WOMEN OF VALOR INITIATIVE FOR DEVELOPMENT AND EMPOWERMENT

Women of Valor Initiative for Development and Empowerment (WOVAIDE) is a dream of a passionate desire by the initiator to advance the lives of vulnerable people in the society.

The recent UNDP report reveals that the number of people who are multidimensionally poor in Nigeria increased from 86 million to 98 million, which is about 51% of the population. The world bank in a recent publication, noted that the North East/North West registered an increasing incidence of poverty than any other region in the country, with a shrinking middle class and the largest increase in income inequality.

In terms of Human Development, the North-East also lags other regions when evaluated on the three basic dimensions of human development; a long healthy life, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living.  The recent UNDP Nigeria/NBS computed HDI at state level, shows that while Nigeria has an average HDI (Human Development Index) of 0.521, all the North East states have an HDI below the national average, with Taraba scoring 0.4286, a figure less than half of that of Lagos State.

Women of Valor Initiative for Development and Empowerment has discovered that this situation is worsened by the humanitarian crisis raging the region. Not only has more than two million people been displaced and tens of thousands killed in the last decade alone, but the sheer destruction of the basic economic and social infrastructure will take a long time to rebuild. The impact of the insurgency on all the basic human development indices is colossal.

Fundamentally, Taraba and the North East as a whole is faced with a transgenerational crisis that would result from the impact of poverty if nothing significant is done urgently. Already, incident cases of child trafficking, where mothers voluntarily sell out their children in order to make ends meet is already on the increase, child marriages, teenage pregnancy, maternal and infant mortality are all on a furious rise. Teenage girls are given out for marriage into polygamous settings where they engage in uncontrolled child bearing, thereby sustaining the poverty circle. Access to good maternal and child health care is poor with a consequentially high towering maternal mortality rates. The girl child is denied access to education with their rights assaulted and violated, making them vulnerable to teenage pregnancy and other social vices.

These and many more are the motivation behind Women of Valor Initiative for Development and Empowerment. Following an over two decades of committed volunteerism with humanitarian organizations and rural community engagements, and having appreciably palpated the level of deprivation and its ultimate consequences in the state, there was the need to create a sincere and dedicated platform which would in partnership with relevant authorities, implement result-oriented and community focused programs and interventions aimed at improving the lives of these vulnerable people.

At Women of Valor Initiative for Development and Empowerment, we believe that investing in others, pays great dividends and that people have a way of becoming what you encourage them to be. We therefore assign ourselves, the purpose of making other people happy and successful.