Earlier, we brought you report on the Women Deliver conference, the world’s largest global conference on the health, rights and wellbeing of the girls and women whose 2016 edition held in Copenhagen, Denmark. The Federal Republic of Nigeria was well represented through a number of notable Organizations, their matrons/founders and team members. The conference which revealed there was much to be done by all organizations to better the lives of the women and girls populace in their country inspired the first meeting to kick-start actions to sustain the momentum from the outcomes of the conference and Empowered To Empower the less privilege women (E2E) Initiative was represented by the Founder, Mrs. Joy Anih.
Building on the outcomes of the 2016 conference which held in Copenhagen and provided a ground breaking opportunity to turn the tides of adversity into a successful development and sustainable agenda for women, girls and the society at large. The participants of this conference believe there needs to be sustained momentum in-country, building of strong partnerships and collective contribution to the improvement of women and girls’ health, education, rights and wellbeing in Nigeria.
Towards achieving these aims, a one day, citizens action post-women deliver conference meeting hosted by Partnership for Transforming Health Systems II (PATHS2) in collaboration with Wellbeing Foundation Africa and International Society of Media in Public Health (ISMPH) was held in Abuja, Nigeria on 10th of June, 2016.
The meeting had the following objectives:
- To explore more ways to translate individual experiences, lessons learned and inspirations into actionable strategies to advance the well-being of women and girls in the country.
- To set up a platform for united actions, to make even more change happen for Nigerian women and girls.
- To develop action plan underway on how to collectively utilize the 300+ solutions highlighted during the conference to make change happen
- To fully integrate the media as a strategic partner for implementation
Participants shared their experiences from the conference. Issues discussed included the importance of the role of men and boys in advancing gender equity and the advancement of women and girls; the importance of menstrual health and hygiene management in improving the wellbeing of women and girls; the urgent need forthe advancement of sexual and reproductive health rights, environment, family planning, health education, health information and communications.
Also discussed were the ten action points for keeping the momentum. Following the successful conference in Copenhagen; the need to raise the demand for modern contraception and family planning; and finally, the opportunity the Deliver for Good campaign and the need to build a case to drive interest around the 12 investments for women and girls by the Nigerian government.
In the strive to improve women and girls’ health rights, the following commitments were also made:
- To be advocates for the 12 Deliver for Good investments and ensure its implementation in Nigeria through advocacy to the government of Nigeria, CSOs, Women Groups.
- Women Deliver Young Leaders, Nigeria committed to be ambassadors of the #DeliverForGood campaign to the various communities.
- The She Forum Africa committed to have a panel focused on the Post Women Deliver 2016 conference during the She Forum conference in October, 2016
- The International Society of Media in Public Health was to embark on a new initiative Women for Women’s Health.
- The Wellbeing Foundation Africa committed to support and amplify the integrated actions of the post conference initiative.
- To coordinate action with relevant partners to advance the wellbeing of women and girls in Nigeria.
- Passage of the gender and equal opportunity bill in Nigeria.
- The Senator’s Wives forum also committed to sponsor a bill that will advance the health, rights and wellbeing of women and girls, pushing for data, medical records as a strategic tool for development
