The Team Lead of the Women Against Violence Empowered through Sustainability (WAVES) Project, Nathan Bako, says the initiative is committed to expanding the training of women on climate-smart agriculture to more local government areas beyond the current eight benefiting LGAs in Kano State.
Bako made this known during a project learning and impact dissemination event held at Alliance Française on Airport Road in Kano. He said the expansion is aimed at strengthening women’s economic resilience and reducing vulnerabilities that often expose them to gender-based violence (GBV).
According to him, the recent domestication of the Women Empowerment Economic Policy Action Plan by the Kano State Government is a welcome development that will further promote women’s economic inclusion.
Bako assured that his organization would actively support the dissemination of the policy to ensure that more women and stakeholders understand and benefit from its provisions.
Earlier, the Monitoring and Evaluation Officer of the project, Fatima Moftau, said the WAVES project had trained 50 women within three months on GBV foundations, boundary setting, legal referral pathways, climate-smart agriculture, as well as business and financial literacy.
She explained that 16 of the participants were retained as master trainers who have subsequently cascaded the knowledge to more than 120 additional beneficiaries across eight local government areas.
Moftau said the approach is designed to ensure sustainability and community-level ownership of the project outcomes.
In his presentation, a technical partner from Agro Fixing Consulting, Meki Daniel, emphasized the role of climate-smart agriculture in reducing economic vulnerability among women, noting that improved livelihoods can lower the risks associated with gender-based violence.
Daniel highlighted strategies for accessing finance, markets and cooperatives, mentorship for sustainability, and value addition that can help women turn agricultural produce into profitable market products.
He noted that some beneficiaries have already commenced the cultivation of crops such as okra and cucumber using improved agricultural techniques introduced during the training.
Stakeholders at the event commended the initiative, describing it as a practical step toward empowering women, strengthening livelihoods and addressing the underlying drivers of gender-based violence in communities.