Women's Projects

Introduction:

Usually in the life of a woman, regardless of age, culture, or ethnic group, widowhood signifies a state of despondency in which the woman finds herself upon the demise of her spouse. In Africa, majority of women experience widowhood with harsh rites, dispossession of family property, abandonment etc.

HDI began its work among widows in markets and churches within the Mainland L.G.A.  The success of this pilot programme encouraged HDI to extend the programme to four LGAs in Lagos States viz:  Mushin, Mainland, Somolu and Eti-Osa.  Today, activities of HDI's Widows' Reproductive Health and Rights programme have further been extended to the six geo-political zones with recipients from the South- South, South -East, South West, North Central, North - East , North-West and the FCT.

SENSITIZATION/AWARENESS WORKSHOPS/ENLIGHTENMENT LECTURES:
Sensitization/awareness workshops are organized for widows’ representatives from churches, mosques and markets on how to safeguard and promote widows’ reproductive rights. HDI also encourages the formation of widows’ support groups in the LGAs, churches, markets and mosques in order to increase public awareness of the plight of widows and the various forms of injustice they suffer as well as give the widows an opportunity to offer eachother support and work together to promote and protect their rights and welfare. The formation of the group as a cooperative, along with the nomination of officers will enable widows benefit from the Widow’s Trust Fund Micro credit scheme now HDI Empowerment Trust Fund.

Lectures on issues that impact on widows’ lives and ways of protecting their reproductive rights such as widows’ abuse, inheritance/succession rights etc are held among widows in markets, churches, mosques and other places where widows are found in large numbers.

LIFE SKILLS/COTTAGE INDUSTRY TRAINING (Annually):
HDI conducts annual life skills training, designed to expose widows to diverse skills and education on income-generating activities and enable them cater for their sustenance and welfare. It also provides opportunities to assist and encourage other women especially widows towards economically empowering themselves. The programme focuses on giving widows skills in cottage industries like soap making, tie & dye, confectioneries production and making cosmetics. They are also taught how to manage small businesses and keep the accounts for profitability.

ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT:
One of the key outcomes of the lectures is the information that widows need to be economically empowered through sustainable income-generating activities in order to support and promote their welfare as well as their children’s. To address the economic hardship widow’s face, HDI set up a Widows’ Trust Fund (a pool of resources from friends of the organization which serves as a micro credit scheme). Soft loans are drawn and paid back with some interest and widows are benefiting immensely from it. The trust fund became necessary because the government-initiated Family Economic Advancement Programme (FEAP) failed. The Trust Fund has been incorporated as HDI Empowerment Trust Fund and range of beneficiaries has now been enlarged to cover street children and other vulnerable groups.