In the spirit of celebrating year 2024 International Women’s day, Damsy Foundation and CEWHIN Supported by the RoLAC initiative funded by the European Union and managed by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), charged women and girls living with disabilities to be the best they can be in life since success is not designed for just a gender.
Newsconnect reports that this charge according to the organisers was apt to these vulnerable groups, at a time the world is campaigning to inspire inclusion.
In an interview with The Executive Director of Damsy Foundation, Mrs Owokodu Bukola expatiated the essence of the celebration and her expectation from the government towards the initiative going forward.
She said;
“We are here to celebrate women and women living with disabilities in Ikorodu and empower them with the right skills and knowledge to feel safe in Ikorodu.
“Parts of the activity designed to achieve this is a workshop on self defense and safety for women with disabilities. We received too many cases of sexual and gender based violence and domestic violence. We have seen women who remained in abusive marriages because they are not empowered.
“What they came here to learn today is what they should do as women when they are in danger, who to call when they are in situations beyond their control.
“So everything they need to know, the skills were taught today. We want more support from the government to reach more women. Today, we have only reached 50 women.
“We have so many women in the community, so many women in the grassroot that don’t have access to these information our participants have learnt today.
“We want Government to partner with us to reach more women in taking this initiative to the grassroot to empower more women.
“Damsy foundation has been doing a lot in Ikorodu, we won’t relent. We will continue to work to bring partners to scale up our impacts here in Ikorodu.
“Whatever the women set their minds to do, they should do it. Success is unisex, whatever a man can do, a woman can even do better.
“As a woman they should not be confined in a box and say I’m a woman I can’t do this. I am hopeful they will cascade the knowledge because the message shared with them was even translated in Yoruba.
A Programme Officer of CEWHIN – Pamela Stephen said the participants shouldn’t just go back and lie on the knowledge and skills learnt. That they should go back and cascade it to the people within their community, create awareness in their neighborhood within their families,friends even in the Church and everywhere they find themselves.
She also encouraged everyone to inspire inclusion.
In her words, she said;
“It is international women’s day and we are proud to be women. Again, we need to invest in women, build the woman, build the nation. It is very important every woman is included, say no to gender inequality”. She said