By Yemi Balogun
Freshly trained Ward Facilitators in Okene Local Government Area (LGA) are charging ahead, forming Women Affinity Groups (WAGs) that promise to shatter poverty chains and improve livelihoods for women across the region.
The game-changing capacity-building training, spearheaded by State Project Coordinator Dr. Esther Ameadaji under the Nigeria for Women Project Scale-Up Program’s State Implementation Unit was armed with facilitators who cascaded the community entry manual to ward facilitators in Okene. It is however, noteworthy to affirm that, the newly trained ward facilitator have mastered the seven non-negotiable principles of WAGs, record-keeping methods, and savvy savings strategies with tools designed to turn the women groups into self-sustaining economic powerhouses.
Facilitators walked away with commemorative items and essential gadgets to streamline their mission, ensuring every step toward women’s empowerment hits the ground running.
Already, these trailblazers are rallying women in Okene LGA to form WAGs, opening doors to vital funding, resilience-building ventures, and game-changing opportunities that boost incomes and rewrite futures.
The Women Affinity Groups, WAGs aren’t just groups, they are proven dynamos. Their effectiveness lies in fostering solidarity, disciplined savings, and transparent records that attract investors and grants. In pilot phases, they’ve catapulted women from survival mode to thriving entrepreneurs, slashing vulnerability and igniting community-wide prosperity. The scale-up is poised to replicate that magic across Kogi, proving women-led groups are the ultimate weapon against economic hardship.
Dr. Esther Ameadaji hailed the State Governor, Alhaji Usman Ododo for unlocking women’s prosperity gateways, the Okene LGA Chairman, the Director of Local Government for mobilizing indigenes, and the ward facilitators for their grit through the intense training. She affirmed that ward facilitators are the spark for the formation of WAGs which will build unbreakable economic fortresses for our women.
In Kogi’s rural villages, women shoulder 70% of unpaid care work yet hold the keys to family, like fetching water, cooking, child nutrition, child education, and community stability. Empowering them through WAGs doesn’t just lift households but also multiplies prosperity tenfold as Global data from UN Women (2018) and World Bank revealed that women reinvest 90% of earnings into families versus men’s 30-40%, showing positive outcomes like better schools, healthier kids, and thriving markets.
