The initiative will train 60 women leaders from communities affected by oil, gas, and solid mineral extraction across the Niger Delta. The training will be delivered in two batches, first in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, and then in Warri, Delta State, from June 30 to July 25, 2025. Participants will include chairpersons, secretaries, and vice presidents of local women’s associations from extractive zones in states such as Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, and others within the region.
Speaking on the significance of the program, Dr. Vincent Dania, Programme Coordinator at Centre LSD, stated:
This intervention is not just about skills, but also about dignity, sustainability, and the long-term economic transformation of women who often bear the brunt of farmland destruction and livelihood loss caused by extractive activities in the Niger Delta. We are equipping these women and providing an initial seed grant to help them build and manage their cooperatives, making them self-sustaining and thereby laying the foundation for a model of community-owned resilience that will lift thousands of women in the region above the poverty line.
The WIFE training aligns with the Centre LSD’s commitment under the Ford Foundation-supported strengthening of an intersectional approach to natural resource governance, and core support for the institutional strengthening project to enhance the livelihoods of women and other marginalised groups operating in Nigeria’s extractive sector. Through participatory learning, practical bookkeeping, cooperative formation, and leadership development, the women will return to their communities empowered to run self-sustaining cooperative models that offer access to revolving loans, an essential step toward lifting households out of poverty. The WIFE initiative is not a one-time intervention. It is designed as a replicable model for economic justice and inclusion in communities that continue to experience the adverse effects of extractive activities.
For more information or to speak with a representative, please contact:
Tracy Irhezaen Communications Coordinator, Centre LSD
[email protected]
0703 743 5136
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