FG, NIPSS to bridge women economic empowerment gap in Nigeria

The National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Development Research Project Center (DRPC) and the Ministry of Finance Budget and National Planning, is set to bridge empowerment gaps especially among women in Nigeria.

Consultant, Women Economic Empowerment Intervention, Dr. Plangsat Bitrus while speaking in Abuja on Tuesday at the inauguration of the technical working group for the pilot monitoring and evaluation framework for Women’s Economic Empowerment Interventions noted that a lot of gaps exists in women empowerment.

According to Bitrus, government policies should be targeted at specific people and not just being generalized because of similar gender.

She explained that our bodies are not the same but are made up of men, women, some with disabilities, and as such empowerment should be based on this and how many they are.

“Most of the policies are just blanket and that gives room for a lot of exclusive, I think we are moving toward an era of inclusivity where we have to mop everything together and make people know that governance is not just about one person but we should take each specifically”.

Bitrus alluded to gaps in women empowerment and as such, the need for the interventions which seeks to track the progress of women in their various business environment and the opportunities that they have within the policy framework of government.

She said that lots of progress will be made on the interventions considering the stakeholders involved to ensure monitoring and evaluation, accountability and track the number of women that have benefitted in the economic policies and project of government.

“You know we have lots of projects and policies and many organizations are saying who have monies for this and that but if you ask them specifically in terms of gender disparity, this things are completely missing”.

She added that the technical working group will know issues affecting women  positively real-time to ensure that their safety, security and the likes in the business environment for women are in place.

The Director, National Monitoring and Evaluation, Federal Ministry of Budget and National Planning, Dr. Zakari Lawal stated the initiative will look at government policies on how they can economically empower women, government budget, policies, and  projects within the lens of women economic empowerment

Lawal explained that the government will look at policies, programmes and projects and then identify Key performance indicators that will highlight what women aspire for and that aggregate whatever information they need within the perspective of how women will be empowered.

He noted that the outcome is to ensure proper planning and target well, as policies are supposed to be empowered and inclusive.

“When you have an M and E framework, it means whatever delivery mechanism is used, it must provide a clear information about how it has economically impacted on women”, he added.