CMEDIA project: GSAI tasked on long-term sustainability of activities within Abuja Municipal Council

Abigail Ogwezzy-Ndisika, Technical Adviser of the Collaborative Media Engagement for Development, Inclusivity, and Accountability (CMEDIA) project, on Tuesday, 1 August 2023, advised Gender Strategy Advancement International (GSAI) to devise ways for the long-term sustainability of its activities within the Abuja Municipal Council. The Professor of Mass Communication said the organisation, which advocates for women\’s rights through research and journalism, must design its activities to cause a change in government policies on girls and women. Ogwezzy-Ndisika admonished the Abuja-based organisation on the inclusion of under-reported voices and Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) in their activities during the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) team visit to evaluate their impacts, progress, and challenges under the CMEDIA project funded by the MacArthur Foundation.

Francis Oyewole, Programme Officer at GSAI, thanked WSCIJ’s intervention which has improved their organisation’s internal system in executing a funded project. As part of activities of GSAI on the CMEDIA project, it compiled and launched a report on women’s political participation in Nigeria, trained 20 reporters and editors and did a 2022 budget analysis to assess its gender responsiveness and women’s economic empowerment capacity. Oyewole informed the WSCIJ team that GSAI embarked on media rounds and advocacy visits to communities in Abuja, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), and other policymakers to present the report.

Responding to the activities of GSAI under the project, Motunrayo Alaka, ED/CEO, WSCIJ, stressed the need for GSAI to spotlight the stories of women and girls at the subnational level-state and local governments. She emphasised the significance of media involvement and amplification of gender-related matters. Alaka suggested that GSAI consider enlisting journalists to write stories about the impact of gender-responsive budgeting and gender imbalances during electoral processes on women and girls.