Skill Acquisition Project Focused on Women Empowerment

Ending lasting problems like poverty means realizing individual potentials of the people on earth and how much they could be worth if given a chance, and this begins with women empowerment. Like many African women, Nigerian women have a subordinate role to their male counterparts. The United Nations, has proposed women empowerment as a tool to eradicate gender inequality as depicted in the Sustainable Development Goals, and reduce women vulnerability and dependency in all spheres of life.
 
In light of this, Access Bank’s Retail Operations Group launched a capacity building program with the aim to train and empower disadvantaged women across Nigeria, some of which include: Rehabilitated street girls, Chibok women in IDP Camps, Widows and Rape victims.
 
The Group partnered with Field of Skills and Dreams (FSD) Academy whose aim is to train individuals in vocational, technical and entrepreneurial activities for self-employment. Participants were trained for a maximum period of 3 months to enable them acquire a vocational skill in either Catering, Fashion designing or Hairdressing; attended seminars and upon graduation were given equipment such as Ovens/Stoves, Dryers, Sewing machines etc. to enable them start off a small scale business. The graduates were thereafter monitored regularly via visits to locations as well as follow-up seminars at the training centre by Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) and FSD.
 
Training locations were Lagos, Abuja, Ibadan and Calabar, and feedback received from FSD Academy showed that the training was impactful as a total of 225 graduates have been produced, and some of the graduates have gone ahead to set up verifiable small scale businesses, or have themselves become trainers and mentors in other businesses.
 
Some of the testimonies from trainees are outlined below:

• I’m a Chibok woman and I used to be a civil servant. Memory of the move from Chibok brings tears to my eyes. My family lost everything and we became refugees. Now I am a skilled person earning an income in my new community.

 

• My life changed when I was nominated for this program. I was jobless, rejected and waited for hand outs, now I sew iro and buba to earn a small income.Ending lasting problems like poverty means realizing individual potentials of the people on earth and how much they could be worth if given a chance, and this begins with women empowerment. Like many African women, Nigerian women have a subordinate role to their male counterparts. The United Nations, has proposed women empowerment as a tool to eradicate gender inequality as depicted in the Sustainable Development Goals, and reduce women vulnerability and dependency in all spheres of life.
   
  In light of this, Access Bank’s Retail Operations Group launched a capacity building program with the aim to train and empower disadvantaged women across Nigeria, some of which include: Rehabilitated street girls, Chibok women in IDP Camps, Widows and Rape victims.
   
  The Group partnered with Field of Skills and Dreams (FSD) Academy whose aim is to train individuals in vocational, technical and entrepreneurial activities for self-employment. Participants were trained for a maximum period of 3 months to enable them acquire a vocational skill in either Catering, Fashion designing or Hairdressing; attended seminars and upon graduation were given equipment such as Ovens/Stoves, Dryers, Sewing machines etc. to enable them start off a small scale business. The graduates were thereafter monitored regularly via visits to locations as well as follow-up seminars at the training centre by Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) and FSD.
   
  Training locations were Lagos, Abuja, Ibadan and Calabar, and feedback received from FSD Academy showed that the training was impactful as a total of 225 graduates have been produced, and some of the graduates have gone ahead to set up verifiable small scale businesses, or have themselves become trainers and mentors in other businesses.
   
  Some of the testimonies from trainees are outlined below:
• I’m a Chibok woman and I used to be a civil servant. Memory of the move from Chibok brings tears to my eyes. My family lost everything and we became refugees. Now I am a skilled person earning an income in my new community.
•  
• My life changed when I was nominated for this program. I was jobless, rejected and waited for hand outs, now I sew iro and buba to earn a small income.
•