.
He commended EWEI for its work through the project and urged beneficiaries to share the knowledge and skills they had acquired with other women to expand its impact.
Hayyyatu also encouraged the women to register their cooperative groups, explaining that organised groups would be better positioned to access government support and other opportunities for economic growth. He assured them of his office’s readiness to collaborate with stakeholders to address challenges affecting women’s welfare and economic independence.
Earlier, an EWEI executive committee member, Jeremiah Mendie, presented project fact sheets highlighting areas requiring further intervention by government institutions, development partners and other stakeholders to sustain the achievements and extend support to more women and girls.
The project engaged 60 primary beneficiaries, comprising 30 women and girls each from Kasuwan Magani and Kujama, drawn from Muslim and Christian communities.
Through psychosocial support, capacity building, economic empowerment and community mobilisation, the initiative sought to rebuild livelihoods, restore trust and encourage peaceful relationships among residents of the two communities.
Participants at the closing event expressed appreciation for the project’s achievements, while beneficiaries shared testimonies of positive changes in their lives and improvements in peaceful coexistence within their communities.
Stakeholders called for sustained government support, stronger partnerships and continued community engagement to ensure that the project’s benefits reach more women and girls beyond the initial beneficiaries.
The event provided an opportunity to review the project’s achievements, identify areas requiring further intervention and renew commitments to women’s empowerment, peacebuilding and the prevention of violence against women and girls.
Editing By Yusuf Zubairu
