WIMBIZ encourages women’s participation in politics, advocates improvements in inclusion and visibility on all related indices.
Eberechi Obinagwam
Women in Management, Business and Public Service (WIMBIZ) has unveiled its Women’s advocacy programme and initiatives at a press conference held in Lagos on Wednesday, October 19.
The Nigerian non-profit organization that seeks to inspire, empower, advocate, and connect women also used the medium to unveil its inaugurated committee for the 2023 general election.
The 2022 Advocacy Committee Chairperson, Ms Ronke Onadeko at the unveiling disclosed that the inaugurated committee are to plan and execute advocacy programs on the organisation’s behalf.
She said drawing on its extensive women’s community-building history, the WIMBIZ advocacy committee’s current intervention is to support the 2022/2023 pre-election advocacy.
“The advocacy committee’s mandate for this year is centred around the sensitization of women and positively influencing their attitude towards the exercise of their civic duties during the upcoming general elections in 2023.
“This year’s campaign centres around informing and reminding women about their voting history, their rights, responsibilities, and rewards regarding voting, and encouraging women to perform their civic duty.
The theme is “Women and Civic Duties, Voters’ Attitude and Elections in Nigeria”. It will also feature a report, infomercials, and a mini-historical documentary on Nigeria’s suffragettes,” Wimbiz said.
Ms. Ronke Onadeko while commenting on the WIMBIZ Advocacy pillar as well as the 2022/2023 advocacy theme said the goal of WIMBIZ in its advocacy efforts is to increase women’s awareness of our historical journey in public and private participation and politics and advocate improvements in inclusion, participation, and visibility on all related indices.
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She said with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 5 and 10 for gender equality and reducing inequalities respectively in view, the WIMBIZ advocacy pillar is focused on engaging both the public and private sectors and individuals through strategic partnerships, collaborations, and direct engagement while preparing females to position themselves to contribute to nation-building and performance of their civic duties.
“The goal for public sector engagement is to have a higher representation of women developed, equipped, and positioned to increase their representation at all levels of government and in politics for both appointive and elective roles from 3.8% to 30% by 2030 and to increase the representation of women in the corporate sector occupying senior and executive positions,” she said.
The WIMBIZ Women on Boards Mentoring Program, The Women on Boards Training Institute, The WIMBIZ Private Sector Gender Equity and Equality Scorecard “The Scorecard” in Partnership with PWC, The WIMBIZ Public Procurement training in partnership with Nigeria Export Promotion Council are some of the highlights and successful interventions since the inauguration of the pioneer WIMBIZ Women on Boards Advocacy committee in 2018 and followed by the WIMBIZ Private and Public Sector Advocacy Committees in 2020.
Wimbiz at the occasion also disclosed that the advocacy initiatives are championed by standing committees staffed by loyal Associates in collaboration with WIMBIZ HQ