The Nigeria for Women Project, operating from 2018 to 2024, has supported the creation of Women Affinity Groups (WAGs), which serve as hubs for their members to access financial services, training and mentorship, and other services and solutions tailored to women’s needs. The project has impacted over 1 million people. In over three and half years, the WAGs have saved about US$ 4.8 M and have internally disbursed and managed loans totaling over US$ 3.1M to support their livelihoods investments. The project has improved the livelihoods of 226,845 beneficiaries. The project also addressed gender-based violence through targeted behavioral campaigns and community awareness efforts.
Rukayya Adamu from the Maiyama community in Kebbi state, north-west Nigeria, used to sell firewood. "It was the only thing I could do. I had no skill or money to do other businesses," she says. But today, she runs a business that sells soya beans, providing her with a more sustainable source of income for her family.
Challenge
In Nigeria’s rural areas, access to financial services has remained elusive for a significant portion of the population, with over 40 percent of Nigerian adults unable to secure such services. And a closer examination reveals a bleaker reality for adult women. A mere 15 percent of Nigerian women hold bank accounts, underscoring a pronounced gender gap in financial access and inclusion. Additionally, only 3 percent of female farmers are formally enrolled in financial systems, compared to 10 percent of male farmers. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that commercial banks tend to prioritize large clients, leaving underfunded microfinance institutions struggling to serve smaller businesses. Due to high costs and logistical challenges, financial institutions are generally discouraged from expanding into rural areas. These challenges push women to rely on informal savings groups that are perceived to be more accessible but are often lacking in security and support.
Beyond economic hurdles, women face the pervasive threat of gender-based violence (GBV), yet another barrier to their progress. In the past year, 28 percent of Nigerian women between ages 15 and 49 experienced physical or sexual violence, and 11 percent endured physical abuse. Deep-rooted harmful practices like child marriage and female genital mutilation persist. Also, extremist factions prey on women in conflict zones, subjugating them to abduction, forced marriage, and brutality. Together, these grim realities paint a dire picture of the challenges that obstruct women’s pathways to opportunity and underscore the urgent need for comprehensive interventions.
Approach
Recognizing the pivotal role of economic empowerment in addressing gender disparities and improving broader social outcomes like children’s education and wellbeing, the Nigeria for Women Project (NFWP) takes an innovative approach to promote women’s economic empowerment. Unlike conventional approaches that often overlook economically productive women hovering just above the poverty line and incorporate gender into broader initiatives, the NFWP strategically targeted the “underserved middle” to empower women, enhance their socioeconomic mobility, and improve their economic prospects.
Central to NFWP’s activities were the creation and strengthening of Women's Affinity Groups (WAGs), which serve as hubs for empowerment, offering financial grants, business mentorship, market connections, skills training, and innovative solutions tailored to women’s needs. The NFWP also leverages connections to existing programs such as the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund to deliver benefits for project participants; for example, it connected women in the NWFP to other World Bank-supported government programs in Nigeria, including several focused-on entrepreneurship and skills development. The project operated in six zones of Nigeria: Abia, Akwa Ibom, Kebbi, Niger, Ogun, and Taraba.
Results
By January 2024, the NFWP had surpassed expectations, reaching over 1 million community members through various interventions such as WAG, behavior change campaigns, skills and entrepreneurship activities and vastly outstripping its original target of 648,000. As a result, the project supported 458,208 women through the formation and strengthening of 22,094 Women Affinity Groups. Notably, 20 percent of WAG members now have access to credit while a staggering 94 percent actively save, also surpassing project benchmarks. Also, 86 percent of WAG members now have bank accounts, marking a significant stride toward broader financial inclusion.
Yet, amid these achievements lie lurking risks, particularly concerning the shifting dynamics of gender roles. Entrenched social norms often provoke backlash from partners, families, and communities, thus amplifying the threat of gender-based violence. The NFWP has woven key measures into project design to preempt and mitigate these risks. From targeted behavior change communication campaigns aimed at religious and traditional leaders to culturally sensitive strategies fostering the safe participation of women in WAGs, the project prioritizes the safety, security, and dignity of vulnerable women. Additionally, the project diligently maps available survivor centered GBV services to bridge gaps and increase community awareness while leveraging various communication channels and garnering support from leaders of faith and culture to reduce stigma surrounding women's empowerment.
Looking Ahead
Building on these foundations, the Nigeria for Women Program Scale Up Project was launched in 2024. This ambitious project continues the aims of the NFWP to promote women's empowerment, while drawing on a wide range of lessons learned from the implementation of the NFWP. Beyond integrating gender perspectives into sectors like agriculture, rural development, environment, health, and education, the scale-up project is tackling entrenched demand-side barriers like social norms, mistrust in financial service providers, and deficiencies in national identification systems. Crucially, the initiative also seeks to reshape gender norms by engaging men as allies in challenging gender stereotypes. It also champions women's access to education, capital, entrepreneurial skills, and control over their time and labor, all while fortifying gender-responsive adaptation and mitigation measures to address the adverse impacts of climate change on women and other vulnerable groups.
The NFWP, along with the expansion of its goals via the Nigeria for Women Program Scale Up Project, demonstrates the transformative power of interventions targeted and tailored to women’s needs, illuminating a path toward inclusive prosperity and gender equity in Nigeria's development efforts.