Uju Obiora
Nigeria
I have also participated in developing and delivering gender training for men as I believe this is
also an important part of our strategy to transform social relations of power.
I recently relocated to Warri in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria to take up a new
employment as Senior Program Officer (Gender) in Participatory Partnerships
for Community Development (PPCD) a Chevron funded project. Prior to joining
PPCD, I worked as Program Manager, of the Women’s Rights Program of
the Heinrich Boell Foundation, Nigeria office for five years. My job entails
building capacities among the representatives of the communities in Chevron’s
areas of operations (to deliver sustainable benefits to their communities).
Specifically, I work towards ensuring that women are empowered and gender
is mainstreamed across the structures and programs of these representatives
called (The Regional Development Councils - RDCs). I work with 8 RDCs in
five states.
that to address the challenges we face as African feminists we need to enlarge
the scope of the movement by sensitizing /co-opting all self identifying women’s
rights activists to have a common understanding of feminists’ principles.
Secondly, we need to increase the space for the participation of young/upcoming feminists. This is critical as we need to ensure that the struggles and
gains started have a means to continue, that we develop new strategies and
that we continue to dismantle patriarchal systems, structures and initiatives.
Finally, we need to ensure that we disseminate feminist materials or readers
more broadly, to audiences beyond the groups we normally reach. This means
we have to ensure that our strategies, our ideology and analysis is accessible
to others outside of the movement as well.
I call myself a feminist because I believe in the equality of men and women;
I stand up publicly against patriarchy which is a fundamental challenge to
women’s struggles. This belief forms part of my private and public life and the
struggle is an integral part of my day to day activities.
I have personally added my energy in the feminist endeavour to women’s rights
education, advocacy and empowerment. I have participated in developing
and delivering gender training for men as I believe this is also an important
part of our strategy to transform social relations of power.
African feminists still struggle with lack of cooperation in the women’s movement.
There is insufficient unification in the struggle against the status-quo. I believe
I am inspired by feminists’ activism without fear or hypocrisy.
VPS II
. 101