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Voices for Change Report

Case studies on:Radio Stations, Religious Leaders, Traditional Leaders

and Legislative Reform

December 2016

This report has been funded by UK aid from the UK government, opinions expressed in this report are those of the V4C Programme and do not necessarily reflect the UK government’s official policies.

1Voices for Change Programme

Acknowledgements

The case study team would like to thank all the respondents who gave up their time to share their insights and perspectives with us. We would also like to thank the V4C Output Leads and State Coordinators who supported the data collection process.

Case study team:Authors: Tony Dogbe, Julia Hamaus and Celia Marshall (lead)

Data collection:Radio stations: Emmanuel Atuma (lead) and Rita EghujovboReligious leaders: Ifeanyi Okekearu (lead) and Ladi WayiTraditional leaders: Dr. Chinedu Monye (lead) and Gerald OgokoGender Technical Unit: Banke Akinrimisi

Supervisors:Emeka Nwankwo and Claire Hughes

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements..................................................................................................................2

Abbreviations and acronyms....................................................................................................5Section 1: Introduction.............................................................................................................6

1.1 V4C programme overview.........................................................................................61.2 Background to the Case Studies...............................................................................6

1.3 Methodology..............................................................................................................71.3.1 Outcome harvesting principles................................................................................7

1.3.2 Field work preparations...........................................................................................91.3.3 Sample composition................................................................................................9

1.3.4 Data collection methods and data analysis...........................................................111.3.5 Limitations.............................................................................................................11

Section 2: Radio Station Case Study.....................................................................................142.1 Case study background...........................................................................................14

2.2 Discussion of outcomes...........................................................................................152.3 Conclusion...............................................................................................................28

Section 3: Religious Leaders Case Study..............................................................................303.1 Case study background...........................................................................................30


Section 4: Traditional Leaders Case Study............................................................................504.1 Case study background...........................................................................................50

4.2 Discussion of outcome.............................................................................................524.3 Conclusion...............................................................................................................69

Section 5: Gender Technical Unit Case Study.......................................................................715.1 Case study background...........................................................................................71


Annex 1: List of references....................................................................................................86Annex 2: List of interviews – Radio Stations Case Study......................................................87

Annex 3: List of interviews – Religious Leaders Case Study.................................................88Annex 4: List of interviews – Traditional Leaders Case Study...............................................89

Annex 5: List of interviews – Gender Technical Unit Case Study..........................................90Annex 6: Summary of V4C database on RTL activities.........................................................91

Annex 7: List and profile of V4C activities with Religious Leaders........................................94

Annex 8: Examples of actions by Religious Leaders cited during the in-depth interviews and focus groups for this study.....................................................................................................96Annex 9: Spotlight: Engagement between the youth and their traditional leaders...............100

Annex 10: VAPP Act progression chart...............................................................................103Annex 11: V4C’s Objectives.................................................................................................106

Annex 12: V4C Theory of Change.......................................................................................107

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Voices for Change Programme

Abbreviations and acronyms

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AACN The Affirmative Action Coalition for Women in Nigeria (formerly called NCAA)

C4C Coalition for ChangeCMO Catholic Men OrganisationCSO Civil Society OrganisationsDFID Department for International DevelopmentFGD Focus Group DiscussionGAA Gender and Affirmative ActionGEO Gender and Equal Opportunity BillGESF Gender Expert and Senior FacilitatorGEWE Gender Equality and Women’s EmpowermentGM General ManagerGTU Gender Technical UnitHRH His Royal HighnessHRM His Royal MajestyIDI In-depth InterviewJ4A Justice for AllLACVAW Legislative Advocacy Coalition on Violence Against WomenLGA Local Government AreaMD Managing DirectorNASS National AssemblyNSRP National Stability and Reconciliation ProgrammeNYSC National Youth Service CorpsPT Purple TinzRLs Religious LeadersRTLs Religious and Traditional LeadersSARS Special Anti-Robbery SquadSAVI State Accountability and Voice InitiativeTLs Traditional LeadersToC Theory of ChangeV4C Voices for ChangeVAPP Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act/BillVAWG Violence against Women and GirlsWRAPA Women’s Rights Advancement and Protection Alternative

Section 1: Introduction1.1 V4C programme overview

Voices for Change (V4C) is a four-year transformational change programme, tackling underlying systemic and structural causes of gender inequality and exclusion of adolescent girls and women in Nigeria. It is firmly focused on developing an enabling environment for change, and sets out to tackle the social norms which underpin gender inequality and discrimination. It does so through multiple interventions at three inter-connected levels: individual level, society level and formal institutions. Programme activity takes place in 4 states (Enugu, Lagos, Kaduna and Kano) and at the federal level, and is organised through 5 ‘Output areas’: 1) Adolescent Girls and Women, 2) Communications, 3) Key Influencers, 4) Political and Governance Processes 5) Research and Evidence (See Annex 10 for Project Objectives).

Whilst informed by evidence, the approach adopted by V4C is innovative and largely untested, both globally as well as in Nigeria. The programme is therefore understood as a pilot to be used to develop the evidence base around approaches to tackling social norms underpinning gender inequality. Understanding, documenting and communicating what works is therefore an important dimension of the programme.

In its 2014 report, ‘V4C’s Approach to Changing Discriminatory Social Norms’, the V4C programme acknowledges that in order to create a better enabling environment for women and girls, discriminatory social norms need to change. It explains that social norms are different from individual attitudes, beliefs or opinions in that they depend upon an individual’s expectations of other people. Using UNICEF’s definition, the report defines a social norm as: “a pattern of behaviour that individuals prefer to conform to on condition that they believe that: a) most people in their relevant network conform to it (empirical expectations), and b) most people in their relevant network believe they ought to conform to it (normative expectations)”.

The paper also posits that “changing a social norm entails changing current social expectations, creating new social expectations, or both” and that, “social norms are difficult to change on an individual basis, because they are inter-dependent. Even if specific individuals change their attitudes, they may not change their behaviour because they feel constrained by the expectations of others. They may also fear sanctions applied to those who do not conform to the norm, such as loss of respect in the community or exclusion from significant events or institutions”. For these reasons, “V4C’s approach is based on the conviction that a society-wide response is required, working at the individual, community, and social-structural levels.” It therefore aims to work simultaneously with these three interconnected levels: self, society and institutions.

1.2 Background to the Case Studies

V4C plans to provide evidence of what works for social norm change in Nigeria through 3 main instruments:

o An annual Attitudes, Practices & Social Norms (APNS) panel survey;o Case studies, which capture significant changes resulting amongst V4C direct target

groups and the contribution V4C has made to catalysing these changes;o An internal evaluation, which will test V4C’s Theory of Change.

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As well as telling the story to the public, these case studies form part of V4C’s reporting to DFID and will be an important source of evidence for the internal evaluation as well. Case studies will be produced each year to help tell the story of change. These four case studies gathered in 2016 aim to capture significant changes amongst V4C’s target groups and partner organisations at outcome level, provide evidence of the causes of these changes and the contribution played by V4C in bringing them about.

The 2016 case study process has consisted of three phases: 1) a review of key documentation and a first country visit in May 2016 to map the most significant changes occurring amongst V4C target groups and partner organisations at federal level and in two states, Enugu and Kaduna. These two States were selected from the four that V4C works in on the basis of the magnitude of change reported by the team to date, as well as providing a balance in terms of the most prominent cultural and religious features. 2) In-depth field work in August 2016 to gather data for the selected stories to be used as case studies. This aimed to verify, unpack and elaborate on the significant change stories identified in phase 1, and hear directly from the social actors who were reported to have changed or experienced change. Lastly, 3) approximately 4-page case study briefs will be developed for publication.

This report relates to the second phase of the case study process described above. As such, it presents four detailed case studies on four of the outcome areas identified in phase 1 of the process. These relate to changes found in radio stations, religious leaders, traditional leaders and legislative process. Within these outcome areas, demonstrable changes have been identified, based on the data collected. The outcome areas were selected from those described in the Phase 1 report on the basis of the body of evidence that was apparent at that time (the breadth and depth of change) and the number of outcomes that had been identified. They were also outcomes that appeared connected with V4C’s Theory of Change (see Annex 12) in that they showed evidence of change in several of V4C’s domains of change (self, society and institution), as well as a degree of synergy between these. Each also showed the potential for the change to be sustained post-project, either because they exhibited signs of a “rising tide of change”, or of new practices and behaviours being embedded institutionally (in the widest sense), or of spreading within Nigeria beyond the locations where they first began. The demonstrable changes within the outcome areas in this report, have emerged from the data analysis process undertaken during Phase 2. Where the nature of the outcome level change was understood in a new way as a result of the in-depth research, the description of the outcome from Phase 1 has been modified accordingly.

1.3 Methodology

1.3.1 Outcome harvesting principles

The methodology for this case study process draws heavily on the ‘Outcome Harvesting’1

approach as a way of gathering an understanding of the changes taking place. This was chosen in order to broaden the search for changes beyond those intended by the project activities, thereby opening up the possibility of noticing unintended and negative changes, as well as keeping the focus on outcome rather than output level.

Outcome Harvesting practitioners generally define ‘outcomes’ as changes in behaviour, attitudes,

1 See Ricardo Wilson-Grau & Heather Britt, Outcome Harvesting, May 2012 for a description of the Outcome Harvesting approach.

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relationships, actions, activities, policies, or practices of an individual, group, community, organization, or institution (see diagram). While looking for the changes brought about by V4C therefore, all these areas are of interest.

It is acknowledged by the programme that changes at outcome level are likely to be only starting to emerge at this stage, and that impact level achievements cannot yet really be assessed. In addition, the work of V4C is a relatively small contribution to a long-term/generational change. However, outcomes are nevertheless starting to become apparent.In devising the best suited methodology for V4C, the case study team also drew on some of V4C’s own theoretical frameworks: its theory of change (see Annex 11) with the three domains of change (self, society and institutions) at its core, and the five results areas identified in its results framework.

In addition, the V4C research paper, “V4C’s Approach to Changing Discriminatory Social Norms” developed during the inception of V4C in 20142, which describes the ‘stages of change’ that different actors in a change process go through (1. Pre-contemplation, 2. Contemplation/ awareness-raising, 3. Planning the change/ persuasion, and 4. Action/ making the change), was used as an important point of reference. The case study team thought that these stages of change could potentially help to identify what would be called ‘Progress Markers’ in Outcome Mapping terminology – simply put, the predicted stages on the way to a larger outcome.

In addition, it is important to look beyond changes in individuals, to ‘diffusion’ or changes in the wider context – what V4C calls ‘The Rising Tide’ – where there is a sense of groundswell or broader change catching on within the society and the institutions within which these individuals operate. In Outcome Mapping terms, one expects to see changes in individuals but would like to see these changes reflecting in how they behave or relate to others that they interact with. Ultimately, what one would love to see is that the changes are transforming institutions that bind the society together and influence people’s behaviour into the long term. These perspectives were shared with the V4C team and partners to help them consider the idea of change in as broad and deep a way as possible, thinking beyond individual stories to more widespread outcomes.

Further factors the case study team were on the lookout for during the significant change gathering process were:

Causes, reasons why – ‘drilling down’ to see how V4C and its partners, and indeed other factors, have brought about the outcomes identified.

Synergy and layering – how the various V4C interventions connect within, or combine to influence, people’s lives, if at all, and how some changes lead to, or become, ripple effects.Stories AND numbers - probing underneath anecdotes to get a sense of whether it is a widespread change or not… and yet the example of one person or event or organisation can express and sum up widespread change in an understandable way. Also, one person’s story can demonstrate what is possible, they can be a champion or inspire others.

Primarily qualitative – the case studies are intended to give insight into why and how, but also give an idea of frequency and scale.

2http://www.v4c-nigeria.com/resources/reports-and-think-pieces/ 8


http://www.v4c-nigeria.com/resources/reports-and-think-pieces/

1.3.2 Field work preparations

The case study team delivered a 5-day training session for the consultants who were contracted to carry out the data collection for the case studies. The training provided an overview of the results from the first phase of the case study work and engaged the participants in finalising the preparation for the second phase. The case study team prepared a detailed field guide to support the consultants in organising and carrying out the field work. The field guide contained programme background information, a draft sample structure, discussion guides and guidance on ethical principles for the research.

Subsequently, the consultants organised the fieldwork by contacting candidates for the in-depth interviews (IDIs) and focus group discussions (FGDs) with support from V4C Output Leads and State Coordinators. Participants of the IDIs and FGDs were briefed on the rationale for the research, assured of the confidentiality of the interview data, and their consent was obtained.

1.3.3 Sample composition

1. Radio Stations Case StudyThe sample was designed by the case study team in collaboration with the consultants who carried out the research. The 4 radio stations selected for the field work (2 in Enugu and 2 in Kaduna) were the only ones among the 11 stations that V4C is targeting and supporting that are located in the two States selected for the case studies. A purposive sampling methodology was applied allowing to include people who have experiences which are of interest to the research. For in-depth interviews, we selected individuals from the management of the targeted radio stations, who were responsible for the partnership with V4C, as well as radio station staff who have been part of V4C training and/or the Purple Tinz campaign. Participants for the FGDs were selected from a wider group of members of the purple clubs, as well as privately initiated radio listeners groups. The selection was done by the researchers and made sure to include a balance of male and female participants.

The fieldwork for this case study was conducted in August 2016. The consultants conducted the following 16 IDIs and 5 FGDs with men (M) and women (F) in Kaduna and Enugu. In total, 51 informants (26 women and 25 men) participated in the research.

Table 1: Sample summary, Radio StationsEnugu KadunaSolid FM Dream FM Karama Radio Liberty Radio

Radio programme staff IDI 12 (F)IDI 13 (F)IDI 14 (F)

IDI 17 (F)IDI 11 (M)

IDI 3 (F)IDI 4 (F)

IDI 6 (M)IDI 7 (F)IDI 8 (M)

Radio programme management

IDI 15 (F)IDI 16 (F)

IDI 10 (M) IDI 1 (M) IDI 5 (M)

Advertisers IDI 9 (M)Radio listeners FGD 4 (M)

FGD 5 (F)FGD 1 (M)FGD 2 (F)FGD 3 (mixed)

2. Religious Leaders Case Study15 interviews (6 focus group discussions and 9 in-depth interviews) took place with ‘people at the centre of the change’ and people ‘observing the change’. Of these, 5 were with Muslims and 10 with Christians, 10 were with men (M) and 5 with women (F), 10 were with people at the centre of the change and 5 with observers of the change. In total, 51

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informants (32 women and 19 men) participated in the research. As the vast majority of the religious leaders that V4C worked with were men (100% initially), the religious leaders interviewed were mostly (8 out of 9 IDIs) with men who had taken part in the Gender and Masculinity training. Since young women are the final intended target group for V4C, the data collection team tried to hear from women in the focus groups about how they had experienced the change. While they were not always able to gather focus groups of younger women from the RL’s communities, 5 of the 6 FGDs were with women. A detailed list of the interviewees can be found in Annex 3.

Table 2: Sample summary, Religious LeadersEnugu KadunaChristian Muslim Christian Muslim

Religious leaders FGD 1 (M)IDI 3 (M)IDI 5 (M)IDI 6 (M)

FGD 4 (M) IDI 11 (M)IDI 13 (M)IDI 15 M)

IDI 12 (M)IDI 14 (M)

Observers of religious leaders’ action

FGD 2 (F)FGD 7 (F)

IDI 8 (F)FGD 9 (F)

FGD 10 (F)

In addition to these, the V4C Lead for Output 3 (Key Influencers) was interviewed as part of Part 1 and then again as part of Part 2. To help trace causal factors, the team also referred to: the monitoring database kept by V4C which is used as a source of data on the actions of the religious leaders following their training with V4C, strategy documents pertaining to the religious leaders, and facilitator’s reports on the V4C trainings. A list of references used for this case study can be found in Annex 1.

3. Traditional Leaders Case StudyThe purposive sample planned for the field work for this case study consisted of two main categories in each of four communities:

o people at the centre of the change - traditional leaders who had taken part in the V4C training and then appointed women into their cabinets, as well as the female chiefs who had been appointed

o observers of the change - community members – female and male community members and female and male young people. Those resisting the change would be interviewed where found.

The four communities (Ihe n’ owerri, Neke uno nike, Okpanku and Udi ancient kingdom) are located within the 3 LGAs that V4C has prioritised in Enugu State3. They were identified based on feedback that V4C had received since the gender and masculinity training for TLs took place. They were selected on the basis of the scale of change that staff and partners had described, and thus the breadth and depth of data likely to be gathered, as well as their availability during the fieldwork period.

The table below is a list of the 18 men and 17 women who took part in 5 in-depth interviews (IDIs) and 4 focus group discussions (FGDs) in the four communities. More details can be found in Annex 4:

Table 3: Sample summary, Traditional LeadersEnuguIhe n’ owerri(Nsukka)

Neke uno nike(Enugu East)

Okpanku(Aninri)

Udi ancient kingdom(Udi)

3 V4C does not work in all the LGAs in each state. To ensure its activities are connected and focused, it has prioritised 27 LGAs across the 4 states it works in. Three of these are in Enugu State.

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Traditional leaders IDI 5 (M) IDI 2 (M)FGD 3 (6 F)

FGD 1 (6 M& 3 F)IDI 1 (M)

IDI 3 (M)IDI 4 (F)

Observers of traditional leaders’ action

FGD 2 (8 M)FGD 4 (7 F)

M = male, F = female

4. Gender Technical Unit (GTU) Case StudyThe respondents for the GTU case study were purposively selected. The idea was to talk with those who had direct contact with GTU in relation to the VAPP and GEO Bills, as well as those who had had little to do with GTU. For the former, specific offices were therefore targeted for the interview, while for the latter, the selection was random.

Table 4: Sample summary, GTUInformant/s No of IDIs M FV4C project team 1 0 1GTU Coordinator and colleague staff 1 1 0Selected CSOs 4 0 4Development partners 4 1 3Members of the National Assembly 3 1 2Staff of National Assembly 5 3 2Total 18 6 12

1.3.4 Data collection methods and data analysis

The specific methods selected for these case studies were focus group discussions (FGDs) and in-depth interviews (IDIs). FGDs were used for the ‘observers of change’ sample as they offer an informal, interactive and cost-effective method for gaining a variety of opinions. Furthermore, FGDs allow participants to interact, build on each other’s responses and challenge what others say. IDIs were used to conduct more focused and in-depth discussions with individuals at the centre of the change.

All IDIs and FGDs were audio recorded. They were written up on templates the case study team prepared for the research consultants. A sample of the interview write ups was quality assured by the case study team and the consultants responded to queries by revising the write ups. The data was then coded in an Excel spreadsheet and written up by the case study authors. Documentary evidence, largely from V4C, was used to triangulate the evidence from the interviews. This included strategy documents to assess causal factors and attribution claims, workshop reports to analyse the effects of methodology and statistical data to provide an idea of frequency.

1.3.5 Limitations

These are qualitative case studies conducted in two of the four states in which V4C is working and only include a sample of the radio stations, religious and traditional leaders, as well as the legislators, donors and CSOs working with the GTU. The findings cannot be taken as representative of all radio stations etc. that V4C is supporting. It is possible to draw logical inferences from the data (i.e. if a certain set of circumstances produced a particular outcome here, then it is likely that the same may happen in other cases), but not statistical generalisations.

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There are several potential biases that may have affected the research, and the team have taken steps to minimise these as follows:

o Selection bias: we may have been directed towards individuals who are more positively disposed towards the programme. We have mitigated this bias by ensuring the selection decisions were carried out by the researchers, in consultation with, but not determined by, the V4C team.

o Response bias: many of the respondents were eager to continue their association with V4C and thus say what they thought the interviewer wanted to hear. The team sought to mitigate this by asking follow-up questions, particularly to find out what other factors have contributed to changes, but this was not always successful.

o Translation issues: Some of the focus group discussions were held in Hausa and Igbo and had to be translated into English by the research consultants. Translated statements cannot always reflect nuances in interpretation. This risk has been mitigated by conducting a review of the draft case study by the research consultants to make sure there are no misinterpretations of the collected evidence.

Other limitations encountered were:

Radio Stations Case Study:o There was limited scope for using V4C's monitoring data to triangulate the reports on

V4C activities with, and support to, the radio stations, as the data available to the Case Study team was incomplete.

o The claims that listenership and revenue have increased are based on the reported perception of respondents. These claims could not be verified through the radio stations’ internal documentation, as this was not available to the consultants.

o At Solid FM, Enugu, the sample of radio station staff consists of women only. The consultants intended to interview two men from Solid FM, but were not able to organise an interview with them due to logistical reasons.

Religious Leaders Case Study:o The number of days available for field work did not allow sufficient time to follow up with

potential additional respondents identified during the course of other interviews. For example, an officer in the National Youth Service Corps office in Enugu was not available during the field work period to share their observations of the RLs’ work with NYSC personnel, and another newly formed group could not assemble before the team members had to depart.

o Similarly, it would have been valuable to interview the ‘Umuadas’4 mentioned in one of the focus groups, but they do not meet at this time of year. The rapid nature of the fieldwork thus only permitted limited triangulation of data, although telephone follow ups were made in some cases (IDI 8a & 8b).

o In addition, the case study focussed on hearing the story of the 38% of RLs who took action following their participation in V4C training. The data collection team did not find out more about why 62% of RLs did not take action. This was due to a combination of factors including lack of time, lack of V4C monitoring data about why these RLs had not followed up, and partly because the ToR/methodology sought to identify the changes that had taken place, rather than those that had not. The team was also unable to gather conclusive evidence of the extent to which V4C interventions were responsible for the

4 The Umuadas are group of well organised women, who have firm control of certain traditions and norms of most towns in south east Nigeria. These women often meet at designated periods of the year (usually in late August before the new yam festivals, or in December close to the Christmas period) when they return to their indigenous home towns.

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changes in the RLs, as opposed to other previous and current interventions on gender from government and other organisations.

Traditional Leaders Case Study:o Despite the plan of the data collection team to schedule the purposive sample shown in

Table 3 above, and to do this in 2 States (Kaduna and Enugu), consultation with the V4C State Leads and focal points in both states, suggested that Kaduna State did not yet have significant evidence of change, largely because the V4C Gender and Masculinity training programme had not yet taken place there. The field exercise for this case study therefore took place in Enugu State only.

o During the field work, the data collection team requested separate interviews in order to hear the different perspectives of respondent groups, and thus be able to disaggregate the responses. In several cases, they were not able to achieve this. All the interviews with women and the young men and women took place either in the presence of one or more male traditional leaders, or within their palace compounds. It is possible that their responses were therefore limited by this. Given the observation of protocol necessary when interacting with traditional leaders, it was not possible to alter this situation within the brief period available for the field work.

o The timing of the field work coincided with the celebrations of the Silver Jubilee of the creation of Enugu State. Consequently, many of the key respondents were unavailable for interaction with the data collection team. In one community, the male and female traditional leaders requested a combined focus group to save time. FGDs with community members only took place in two of the communities.

o Where several causal factors were evident, including those stemming from V4C, there was insufficient time to fully investigate the relative level of attribution for each factor. What is recorded here therefore are the things that respondents said were casual factors for them, and which they felt related to V4C.

GTU Case Study:o The interviews for the GTU case study were held at a time when the National Assembly

was on recess. It was very difficult to track down the staff and the legislators for interviews. The team had no choice but to rely on the GTU and V4C staff for names and contacts of staff and legislators they have been dealing with. The most difficult to reach were the legislators. The team was only able to interview those of the House of Representatives, even that was via phone.

o Relying on names provided by V4C and GTU staff could have biased the information provided by these interviewees. However, set against the information provided by representatives of civil society organisations and donors, this does not seem likely. (A list of interviewees and their respective offices can be found in Annex 5.

Despite the above limitations, the case study team are of the view that the data obtained from a range of respondents who both took part in and observed the changes, as well as from other sources, is sufficient to provide a trustworthy and valuable account of the changes analysed.

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Section 2: Radio Station Case Study2.1 Case study background

This case study explores the influence V4C has had on the radio stations it is targeting through its media and communication strategy5. The strategy is a fundamental element supporting V4C’s aim to create an improved enabling environment for adolescent girls and women. By using traditional and new media, the programme is promoting positive social norms and is challenging discrimination. Although this work primarily relates to Output 2, i.e. community of people with improved knowledge and attitudes that challenges gender discrimination (see Annex 11 for list of all V4C Output areas), V4C sees their communication work as a cross-cutting element of all their Output streams.

V4C is aiming to reach a broad audience with compelling messages that convey the benefits of new norms around gender equality. V4C’s landmark research report indicates that “One of the most important places for boys and men, girls and women to learn to make sense of their work is through the media […]”6. Although the media is seen as a great opportunity to drive change, the programme also recognises that there are challenges because of Nigeria’s diversity in cultural and social realities. Therefore, V4C uses different means of communication, including social media, TV and the radio. Particular attention is also given to tailoring messages in a way that takes this diversity into account. The programme has created the trendy life style brand ‘Purple’ that represents the values and personality of a strengthened enabling environment for adolescent girls and women to reach a young audience.

V4C’s media and communication strategy indicates that particularly at local level the radio is seen as an effective means to delivering strategic and tactical messages and has a strong record in achieving results in changing attitudes and behaviours amongst audiences that are difficult to reach, i.e. rural and less economically advantaged audiences. V4C is currently working with 11 radio stations in the four V4C intervention states (Enugu, Lagos, Kaduna and Kano). As part of this collaboration, the radio stations air a 10 minute radio drama series called ‘Purple Tinz’ (PT) three times a week. The drama focuses on the key social norm areas of the programme:

a. Women in decision makingb. Violence against women and girlsc. Women’s leadership

The main activities that V4C has undertaken with partner organisations, including radio stations, include:

o Training for staff to provide them with new ideas, perspectives and knowledge on gender;

o Generation and dissemination of evidence from research to support change;o Organising review meetings at state level to provide on-going capacity building

support and support networking of partners; o Monitoring and support visits to help partner organisations to process their

experiences and plans.

5 Source: V4C Media and Communication Strategy, September 2014.6 Source: Being a Man in Nigeria: Perceptions and Realities, A Landmark Research Report by Voices 4 Change (V4C) – Nigeria, September 2015

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The data collected during the first phase of the case study work highlighted that V4C is influencing the targeted radio stations in different ways - it is influencing attitudes and behaviours of radio station staff, organisational practices, as well as the popularity of the radio stations. Women’s increased participation in anchoring radio programmes, as well as an increased focus on and participation of female radio listeners in the shows was identified as a significant change in an environment where women’s public participation is limited. The resonance gender related messages and discussions had among radio station staff and their audiences was identified as another clear sign of success. This report reflects on these outcomes, verifying them primarily through the data collected during the second phase of the case study work, unpacking causality and V4C’s contribution to change. The collected data reflects the views of the people who witnessed and/or experienced these changes.

2.2 Discussion of outcomes

Outcome area: Radio station staff and management is more aware of gender issues, believes in the value of gender equality, and takes action to support gender justice within their organisations and in other parts of their lives. As a result, radio stations encourage dialogue on gender equality and broadcast gender sensitive programmes.

i) Radio station staff have a better understanding of what gender equality is about.

In both Enugu and Kaduna, most of the consulted radio station staff, including the management, reported that they had a better understanding of what gender equality is about (IDI 1, 3, 5, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15). Only a few respondents (male and female) reported that they already believed in/were aware of gender equality before their engagement with V4C. For example, at Solid FM a staff member explained that she was brought up in a way that made her believe she could achieve everything she wanted and has also passed this thinking onto her daughters, who are all pursuing professional careers. Her father told her “don’t sell yourself short, you can be all that you want to be and can be” (IDI 16).

The majority of the respondents however associated their gender awareness with V4C. The training provided clarity on the definition of gender, i.e. that it is not just about women, and that gender roles are assigned by society and can change over time. This was particularly evident in Enugu, where a male respondent from Dream FM explained how this has affected his private life. At first, it was not easy for him to accept that women and men could take on the same roles in the household and he was not immediately convinced. Learning that gender roles are ascribed to men and women by society and that they are not static helped him overcome his doubts and feel better about helping in the household. By dealing with both sexes, he explained, V4C approaches gender in a more holistic way. He also feels that PT is close to real life and emphasised that “[at Dream FM] we strive to make everything we tell our audience as real or as near to life as possible” (Manager, Dream FM, IDI 10). This is why he thinks V4C’s approach has been effective.

Female staff from Solid FM in Enugu reported that the training helped them understand that gender roles are an obstacle towards equal work opportunities, but that women were capable of doing the same work if given the opportunity (IDI 12, 13, 14, 15). Some of them also felt that it was necessary to engage more actively and stand up for their rights (IDI 12, 13, 14). One staff member explained that V4C helped them to see that gender inequality is not normal – although it may appear normal – and that it is necessary to do something against it.

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A female manager emphasised that by being persistent, and by talking about gender equality again and again, the Purple movement can bring about change:

“What I take home in terms of the ‘Purple movement’ is that the more you talk about it the more people get comfortable with the idea, so I think it is bringing about a change in culture just because of the repetition and the fact that it is becoming more discussed.” (Female manager, Solid FM, IDI 15).

Only one of the examples provided in Kaduna was less conclusive, as a respondent argued that initially he thought the programme aimed to change ‘their culture’ and how ‘they’ perceive women in society. After the training he realised the programme was ‘just’ aiming to provide women and young girls with the opportunity to showcase their talent (IDI 1).

“We thought that gender programmes want to give women more power over men in the society, but after I attended V4C workshops, I now understand that it’s about enlightening people to give women and girls a chance to participate in day to day activities.” (IDI 1).

ii) Radio station staff have learnt how to refer to gender issues, are more open to talking about it, and are mindful of using gender

sensitive language. This has improved communication between men and women.

There is evidence from all consulted radio stations that presenters have acquired skills in communicating messages around gender more effectively (IDI 1, 4, 5, 10, 15). For example, managers at Dream FM and Solid FM in Enugu explained that radio presenters now knew how to use the right language and were better able to handle aggressive callers (IDI 10, 15).

“I believe its impacting our staff here, for example on a programme I listened to ‘the late night show’ presented by UC the MC, he had two ladies with him and he was dealing with gender equity […] the responses were so aggressive from the men, the ladies were called demonic for bringing in a foreign culture, women are under men etc. our female co-anchor […], was much more controlled knowing there are much better ways to handle it and that she wasn’t in a battle ground which wasn’t the case before.” (Manager, Solid FM, IDI 15).

Tailoring messages around gender in the right way appeared to be of particular importance in Kaduna. A manager from Liberty Radio stated that radio staff have learnt how to tailor messages around gender equality in a way that does not generate resistance from the audience. The V4C training has paid attention to cultural aspects and sensibilities of listeners in the northern region and the on-air presenters (OAPs) are now effectively passing on messages promoting girl child education (IDI 5).

“[…] because of this culture [in the north], religion, and sensitivities of the people it has to be put across to them in such a way that they will understand that you are educating them and creating awareness and not confronting their beliefs”. (Manager, Liberty Radio, IDI 5).

Both male and female staff at Karama Radio reported that it has become easier and more acceptable to talk about gender equality among colleagues and that male colleagues are more respectful of women (IDI 1, 4). One of them explained that this was because they listened to PT and they like the character 'Posser', who shows how men should behave with women (IDI 4). Similarly, a radio listener stated that PT is changing men's mind on some

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issues. The radio programme generates debates and men have seen that there is nothing wrong if a woman does not fulfil a typical gender role (FGD 3).

iii) Radio station staff are taking action to influence colleagues, family members, and religious leaders on gender equality and

particularly female radio station staff have gained confidence to express their opinions more openly.

There is evidence from all consulted radio stations that female and male staff are taking action to influence colleagues, family members and religious leaders on gender equality and women’s rights (IDI 3, 4, 7, 8, 11, 13, 16). At Liberty FM in Enugu, a staff member influenced her male colleagues, challenging how they treat women. While there was resistance at first, her colleagues eventually thanked her for the advice and demonstrated that they had changed (IDI 7).

“Yes I have this colleague […] I heard him say ‘if you pamper a woman she will feel big headed’, so I went close to talk to him […] I enlightened him on the benefits of education for [his] sister and entire family. He saw me the next day and thanked me. I also heard that the sister is now in school.” (Female staff, Liberty Radio, IDI 7).

A similar scenario was reported at Solid FM where a staff member talked to a male colleague, who abused his girlfriend, asking him “how would you feel if someone did that to your sister”. As a result, the male presenter changed his behaviour (IDI 16). Also, a male staff member from Dream FM took action to defend women's rights by telling a pastor that he was wrong thinking women who cannot cook should not be married (IDI 11). Another staff member from Solid FM emphasised: “It [V4C’s training] helped me to push for what I want irrespective of who I am dealing with.” (Radio staff, Dream FM, IDI 13).

A male staff member from Liberty Radio in Kaduna admitted that before the V4C training he did not want his wife to work, but that he now supported her to work as a teacher. He also reported that he has influenced religious leaders and parents to believe in gender equality (IDI 8).

There is also evidence from all consulted radio stations that female staff members have gained confidence and are more willing to take action to challenge gender roles. They changed the way they engage with their husbands and in public life to express their opinion more openly. These changes were predominantly attributed to V4C’s training and PT (IDI 3, 7, 13, 14, 17). For example, the V4C training helped a female presenter from Karama Radio express herself and seek clarifications from her lecturers – something she never did before. “I have come to understand that as a woman I can achieve all my dreams.” (Female staff, Karama Radio, IDI 3). Radio listeners also observed that female presenters have become more confident: “There is a lady in Karama Radio “Zara Musa”, she used to be timid whenever on the microphone, but since PT programmes I realised she had improved showing more confidence.” (Radio listener, Kaduna, FGD 3).

A presenter from Karama Radio reported that her husband respected and supported her more because of what she told him about PT. “Before my husband was not helping me in the house, but now if I’m cooking [and] washing our children’s clothes he comes to help me.” Her husband realised that she is more confident and he seems to appreciate that (IDI 7). Similarly, a female staff member from Dream FM reported that a video they watched during the V4C training convinced her to discuss with her husband which school their children

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should attend. Her husband reacted positively to this and they now make decisions together (IDI 17).

iv) New radio programmes that focus on gender equality have been developed and the content of existing programmes has

changed to reflect more on issues of gender equality. In addition, radio programmes have become more participatory and actively engage men and women in the discussion on gender equality.

According to the V4C Output Lead, the targeted radio stations have introduced a total of 12 new programmes and changed the content of a total of 27 programmes to reflect on gender equality. Most of these programmes are in vernacular languages to make them more relatable to the audience. V4C also influenced radio stations to make their shows more participatory. This involves conducting interviews prior to the shows and involving the radio listeners more in the discussions during the shows, which has led to more evidence based content.

The exact number of new radio programmes and changed programme content could not be validated through this research, as it only covers a sample of radio stations targeted by V4C. From the sampled radio stations it is however evident that these changes are taking place. At Liberty Radio in Kaduna, radio listeners observed that the radio station had a new programme that focused on discussing the relationship between men and women (FGD 3). One of the presenters explained that prior to V4C’s intervention they did not have any programmes for young people, nor programmes on gender equality. Now they have introduced the programmes ‘Dan Dali Matasa’ and ‘A man’s world’, which focus on gender equality (IDI 8).

“After the V4C intervention I got the idea to bring out the programme [Dan Dali Matasa] to engage male and female on gender equality. The programme is aired weekly.” (Male staff, Liberty Radio, IDI 8).

With management support, the On Air Personalities (OAPs) also produced a promotion jingle for PT which runs across all shifts on Liberty Radio Hausa (IDI 7, 8). One of the female presenters is using the jingle to encourage women in decision making (IDI 7).

At Karama Radio it was reported that V4C had convinced them of the value of interactive programming and this made them give out phone numbers to their listeners to send text messages or call in. As a result, female radio listeners had the opportunity to share their stories (IDI 4). In addition, programmes that used to focus on men and women separately, have now been brought together (IDI 1). The radio station therefore communicates to the audience that ‘women’s issues’ also concern men and vice versa and actively promotes dialogue between men and women.

“[…] we had a personality programme separately for men and women but now we merge them together […] Also, before on one of the programmes “Majalisar Matasa” (Youth Parliament) we used to talk only about young boys, but we now talk about both young boys and girls.” (Male staff, Karama Radio, IDI 1).

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Another presenter explained that she now brought up questions in her show to challenge gender stereotypes (IDI 3).

“In preparations for my programmes, I set scenarios such as ‘how would you feel if your wife works in the same organization with you as the Boss’? These topics usually generate exciting and sometimes heated debates from both male and female callers.” (Female staff, Karama Radio, IDI 3).

Radio listeners also noticed a difference in the content of radio programmes of Karama Radio. For example, they noticed that more attention was given to stories that focus on issues in marriages, homes and amongst young people. This change was associated with the introduction of PT (FGD 3). Similarly, one of the managers reported that the radio station introduced a programme about family issues because of V4C’s influence (IDI 1). “We also have a programme discussing family issues, we added it after attending the V4C programme called ‘Hirar Muta Mata’ [i.e.] women issues/forum.” (Manager, Karama Radio, IDI 1). However, considering the title and the fact that this programme is about family issues and is called ‘women issues/forum’, it is not clear whether the programme challenges gender stereotypes.

At Dream FM in Enugu, radio station staff reported that after V4C’s training they started interviewing people to inform their shows. A programme called ‘battle of the sexes’ has been introduced (IDI 17) and other shows, that used to contain a lot of entertainment, now included more discussions about the relationship between men and women. Examples are the programmes ‘Mkwalite Umwanyi’, ‘The Way Out’, ‘OFio’, ‘Oge Ndi Mio’, ‘Political Voice’, and ‘People’s Forum’ (IDI 10, 11). Key messages and topics are the following (IDI 17):

o Though you and your husband have different opinions about certain issues you can dialogue and reach an agreement.

o Should a woman go through her husband’s phone? This will depend on individual couples and the boundaries they choose to set.

o Men should not be expected to pay for everything.

When asked what informed the changes to the content of the programmes, one of the respondents stated that there was ‘truth’ in V4C messages and this was what influenced the staff to change the content of their shows (IDI 11).

“There is something about ‘truth’, the moment you hear it you know this is the truth. Truth works and there is truth in V4Cs message. We cannot be boxed in, so we started to look for things that add value (truth) since we want to retain and increase our listenership.” (Male staff, Dream FM, IDI 11).

At Solid FM a presenter stated that she conducted interviews to prepare the shows and invited guest speakers (IDI 17, 12). “My programmes are now more educative because we provide references. We use scenarios and case studies to draw key lessons.” (Female staff, Solid FM, IDI 12). A programme called ‘Thinking Aloud’ has been introduced (IDI 12). Presenters and managers reported that as a result of their engagement with V4C, the content of radio programmes was more gender focused now and included discussions on rape, sexual harassment and the relationship between men and women (IDI 12, 13, 14, 15, 16).

‘Soul Sistaz’ and the ‘Sunday family show’ are examples of programmes that have been affected. Particularly, Soul Sistaz used to be a discussion between women and now men have started participating (IDI 12). Also, ‘Adams Bar’ is now involving women, while it used to be a ‘man’s corner’ (IDI 13). Yet, one of the respondents from Solid FM mentioned a

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programme called ‘Girly Girl Show’ and reported that the last three episodes of ‘Soul Sistaz’ have been about how women ‘stress men out’ (IDI 13). While the first example of the show called ‘Girly Girl Show’ raises some questions in terms of how gender stereotypes are reinforced in the language radio staff use, the second example of the topic discussed in ‘Soul Sistaz’ does not seem to encourage a positive and constructive debate between men and women.

Analysis of outcome area: Radio station staff and management is more aware of gender issues, believes in the value of gender equality, and takes action to support gender justice within their organisations and in other parts of their lives. As a result, radio stations encourage dialogue on gender equality and broadcast gender sensitive programmes.

What is the evidence of change and what kind of change does the evidence relate to (type of change, domain of change, synergies)?

Domains of change:o The evidence presented above mainly relates to the domain of

‘Self’ of V4C’s Theory of Change. Radio presenters, who are key influencers, experience the programme’s transformative methodologies and undergo personal change in attitudes and behaviour.

o They have gained a better understanding of gender equality and see value in it. This has led to supporting gender justice in their private and professional lives. They are actively publicizing new social norms via mass media communications and campaigns.

o Some of the newly introduced practices appear to be adopted as a change in the wider organisational culture of the radio stations, which touches on the institutional domain7.

Synergies:o Radio station staff contribute to change in the domain of

Society by interacting with and influencing individuals in their reference groups – e.g. families, religious leaders – as well as by acting as role models demonstrating new social norms.

o Radio station staff are also contributing to changing attitudes and behaviour in society through the production, dissemination and use of evidence that challenges stereotypes and myths.

Type of changes:o Awareness: Radio station staff have increased awareness of

gender. They understand that gender is about men and women, that gender roles are assigned by society, and that they can change over time.

o Behaviour: Radio station staff have changed their behaviour in terms of their communication on gender issues - they have learnt how to refer to gender issues, are mindful of using gender sensitive language, and have improved communication skills.

o Relationships: Communication among female and male staff has improved.

o Actions: Female radio station staff have more confidence and both male and female radio station staff take action to defend women’s rights.

7 During Phase 1 it was clarified that the definition of institutional changes within the case study work would be broader than V4C’s ToC indicates.

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Practices:o New programmes that focus on gender equality have been

developed.o The content of existing programmes of radio stations has

changed to reflect more on issues of gender equality.o The format of radio programmes is more participatory,

enabling a debate between men and women on gender equality.

What does the evidence suggest about causal factors and the contribution V4C has made?

Changes were predominantly attributed to the influence V4C has had on the radio stations. Only a few respondents already believed in gender equality prior to V4C’s engagement. Some of them were raised in way that promoted their potential as women.

The following factors have enabled change:o V4C’s training was reported to be the most significant factor in

triggering changes. In particular, the definition of what gender is all about helped them to understand and accept the concept of gender equality.

o Furthermore, the fact that PT is about real life stories helped radio programme staff relate to it.

o There is ‘truth’ in V4C’s messages and this is what influenced radio station staff to change the content of their programmes.

o V4C has involved the management of the radio stations and this is why they are supportive of the content change of radio programmes. Several respondents stated that the management of the radio stations supported their initiatives.

How sustainable and widespread does the change seem to be?

In all of the consulted radio stations, the management encouraged staff to ‘step down’ the V4C training to other colleagues. By training new staff internally and keeping the dialogue on the acquired knowledge alive among colleagues, the achieved changes in radio station staff’s awareness of, positive attitude towards and active support of gender equality has potential to be sustained. However, in most radio stations there did not seem to be any structure or strategy in place that ensures this is done systematically.

Radio station staff expressed enthusiasm and conviction about gender equality and have proactively made changes to their radio programmes to reflect what they learnt – this includes changes in the topics as well as the format. It was not ascertained whether the radio stations have introduced or are in the process of introducing guidelines, procedures, policies, etc. that facilitate the production of participatory, evidence based, gender sensitive programmes. If these changes are only emerging as a consequence of initiatives that individuals - who were trained by V4C - decided to take, it will be more difficult to sustain changes as the organisation evolves and new staff comes on board.

Outcome area: Female and male radio presenters have equal opportunities within the radio stations. Men and women collaborate more and take on equal roles in presenting radio programmes.

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v) Women have started presenting programmes that used to be presented by men only and some of the radio stations’ programmes are now co-anchored by men and women.

The evidence from this research suggests that radio station programmes, which were previously anchored by men, are now anchored by women or co-anchored by men and women. This shows that radio stations are ‘walking the talk’ – that they acknowledge that women should have the opportunity to be part of all discussions and programmes, including the ones that used to be led by men only.

The is strong evidence in Enugu, where most of the consulted staff from Dream FM and Solid FM, as well as radio listeners, witnessed these changes (IDI 10, 11, 12, 17, FGD 4). A respondent from Dream FM explained that gender issues were now considered in the organisational structure. The radio station set up a disciplinary committee comprising of two male and two female staff, together with the Managing Director (MD). He emphasised that because of their collaboration with V4C, the management has imbibed a culture of ‘practice what you preach’ (IDI 10). This has resulted in the programme 'Political Voice' now being co-anchored by a woman, as well as in women being trained to present sports programmes (IDI 11).

“We have been able to incorporate some female [presenters] for example the Political Voice; a male used to present it Monday to Friday but now the male does three out of the five days and a female anchors the other two days.” (Male staff, Dream FM, IDI 11)

Radio listeners also observed that female presenters have become more involved in co-anchoring programmes at Dream FM and believe this change is related to PT and V4C.

“They now pair male and females in shows like ‘Birthday Show’ on Dream FM, where they now pair a female with [the presenter].” (Male radio listener, Enugu, FGD 4).

“On political program on Dream FM, they now inter-change anchors. It used to be only a male presenting it, but now some days the male will present and some other days the female presents.” (Male radio listener, Enugu, FGD 4).

Female staff from Solid FM reported that before the radio station’s engagement with V4C it was much harder to talk to men and that this has significantly improved: “Before now we couldn’t talk to the men, they [were] super humans. But now the men are even looking for us to talk to. The men weren’t less nice, but we were not close so there is also this integration. I will say we learnt from PT, in-house at Solid FM.” (Female staff, Solid FM, IDI 12).

Although the changes were primarily associated with the radio stations’ involvement with V4C, there already seemed to be an enabling environment for female staff at Solid FM prior to their engagement with V4C. One of the female presenters explained that at first she was facing resistance to present sport programmes, because the programme manager did not want a woman to do this. The general manager of the station intervened and made the programme manager understand that being a woman or a man should not be a factor in making such a decision (IDI 13).

“I present sports […] The [V4C] training helped me to know that people are not generally going to give you that platform you need because you are a woman, you

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have to have something to offer. Once they watch you do the things you know how to do very well, no one will say it has to be a man […].” (Female staff, Solid FM).

There is also some evidence of these changes in Kaduna. At Karama Radio members of staff reported that women are now more involved in co-anchoring programmes (IDI 1, 3).

“There was a programme that was presented by just men before, but we now paired a man and a woman to anchor it. It’s a love programme and it has a lot of followership.” (Male staff, Karama Radio, IDI 1).

It was also reported that a female colleague was recently transferred to present a sports programme, because the management of the radio station has shown some commitment to promoting gender equality as a result of their engagement with V4C (IDI 3). Radio listeners noticed similar changes at Liberty Radio (FGD 2, 3).

“There is a programme being aired on Liberty Radio, ‘Gamzaki’. It used to be presented by a male alone but now has a female co-presenter.” (Female radio listener, Kaduna, FGD 2).

One of the managers at Liberty FM explained that the owner of the station had a background in supporting gender in development, and that the station was mainly run by young people, including many women. (IDI 5).

vi) There has been an increase of women in leadership positions.V4C reported that there have been some key appointments by radio stations that reflect positive gender attitudes in their management and HR values8. For example, Solid FM appointed a woman as Head of Programmes. This was also evident when speaking to a female member of staff at Solid FM, who stated that there were now more women in leadership positions at the radio station and that this was a result of the radio station’s engagement with V4C. “It [V4C’s intervention] has really affected the organization in that we used to have three male managers and two female managers but now there are three male and three female managers.” (Female staff, Solid FM, IDI 13).

Analysis of outcome area: Female and male radio presenters have equal opportunities within the radio stations. Men and women collaborate more and take on equal roles in presenting radio programmes.


Domains of change:The evidence presented above relates to organisational changes. Radio stations are providing more equal opportunities to women as a result of their exposure to V4C. Gender issues are now more prominent in the radio stations’ programmes and this is having an effect on internal practices. Discriminatory social norms within the organisations are being challenged and this is leading to more opportunities for female staff.

Synergies:Because of the radio stations’ engagement with V4C, staff and management are more exposed to and aware of evidence on men and women that challenges stereotypes, and this has affected internal practices.

8 The data collection team found evidence of this at only one radio station.23


Type of changes:o Practices: Some of the radio stations’ programmes are now

co-anchored by men and women and women have started presenting programmes that used to be presented by men only. There is also evidence indicating that there are more women in leadership positions at one of the targeted radio stations.

o Relationships: Female staff from Solid FM reported that before the radio station’s engagement with V4C it was much harder to talk to men and that this has significantly improved.


o In general, many of these changes were attributed to the radio stations’ engagement with V4C, but there were no specific examples of what exactly had triggered them.

o At Dream FM (Enugu), it was mentioned that V4C insisted on treating female and male staff equally in terms of their participation in trainings, suggesting that this has had an influence on the radio stations’ internal dynamics - for example the radio station had set up a disciplinary committee, comprising of men and women.

o At Solid FM (Enugu), V4C cannot exclusively be associated with the changes, as the management of the radio station was supporting female staff and had made efforts to support gender equality within the radio station before engaging with V4C. For this reason, one staff perceived Solid FM to have a more enabling environment for female staff than Dream FM.


The radio stations’ increased exposure to and involvement in activities and debates around gender equality is helping to challenge gender stereotypes internally, enabling men and women to take up roles regardless of their social connotations. Opportunities like these enable women to demonstrate that they are capable of doing the same job and that there is no justification for segregation. This evidence will provide a strong basis to argue for equal work opportunities whenever there is resistance. The management of radio stations may however need to introduce procedures and/or policies that ensure equal treatment between female and male staff is sustained.

Outcome area: Radio stations that encourage a debate on gender equality and broadcast gender sensitive programmes have become popular and radio listeners are influenced by the radio stations’ debate around gender equality.

vii) More people have started listening to the radio stations V4C is targeting. The influence V4C had on the radio programmes has

made them more popular.In both states, respondents from the consulted radio stations reported that their listenership had increased and that V4C’s influence on their programmes has played a key role in this - PT and other gender-related programmes have become very popular (IDI 1, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 17). For example, presenters from Liberty FM and Solid FM highlighted that considering the feedback they received from their audience, it appears that people liked gender-related

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programmes. The content changes of the radio stations were therefore considered to have led to increased listenership (IDI 7, 8, 14). At Solid FM it was also highlighted that because of V4C’s influence, male listeners have gained interest in the programmes and called in more (IDI 16).

“One good thing about V4C is that [by working with them] your content must be improved which is what attracts the audience; an example of such programmes is ‘People’s Parliament’ where even a keke man would not want to miss it.” (Male staff, Dream FM, IDI 10).

Several respondents reported that gender-related programmes were broadcasted at peak times (IDI 10, 11, 12, 13, 17), which must have been another significant factor in terms of reaching out to a wide audience. At the time of this research, the radio stations were not able to provide state listenership figures through which the claim of increases in their listenership could be verified. Yet, some of the consulted radio listeners also noted that PT and other gender-related programmes have become very popular and that people listened to the targeted radio stations because of PT. It was noted that some people started listening to PT because they were provided with souvenirs (FGD 1, 5). “I know people who have shifted to Liberty because organisers of PT gave some people souvenirs; I was among the beneficiaries.” (Male radio listener, Kaduna, FGD 1).

viii) The radio stations’ increased listenership has attracted advertisers and this has generated more revenue.

In both states, most respondents reported that the revenue of the different radio stations had increased due to an increase in advertisements (IDI 1, 3, 5, 8, 11, 12, 10, 17). The increase in advertisements was primarily explained by the popularity of PT and other gender-related programmes. “Yes adverts around Purple Tinz and other related programmes have had tremendous increases.” (Male staff, Liberty Radio, IDI 8).

“After V4C, I feel the adverts are heavy during my belt. That means people are listening and they want their advert to be heard at that period. I believe the organization is making more money […] I will say the percentage increase in revenue based on the adverts on my show ‘ona a fio’ is 70%.” (Female staff, Dream FM, IDI 17).

The increase in adverts at Dream FM, Enugu, was observed by radio listeners (FGD 4). “They have so much adverts in ‘Madame Secretary’ now that we don’t get to listen to it for 20 mins. They will just turn to advert.” (Male radio listener, Enugu, FGD 4).

Although the respondents could not give clear evidence of the increase in revenue, at Karama Radio, respondents claimed that there was a request for adjacency placement to Purple Tinz. ‘Requesting adjacency’ means clients pay a surcharge (increased in stations’ advert rates) of between 50% - 100%. Moreover, one advertiser consulted as part of the research conducted for this case study stated that he advertised at Karama Radio because of the popularity of Purple Tinz (IDI 9). “I have been asking people […] People say that [they] listen to that programme, that’s why.” (Advertiser, Kaduna, IDI 9).

ix) The gender related programmes and discussions have affected the attitudes and behaviours of radio listeners. Some of them have

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gained a better understanding of gender equality, see value in it and this has led them to take action. Others may not yet fully

agree with some concepts, but have adapted their behaviour and are more respectful of gender issues and female presenters

because of the more progressive, pro-gender image of the radio stations.

In both states the consulted radio listeners reported that PT convinced them that women were as capable as men and that they should be treated equally. Some of the male radio listeners have also taken action to promote women’s participation in leadership. They explained that the evidence presented in PT was convincing and that they could relate to the issues that were presented (FGD 4).

“I have been in leadership role in various capacities and could never imagine a woman better than me, but after impact of V4C, I encouraged a female who wanted to vie for a post in school, though she did not win eventually, I know now she believes in herself and will give it a try again.” (Male radio listener, Enugu, FGD 4).

“My friend beat his girlfriend alleging she was having an affair. Meanwhile I invited her to Purple Club meeting. When I saw the injury, I called and talked to him. After enlightening him I told him that if the girl sees another guy that is nice to her and will not beat her she will leave you. He went to apologise to her and that was the last time he beat her.” (Radio listener, Enugu, FGD 4).

Female listeners reported that they have gained confidence, learnt how to accept different opinions, appreciate other women, and have taken action to influence others of gender equality. “I used to be a person who was ok being relegated just for the sake of peace, but since I started with purple, I am not just a better person; I have been vocal, a leader and a decision maker.” (Female radio listener, Enugu, FGD 5).

“[By] listening to radio I came across the programme Purple Tinz. Now I also have the knowledge that what a man can do a woman can also do. Everybody should listen to Purple Tinz. There’s a lot to gain from it.” (Male radio listener, Kaduna, FGD 1).

PT had such a big impact on them because it uses humour, real life situations, and is consistent in its messages. This is what made it easy for radio listeners to relate to it (FGD 1, 2, 3).

“How they organise the drama with humour in it, yet addressing very serious issues, also like an episode where a woman went to represent her husband in a meeting of landlords. This challenge how we reason, but end up showing value […] PT uses real life scenarios (things everyone can relate with), sometimes describing exactly what and how we behave. It is consistent in its messages, unlike others where sometimes it is marriage and sometimes politics […] Some other programmes are humorous, but in PT you must learn something from every episode, which keeps you wanting more.” (Radio listeners from mixed FGD, Kaduna, FGD 3).

At Dream FM in Enugu it was reported that some of their radio listeners - who participated in the shows by calling in - had changed their behaviour. They had become more supportive of PT and particularly male callers were more respectful towards female presenters (IDI 10, 11).

“Before now male callers react to female presenters different from the way they react to male, they just play around with the female and are serious with the male […] they

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[would] say ‘how can a little girl be asking me an “ofo” a question’ […], but now they don’t joke around with the female presenters they are both serious with the male and female OAPs.” (Male staff, Dream FM, IDI 11).

It was also mentioned that radio callers were not expressing negative views on PT anymore (IDI 10). The general manager from Dream FM explained that when V4C’s intervention started, some of the callers were saying that the radio station should not present PT. This has now changed and he feels that more and more people are supportive of the programme (IDI 11). Another respondent from Dream FM also noted that radio listeners have started appreciating the contents of their shows more and that this was evident by the increased number of callers and text messages they received (IDI 17).

Yet, one of the presenters recognised that although radio listeners were engaging more in the conversations, attitudinal change was gradual and not all agreed with the presenters’ opinions. Nevertheless, the fact that radio listeners wanted to engage in the conversation was a positive sign (IDI 11).

“When you pose questions, the way people react tells you they don’t see it this way. That is a great opportunity for us to engage and enlighten them giving them facts; that is where logic begins to play so I am not going to say the people are transformed, changed because I know change is a gradual process, but they engage you in their opinions. Even though you don’t win all, at least they engage.” (Male staff, Dream FM, IDI 11).

A manager from Solid FM highlighted that the radio station was perceived to be progressive now and that this also had an effect on the behaviour of female callers – they were getting more confident. Nevertheless, she felt that there was still resistance from male callers to support principles of gender equality and that there were only a few male callers, who had a better understanding of gender, potentially because of how they were brought up (IDI 15).

Analysis of outcome area: Radio stations that encourage a debate on gender equality and broadcast gender sensitive programmes have become popular and radio listeners are influenced by the radio stations’ debate around gender equality.


Domain of change:The evidence presented above mainly relates to the domain of ‘Society’ of V4C’s Theory of Change. Some members of society (radio listeners), who are not all directly targeted by the programme, are undergoing change in behaviour to conform with the social norms that radio stations are portraying. This may be linked with an institutional change – the radio stations are perceived as more progressive because of the changes they have made to the content of their programmes. Other radio listeners change their behaviour because their attitudes towards gender equality change.

Synergies:Radio listeners are better informed about gender equality because of the radio programmes that have been influenced by V4C and this is strengthening the social norms change that they are part of.

Type of changes:o Behaviour:

More people have started listening to the radio stations

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V4C is targeting. As a result, advertisers have become more interested in the radio stations and this has generated more revenue.

Radio listeners, who call the programmes, have become more respectful of gender issues and female presenters. Although they do not always agree with the presenters’ opinions, they are willing to engage in the conversation about gender equality.

o Attitudes: PT has affected the attitudes of other radio listeners. PT convinced them that women were as capable as men and that they should be treated equally.

o Actions: Some of the male PT listeners have taken action to promote women’s participation in leadership and female listeners have gained confidence and stand up for their rights.


o Several respondents reported that gender-related programmes were broadcast at peak times, which must have been a significant factor in terms of reaching a wider audience.

o Radio listeners observed that some people listen to PT because they received souvenirs or were hoping to receive them.

o The revenue of the different radio stations is explained by an increase in adverts, which is primarily associated with the popularity of PT and other gender-related programmes.

o PT has had a big impact on radio listeners because it uses humour, real life situations, and is consistent in its messages. This is what made it easy for radio listeners to relate to it.

o Other radio listeners have adapted their behaviour because the radio stations have a more progressive, pro-gender image now.

o A few male callers already had a better understanding of gender equality because of how they have been brought up.


V4C is aiming to influence how society perceives gender equality. The popularity the radio stations are gaining by broadcasting PT and other gender-related programmes suggests that demand is being created and that there is an openness for such discussion.

It also appears that because of the changes in the content and format of the radio programmes, the image of radio stations is changing. Radio stations have applied principles of gender equality internally and have changed the way they talk about gender equality. This has put pressure on the audience to adapt their behaviour accordingly. Because of the achievements in attracting more listeners, radio stations seem to be encouraged to continue the dialogue on gender equality. This may ensure that the more progressive, pro-gender image of the radio stations is sustained, contributing further to the social norms change V4C is aiming for.

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2.3 Conclusion

The evidence of this case study shows that radio presenters, who are key influencers, have experienced personal transformation in their attitudes and behaviour and have shown commitment to support gender justice. Most of the consulted radio station staff and management from all sampled radio stations in Kaduna and Enugu reported that they had a better understanding of what gender equality is all about and they have acquired skills in communicating messages around gender equality more effectively, contextualising them to avoid resistance. On the one hand, the knowledge they gained has affected their personal lives – women have taken action to defend their rights and men have influenced others of the value of gender equality. On the other hand, it has affected their work and they are now actively publicizing new social norms via media communications, which is an important mechanism to influence the perceptions of the people listening to their shows.

Only a few respondents already believed in gender equality prior to V4C’s engagement. Most of them attributed changes explicitly to V4C’s trainings and workshops. In particular, the definition of what gender is all about helped them to understand and accept the concept. Furthermore, the fact that PT is about real life stories helped radio programme staff relate to it. They felt that V4C messages reflected the ‘truth’ and this is what influenced them to use the same messages in their programmes. There is some (albeit limited) evidence that V4C messages may have been misinterpreted and it is therefore important to monitor this process closely to make sure what is being communicated truly empowers women and girls.

Another factor that seems to have contributed to these changes is the support of the radio stations’ management who encouraged staff to ‘step down’ the V4C training to other colleagues. By training new staff internally and keeping the dialogue on the acquired knowledge alive among colleagues, the achieved changes in radio station staff’s awareness of, positive attitude towards and active support of gender equality may be sustained. The enthusiasm and conviction the current radio stations’ staff expressed also suggests that the ‘gender debate’ has potential to be continued. Yet, introducing strategies and processes to formalise this commitment may be needed.

The increased awareness on gender equality within the radio stations also appears to have had an effect on organisational structures. There are examples from all consulted radio stations of programmes which were previously anchored by men, and are now co-anchored by women. Bringing male and female radio staff together by co-anchoring programmes is generating opportunities for convergence, increased communication and team work. This can have positive effects on the relationship between male and female staff and lead to mutual support.

Furthermore, female staff have started presenting programmes which used to be presented by male staff only. This suggests that the radio stations’ increased exposure to and involvement in activities and debates around gender equality is helping to challenge gender stereotypes internally, enabling men and women to take up roles regardless of their social connotations. Opportunities like these enable women to demonstrate that they are capable of doing the same job and that there is no justification for segregation. This evidence will provide a strong basis to argue for equal work opportunities whenever there is resistance.

Although many of these changes were attributed to the radio stations’ engagement with V4C, there were no specific examples of what exactly had triggered them. In one case, V4C cannot be exclusively associated with the changes, as the management of the radio station (Solid FM) was supporting female staff and had made efforts to support gender equality within the radio station before engaging with V4C. Also here, introducing formal procedures

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or policies within radio stations that enforce equal treatment between female and male staff would further promote sustainability.

V4C is aiming to influence how society perceives gender equality and envisages that also members of society who are not directly targeted by the programme will undergo change in knowledge, attitudes and practices. The evidence from this case study suggests that targeted radio stations, who disseminate V4C messages and deliver programmes on gender equality, are gaining popularity. Particularly, the broadcasting of PT is associated with the radio stations’ increased listenership. Radio listeners find it easy to relate to it, as the programme uses humour, real life situations, and is consistent in its messages. This has led to some of the radio listeners gaining a better understanding of gender equality and seeing value in it. Others do not yet fully agree with some concepts, but have adapted their behaviour and are more respectful of gender issues and female presenters to conform with the social norms the radio stations represent.

Overall, V4C appears to have had considerable impact on the targeted radio stations. There is a lot of enthusiasm around the ‘gender debate’ and the Purple Movement. Radio stations have taken up a proactive role in advocating for change and it was understood that only by demonstrating gender equality internally, gender stereotypes could also be effectively challenged externally. The changes within the radio stations’ programmes, as well as their internal practices, are affecting their listenership and this is contributing to the social norm change V4C is aiming for.

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Section 3: Religious Leaders Case Study3.1 Case study background

This case study is about V4C’s work with what it calls ‘key influencers’, in this case the religious leaders whom it identified early on as a critical group to engage with in order to affect change in attitudes towards gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE). The study draws on data gathered through in-depth interviews with 9 religious leaders and with 31 women and 10 men within 6 focus groups of people who observed the changes. (See section 1.3.3 and Annex 3 for details)

The ‘V4C Strategy for Working with Religious and Traditional Institutions and Leaders’ outlines who they are, as well as its planned approach to engaging with them:

Religious leaders in Nigeria are a diverse group of people, which includes faith-based leaders of Islamic and Christian faith. Muslim leaders include imams (faith and opinion leaders), Islamic scholars – Sheikhs or Ulama (learned legal and religious scholars), and Amirs or Amiras (presidents of Muslim organisations). Christian leaders include church leaders such as bishops and pastors, and theologians. p4

Elements of V4C’s strategy for working with religious leaders and institutions, are expressed in a number of its strategy documents9, but it has essentially had two key strands:

1. Targeting attitudinal and behaviour change amongst religious and traditional institutions and leaders, especially in relation to social norms around masculinities.

2. Working with religious and traditional institutions and leaders (particularly men) to bring about attitudinal, behaviour and policy change in the wider enabling environment. Changes in the attitudes and behaviours we seek are in three key areas: violence against women and girls (including changing attitudes and behaviour in men and boys in relation to power and violence), women’s leadership, and women’s decision-making. (V4C website)

In addition, V4C identified some key principles that needed to underpin its work:

o Taking a long-term view - acknowledging that changing attitudes and behaviours towards GEWE is a complex and long-term process,

o Working at multiple levels - working at both individual and organisational levels.o Working with others - building collaborative and learning relationships with others who

have already engaged with RLs on social issuesEnsuring ownership and promoting collaboration – trying to ensure that any activities are owned, endorsed and, where possible, hosted by national actors.

Lastly, in the initial stages, V4C determined that it needs to work with men, as the “primary gatekeepers”, as it reasoned that they have “disproportionate power to either block or encourage change.”10. There was therefore the need to find religious and other male leaders

9 V4C Strategy on Working with Religious and Traditional Institutions and Leaders – September 2014V4C Strategy for Engaging Boys and Men – September 2014V4C’s Approach to Changing Discriminatory Social Norms, 201410 V4C Strategy for Engaging Boys and Men. September 2014

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who would promote positive attitudes to women and girls, and to work with boys and men at three levels: o the micro level - supporting boys and men to explore their own perceptions of masculinity o the meso level -building and growing networks of boys and men fighting for GEWE; o the macro level - working towards structural and institutional changes in laws,

regulations, customs, and the organisations dominated by men. (see V4C Strategy Men and Boys pp8 for more details)

Stemming from these analyses at the outset of the project, V4C set out to work with religious leaders as outlined in the box below.

A Summary of V4C’s Activities with Religious Leaders

V4C’s work with religious leaders and institutions falls under Output 3: Key influencers, including boys and men, with improved attitudes to girls and women (V4C Logical framework 28 September 2015, approved by DFID). Its activities have mainly consisted of the following:

1. Strategy development based on a rapid assessment – V4C’s work with RTLs is based on one key strategy: as well as drawing on several other strategic documents including Social Norms, Men and Boys, and its overall theory of change and intervention logic.

2. Training in Gender and Masculinity for religious leaders – beginning in February 2015, V4C gathered 4 experienced facilitators and respected religious leaders to design a 4-day residential programme. This programme was repeated with contextual adjustments in 4 states. As at September 2016, 276 religious leaders (197 men and 57 women) had attended this programme. This basic programme has been adapted to suit different audiences and situations including traditional leaders, female religious leaders and men’s networks.

3. Action plan development – in the last stages of the training the participants are asked to identify what they can do in support of 3 pillars for action, and plan what they will do next, individually and with others. The plans include how they will go about the activity and the resources they will use to do it. The 3 pillars are: violence against women and girls (VAWG), women’s leadership, and women’s decision-making.

4. Quarterly review meetings bringing together the participants from the training programmes to share their experiences with others.

5. Additional training to provide the skills the RLs need to handle the process of working on GEWE, such as conflict management.

6. Sharing evidence – V4C shares two key bodies of evidence with the RLs (and its other partners): its landmark study “Being a Man in Nigeria” and the findings from its Attitudes, Practices and Social Norms study. These are used, among other things to provide material for discussion during the Gender and Masculinity training.

A list of activities organised by V4C with religious leaders between September 2015 and September 2016 can be found in Annex 7.

As mentioned in section 1.2, the changes seen in religious leaders were identified as part of an outcome harvesting exercise in May 2016. The key one observed was that they were “more gender aware, and were taking action in the spaces that they influence”. This case study explores the detailed changes that have happened and identify what has caused them. Efforts were made to obtain data for this case study from both those at the centre of the change (in this case the religious leaders who had taken part in V4C training

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programmes and events), and those observing the change (people in their congregations, communities and workshops).


Outcome area: Religious leaders are more gender aware, and are taking action in the spaces they influence.

i) Religious leaders are more aware of gender equality and their power to influence it.

The religious leaders interviewed reported increased knowledge of the definition of gender, as well as better understanding of the misconceptions, stereotypes, biases and socio-cultural practices which disempower women and girls. The RLs, who have taken part in V4C’s programmes described the impacts on their awareness in varying ways, largely depending on their previous exposure to conversations about gender. Some said that it had enhanced their existing understanding and provided them with the tools to present gender issues to their congregations (IDI 6, 11, 13). Others said that this was the first time that they had considered how gender equality could be something that they could speak about within their sermons and other regular activities (IDI 13), or how they could better go about influencing their congregations on gender equality in a way that was consistent with the teachings of their religion (IDI 12). They now felt armed with plausible arguments that they could convey, and with methods of presenting them in an acceptable way. This new insight had also prompted them to search the scripture books for verses and quotations which empower women and girls, and condemn negative behaviours that disempower them.

“The facilitators and trainers helped tremendously in broadening my mind and made me realize that it is unwise for women to be discriminated against in society. Joint decision-making and empowering the girl child are very important. The training gave me the courage to become an advocate for women in the church and in the community.” (A pastor in Kaduna)

Some RLs said they were now aware of key concepts for the first time, such as the notion of gender being distinct from the sex of a person, or the difference between religious and cultural beliefs and practices related to gender.

“As a result of my engagement with V4C, I now understand the issues of patriarchy and relegation of the girl child, and so I encourage men to speak out on gender issues.”(A pastor in Enugu)

One Imam from Kaduna reflected that he had written a paper on gender in 2002, but he now thinks he is better informed on the subject, and should revise it.

Causal factors and the role of V4CThe main elements cited by the RL’s as responsible for their increased awareness of gender equality and their power to influence it appear to be:

the conceptual content of the V4C training programmes,

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their mode of presentation, and the highly skilled facilitation by African men11.

The key GEWE concepts and messages are offered in a digestible (not overloaded) and acceptable (non-partisan, non-Western and non-judgmental) way. The course process begins with sessions to help clarify and discuss definitions of sex, gender and gender equality. It progresses to lead participants to examine and discuss their own values with regards to gender, the nature of gender roles and stereotypes, definitions and types of violence, and what constitutes healthy and unhealthy relationships12. In addition, what the Bible and Holy Qur’an say about these things is woven into the conversation throughout.

The core content of the gender messages in the training, are aligned with the rest of the V4C programme strategy and centred around its “three pillars” for action (violence against women and girls, women’s decision-making, and women’s leadership). Looking across the interviews for this study, these appear to have provided an easy to remember ‘mantra’ that can help to shape the religious leaders’ action planning and their various forms of communication (sermons, seminars, talks on the radio, social media messages). The pillars can also be readily applied to the three domains of self, society and institution, so that changes can be made to one’s own behaviour and at home, as well as in groups and institutions. The well-known ‘power of 3’ as a communication principle (easy to recall, enough but not too much) may also be responsible for the success of these three pillars in providing the core messages that they can use.

It is possible that these three areas for action also resonate with exposure to other V4C activities that the members of their congregation/community have had, such as those available through the media (radio and on line - such as Purple Tinz and Purple Academy), and through physical safe spaces in tertiary institutions. There was insufficient time to find out if this was the case however. Added to these, other government supported programmes active in these States previously and currently13 are likely to have laid some of the foundations for gender awareness. For example, the Government of Kaduna State’s own efforts at enhancing and promoting education for all and the Consistent Education Empowerment Programme of the Enugu State will have also contributed to promoting awareness of the need for both girls and boys to attend school and for GEWE in general. Again, it was not possible to gather data to confirm this. However, the testimonies of the respondents show that they regard V4C interventions as significant causal factors, and the timing of the activities they spoke about, which followed the V4C training programme, suggests that it played an important part in catalysing the change they described. What cannot be concluded from the data available is any statistical evidence of the extent to which V4C activities were responsible for the changes they spoke of.

According to the course facilitators’ evaluation14, the involvement of known, trusted and respected religious leaders as facilitators or resource people in the V4C training programmes played a key part in convincing the participants that gender awareness was important, and positive. They helped to translate the gender-related messages into forms that could be expressed in religious terms, largely by locating specific text in the holy books that demonstrated how their religion supports gender equality. This meant that all the

11 Each report on the training courses contains the names of the facilitators. Initially they included the Team Leader for V4C’s Output 3, two external consultants from Sonke Gender Justice in South Africa (a gender and male involvement specialist and an ordained minister working on the intersection of religion and masculinities) and a Muslim cleric from the Interfaith Mediation Centre in Kaduna. Later on, other V4C staff joined the facilitation teams and they were all Nigerian.12 See the series of V4C Gender and Masculinity Workshop facilitators’ reports, which describe the sessions.13 Among these are the Education Sector Support Programme in Nigeria (ESSPIN); The State Accountability and Voice Initiative (SAVI) governance programme and the Expanded Social Marketing Programme in Nigeria (ESMPIN).14 See February 2015 Gender and Masculinity workshop report.

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participants in some way either gained new knowledge or new angles on familiar religious texts, as well as possible answers to frequently asked questions or challenges.

Several religious leaders (IDI 1, 11, 12) referred to how V4C’s communication strategies have supported the acceptability and usability of the gender equality messages being used by RLs. V4C’s branding was seen by some RLs as particularly useful as it is visible, inclusive and provides evidence that they can refer to as a ‘rising tide’ for change. Some leaders referred to the attractiveness of the Purple brand in all its various forms (Purple Academy, 50:50 caps and T-shirts, and Purple Tinz). It has helped them to sell the message from a religious angle, as when people ask them why they are wearing something, they can answer and explain how GEWE is related to their holy scriptures, doctrine or religious practices.

“Purple 50/50 materials should be made available to people, as they pass on a message on their own and serve as a recruitment incentive for people to join the campaign.” (Senior CMO member, Enugu).

The facilitators (initially a mix of V4C staff, specialist South African gender transformation and male involvement trainers and a Muslim cleric) who designed the Gender and Masculinity training programmes also gave careful thought to the particular needs of the participants, providing religion-centred or adapted material, and creating a training environment that melted any defensiveness15. The training reports record some of these considerations in detail.

Every morning the training started with an interfaith prayer. This was done through each participant observing moments of individual silent prayer in accordance with their tradition. This in itself minimized possible perceptions of a faith bias. The prayers were followed by interfaith scriptural reflections ably led by Imam Muhammad Sani. In each session, the imam read a passage from the Bible and a corresponding message from the Qur’an, or vice versa. In drawing out common themes in the sacred texts of both religions, the imam was able to show the commonalities in both faiths. This created sufficient grounds for mutual trust and created openness among all. (Gender and Masculinity Training for Religious Leaders Report – Enugu. February 2015 pp.3 16)

ii) Religious leaders are convinced that they can and should play a part in securing gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Many of the religious leaders who took part in V4C’s initial Gender and Masculinity training programmes professed to leave the 4-day experience as changed men. Many did not expect to be convinced or altered by this experience, and some expressed outright scepticism or resistance. However, all the RLs interviewed for this case study spoke of being profoundly moved, of understanding gender concepts for the first time, seeing gender relations in a new way, or seeing the relationship between culture and religion in a different light. Participants in the Gender and Masculinity workshop for religious leaders from Kano and Kaduna in May 2015 had the following to say after the first day’s sessions:

o My thoughts on gender have changed. I want to promote gender equality, fairness and justice

o I reflected on being there for my wife, and on allowing women to express themselves

15 Described in both February and May 2015 Gender and Masculinity workshop reports. 16 The workshop reports are a valuable resource for others who wish to undertake such training processes. They outline the activities, some of the participant responses, and the facilitators’ evaluation of the successes and pitfalls.

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o Acting like a man means not to abuse one’s powero How similar we are in our faiths, Muslim and Christiano Need to refrain from using harmful practiceso Gender Values Clarification helped me to see how people differ in their opinionso We need to report issues of rights abuseo I could use the knowledge gained on day one in my personal lifeo I learnt a lot and I need to impact otherso Am converted on gender issueso Culture and religion should not keep us where we’ve been before

One participant reflected at the end of the same workshop:“The way I came in is different to the way I am going out. We need to promote women’s religious rights. I need to go and give feedback to my fellow colleagues. ……Islamic and Christian initiatives should be supported by one another.” (V4C Kaduna-Kano Gender and Masculinity training report pp9)

Even those who felt that they were already conversant with gender concepts, said that the training had shown them a clearer path to action, and they now had some colleagues to take action with. Others, seeing the waste inherent when females are marginalised as a group, resolved to challenge and confront the status quo, because they saw that communities and society as a whole achieve more if females are involved in leadership and decision-making.

“The subjugation of women is a loss to all and the agitation for women’s rights will only help all and bring about development and growth.” (Religious leader, Enugu)

Causal factors and the role of V4CThe aspects of the training programme that the participants said they found most convincing/persuasive were: the (re)examination of texts from their holy books, the inputs from experienced religious leaders, and doing the participatory and experiential exercises with other people with different perspectives. These caused them to engage in personal reflection about their own roles as husbands and fathers, or as people in authority with the power to promote and support gender equality.

“One participant, a very senior religious leader, called his wife in the break to apologise for an argument they had had that morning and told her he would change.” (Religious leader and Gender and Masculinity workshop facilitator.)

In the training evaluations, the participants reported that the participatory exercises and inputs from the trainers had touched them on both an emotional and intellectual level, so that they not only acquired new knowledge, but they also felt moved to act. They gave examples of how this change in outlook had propelled them to make changes in both their personal (IDI 1,3,12, 13) and organisational (IDI 1, 3, 5, 6, 11, 13) spheres, and in some cases to address the need for policy change within the institutions they are part of.

“The training has helped to change how I relate with my wife as the head of the family. To me, when spouses are carried along in decision making in the family it creates a harmonious relationship in the home. The first step I took was to talk about the training with my wife and children at home and we then shared out the responsibilities at home irrespective of sex. I emphasized equality by making the boys realise that the role of a girl child is not in the kitchen. Anyone can work in the kitchen.” (A CMO member from Enugu.)

“After the training I made my wife part of decision making at home. I started consulting her before taking any decision.” (CMO members FGD, Enugu)

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“Up until a few days back when this training started, I would not have thought differently from those targeted by the research. That my perception on this issue is now completely different, with plans to go out there and tell my fellow men that there is need for us to change our attitudes towards women means that your training has been very effective and a huge success”. (Gender and Masculinity Training for Religious Leaders Report, Feb 2015 – Enugu pp9)

“In Islam, it is his (the husband’s) duty to cook for his wife, and not the other way round. There is a command in Islam for the man to help in the kitchen and take care of the house. But when he cannot to do all the duties because of time limitation, he can beg the woman to do the house chores and appreciate them for assisting him.” (Muslim leader and V4C facilitator, Kaduna)

The factors identified by participants as responsible for causing these changes in attitude largely relate to the methodologies used, which V4C describes as “participatory and transformational”17. The facilitators refer in their reports to the palpable resistance from the participants that they frequently encountered in the early part of the programmes, and the need to use uncontroversial language in the invitation letters in order to convince the RLs to attend. For example, they found that ‘gender justice’ was a more acceptable term initially than ‘gender equality’. (IDI 14)

In selecting the participants for the training, V4C sought to achieve a balanced representation of the two main religions and to have a mix in terms of age range and the types of roles they play. Thus, the groups brought together founder/pastors of new churches, heads of religious resources centres, senior clerics and lay leaders. This resulted in diverse groups which the RLs appreciated as a rich resource, both during the programme and afterwards. Many of the leaders said that their new found colleagues across the religious divide have provided a source of support and knowledge (IDI 12, 13). All spoke of how the diversity in the group of participants had surfaced different perspectives on the same thing, and helped to emphasise and induce respect for religious differences.

“Collaboration and partnerships across faiths is going to be crucial. We now know and have met new partners.” (Gender and Masculinity Training for Religious Leaders Report, Feb 2015 – Enugu pp9)

These experiences tally with one of the “success factors” V4C identified as necessary for social norm change in its strategy18, which recognised that “individuals need to know that others in the community are ready to change” and that beliefs about what other people do and expect shows the leaders that there is a wider momentum for change.

Another specific contribution of V4C to these changes was to gather a group of respected and experienced facilitators, with the capacity to design a programme that reached the hearts as well as the minds of the participants, and to incorporate the need of religious leaders to be convinced by the philosophical and theological arguments, while processing the issues at a personal level as well.

V4C’s initial approach of focussing on male religious leaders as participants in these programmes19, and inviting leaders from both of the major religions (Christianity and Islam) helped to create an environment within the programmes that was supportive of openness and re-examination of strongly entrenched views. Initial defensive positions were swiftly

17 V4C Workshop Report: Men’s Network Training on Gender and Masculinity, Lagos and Enugu, Nigeria, 18-20 May 201518 V4C Strategy for Working with Religious and Traditional Institutions and Leaders, pp619 See V4C Strategy for Working with Men and Boys. Programmes have subsequently been organised for female religious leaders as well however.

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lowered, resulting in deeper personal engagement and a readiness to apply the content to themselves (self) and their family lives, not just their congregations and professional domains (society, institutions). Undoubtedly, investing in a relatively long (4-day) programme that enabled a deeper training process, was a vital factor, as well as selecting facilitators who were perceived to be non-judgmental in religious terms, but also akin in terms of culture and sex – i.e. African20 and male.

All these features were incorporated as a result of carefully considered research, strategy development and planning prior to the training. These gave particular attention to: who the participants needed to be in order to bring optimum influence on wider society, understanding the participants’ needs and perspectives as different types of religious leaders, and how a sense of ownership could be nurtured and thus the greatest likelihood of sustainability and scale.21 Methods used by V4C for these initial stages included a rapid assessment to assess the contextual and historical aspects of religion, and power mapping to help identify the best target groups to include in the training and subsequent activities.

iii) Religious leaders are using their new knowledge to take action in their spheres of influence.

The most recent V4C monitoring data at the time of the research (September 2016, up to the last quarter of Year 322) indicates that approximately 38% of all the RLs who have taken part in its training programmes have taken action on gender equality (with 26% of participants in Enugu and 40% of participants in Kaduna). This action takes a variety of forms; the vast majority being in the form of sermons, talks, workshops and conferences (see Table 5). A small minority use the social media or talk on the radio.

Table 5: V4C monitoring data on types of action undertaken by the religious leaders who took action following its training programmes – September 2016

(Note: data for the last quarter for Enugu is not included)

Number and Type of activity Enugu Kaduna Total(4 States)

%(4 States)

Sermon in place of worship 10 16 76 40%Talk (elsewhere) 8 13 62 33%Workshop 6 4 18 10%Conference 14 3 25 13%Sermon/talk using social media 3 0 3 2%Sermon/talk on radio 0 1 4 2%Sermon/talk on TV 0 1 1 1%Other 0 0 0 0%Total 41 38 189 100%

These actions are estimated to have reached the following numbers of people as at September 2016:

Table 6: Numbers of people reached by religious leaders’ actionsNumber of people reached Enugu Kaduna20 The facilitators were South African and Nigerian initially, and then Nigerian only.21 See ‘V4C Strategy for Working with Religious and Traditional Institutions and Leaders’ and the various V4C facilitators’ reports on the Gender and Masculinity training programmes. 22 It should be noted that although V4C has just completed its third year of operation, the activities with religious leaders which fall under its ‘Output 3’ are implemented directly by V4C staff and did not commence until September 2015 when Output 3 staff were first employed. These figures therefore relate to work carried out over a period of approximately a year.

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# ♂ # ♀ # ♂ # ♀Sermon in place of worship 19,079 425 14,986 2,697Talk (elsewhere) 5,559 23 9,256 10Workshop 7,561 0 4,123 710Conference 5,200 0 758 0Sermon/talk using social media * - - - -

Sermon/talk on radio * - - - -Sermon/talk on TV * - - - -Other 0 0 0 0Total 37,399 448 29,123 3,417* Data for people reached through sermon/talk on social media, radio and TV was unavailable at the time writing this report. V4C hopes to develop this in year 4.

The monitoring data for the religious leaders in Enugu and Kaduna States suggests that, so far, the most common channel for communication is their regular sermon in places of worship. V4C currently has no data on the numbers reached by religious leaders through radio, TV and social media. Although it hopes to develop this in Year 4.

The accounts from the RLs themselves in the interviews for this case study, about the actions they have taken, shed more light on the nature (what, with whom, when where) of the action that they are taking. Annex 8 is a list of the actions mentioned by respondents during the data collection for this case study. The fact that 36 actions were reported from this limited sample alone, and that some of the activities mentioned, such as asking women to say a prayer in meetings, may not be covered by the categories in the database as they are minor examples, suggests that a considerable amount of activity over and above the things covered by the database could be taking place. Some of these may seem to be ‘less significant’ changes and yet they may be aggregating into something more significant.

The impression given by the examples shared by the religious leaders and their community members23 listed in Annex 8 indicates that the actions that the RLs are taking are:

o very diverse, although all are largely embracing the three social norm/behaviour change pillars for action (violence against women and girls, women’s decision-making, and women’s leadership). The activities also relate to all three of V4C’s identified domains of change (self, society and institutions) though the majority of those cited relate to the ‘society’ domain.

o both little things like asking women to say opening prayers at meetings, and big things like changing policy or defending women’s rights in court. This shows that action can be taken in a wide variety of spaces, and RLs can initiate bigger changes with small but significant beginnings.

o implemented personally as well as professionally. Most are trying to ‘walk the talk’ by implementing changes at home as well as in their work as religious leaders.

o in most cases dispersed, with most leaders working independently within their organisation or congregation and only a few working in collaboration, either with other religious organisations or with other kinds of actors or non-religious organisations.

o affecting change in others – some report on the positive feedback they are receiving from people who have heard them speak about GEWE. Most of this relates to the positive effects of changing their behaviour, on their personal relationships.

o making use of existing structures, channels and spaces rather than creating new ones.

23 The term ‘community’ is use here to broadly refer to the people interviewed who observed or were affected by the religious leaders including students in the tertiary institutions.

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o a mixture of proactive and reactive activities – some are infusing their routine activities with GEWE messages and changes such as regular preaching, holding meetings, relating with various groups and their own families, while some activities are reactive, responding to the gender-related needs and troubles of congregation such as family conflicts and marital disputes as well as people’s crises and cases of cultural injustice.

o making use of celebrations and events like Ramadan, Father’s Day and the annual NYSC camps to bring up GEWE issues.

o their own initiatives. Those RLs who are taking action are working of their own volition, following the action planning with V4C. No one is making them take action and so they are clearly self-motivated. Although some of the RLs said that they were waiting for permission (from their superiors or community/traditional authorities), or for resources.

o mostly within the ‘V4C States’, although some have spread into neighbouring States.

o making use of their authority to affect policy such as insisting on gender balanced representation in decision-making roles.

o making use of the social and mainstream media to reach wider audiences.

Spotlight story: A religious leader standing up for widows’ rightsA religious leader who participated in V4C’s Gender and Masculinity training, challenged the disinheritance of three widows and the arrest of their children for protesting against it. He worked with barristers who were church members to take legal action against the kinsmen of the widows who had seized their land, until the family opted for settlement out of court. Below is an account from two of the widows.

The late husbands of the two women were closely related (deemed as brothers) and following their deaths the land belonging to them was seized and sold off by their kinsmen. One of the women believes that this was because her husband would always stand for truth when he was alive and reject all kinds of oppression by his kinsmen and as a result of this, she and her family had always been intimidated and hated. When her husband died, the kinsmen thus took the opportunity to seize and sell her husband’s property without giving her any money from the sale of the land. The other widow explained that the same had happened to her because he had supported his brother.

When the last piece of land was sold six to eight months ago, they were bold enough to ask the kinsmen why they were selling off the property without giving them any of the proceeds. The kinsmen responded by inviting the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) to arrest their children, alleging that the children were robbers. The kinsmen then ostracised the two widows and demanded that they stop participating in family meetings and gatherings and even attending the same family church. However, the Umuada (daughters of the community), seeing that they were being ostracised to the extent that they were even denied their religious obligations, pleaded on their behalf and later they were allowed to attend the church.

Someone directed them to the Reverend who is a member of the community. He assisted them financially to bail their children from SARS and then confronted the kinsmen and went to court for redress. He then received threats to his life if he did not drop the case. An out of court settlement was finally agreed.

The two widows said that the involvement of the Umuada and the Reverend, together with some barristers who were church members, helped to resolve their case. The kinsmen accepted the out of court settlement and gave them some money from the sale of the last

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piece of land.

While the women are not aware of any similar cases they think that widowhood issues are rampant in their community, but due to fear, threats and intimidation the victims are fearful of speaking up.

Comment: It is remarkable that two widows have been brave enough to stand up to this sort of injustice and intimidation. As well as the bravery of the religious leader and his preparedness to use legal channels to secure justice, the role of a group like the ‘Umuada’ is also unusual as they have previously been the ones to implement some of the harmful widowhood rites and practices. Most significantly they could help to sustain efforts to challenge such injustices when V4C has ended.

As the V4C monitoring database only records the numbers of changes taking place by broad category, it was not possible to compare the planned actions with what RLs actually did, or to assess the nature of the actions they have reported in the review meetings. Also, no data was gathered for this case study on why the 62 % of the RLs who have taken part in V4C training programmes have not reported taking any action. It could be that they do but do not report it, or that they have not taken action. It could also be that they are contemplating taking action having moved along the pathway from pre-contemplation24. This in itself would be a significant change; as V4C itself acknowledges, these invisible changes can be of equal significance ultimately to the more conspicuous ones listed in the table in Annex 8.

Causal factors and the role of V4CA number of factors have helped to cause the RLs to take action in their spheres of influence. Having a structure for action in the form of “participant commitments” or action plans that are developed in the closing stages of the V4C training programmes has undoubtedly helped to kick-start the action process, identifying for each person what they might be able to do within their unique spheres of influence, and how and when they might accomplish it. The quarterly reviews organised by V4C also provide a periodic reminder of the commitments they have made and an opportunity to share challenges and achievements with others who are on the same or a similar path.

Some RLs spoke of the Purple Brand, Purple Tinz and links with PSSs as being supportive of their work by making the messages appear already widely held or already partially understood or known. This experience tallies with an aspect of V4C strategy, which aims to build a critical mass25. Other gender equality related initiatives – by the RL’s own organisations, or faith-based umbrella organisations and government also serve to provide the sense that a wider movement is afoot.

Already having access to spaces where they could influence large numbers of people, such as through sermons in their places of worship and other regular meetings has clearly helped the RLs to take action without having to organise anything extra, saving both time and the need for additional funds.

‘Ground softening’ activities by senior leaders, and existing GEWE initiatives in their organisations, have also provided an enabling environment for some of the RLs, many of whom are part of groups and networks. An example is the Catholic Men Organisation

24 This alludes to the Contemplation Stage as described in V4C’s Approach to Changing Discriminatory Social Norms document.25 See V4C’s Approach to Changing Discriminatory Social Norms document pp 4, which alludes to the idea of diffusion and the importance of a perception of a critical mass being behind a change.

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(CMO), which is part of the Catholic Church, and estimated by CMO members to embrace 40% of the churches in Enugu city.

Not all RLs who have taken action have done this in or through groups however. Some gender equality ‘champions’ have emerged by being challenged to respond to a particular circumstance they faced, such as the Spotlight Story above where a pastor (IDIs 4 & 5) came to the aid of 3 Catholic widows. Despite the considerable personal risk, he is glad of the lessons learned through this process, which showed him how to team up with legal expertise to help confront rights violations.

Most of the RLs referred to incidents they had dealt with in their daily duties as a leader, that involved conflicts among members of their congregation, which had arisen as a result of confronting entrenched positions or gender-based conflict. Some of these had arisen from the messages in their preaching. V4C has responded to this by organising conflict management training for some RLs – the first programme was organised relatively recently in June 2016.

A good number of the factors that have led the RLs to take action have come from V4C, although many spoke of having always believed in gender justice. Among those mentioned by respondents that have played a part are: selecting the right participants at the outset, making personal commitments and action plans, and then reviewing these plans at quarterly meetings where RLs can lend each other support. The V4C team set out to select leaders who were “outspoken, credible, interested in social justice, and had a large number of followers” (V4C Output Lead). Part of the participants’ remit is to communicate with other religious leaders and pass on messages relating to gender equality. Based on this process, the second batch of RLs were selected by the religious leaders who had been trained in the first group.

V4C staff have played an on-going process-facilitation role. Following the initial training provided by V4C, the staff have provided back-stopping support to the RLs when requested and within their capacity. This has included providing facilitators and speakers at events organised by the RLs and brokering meetings with people in higher authority to help the RLs secure high level endorsement, as well as linking them up with other parts of the V4C programme such as the young people in the Physical Safe Spaces in tertiary institutions. Occasionally this works in the other direction, when senior RLs are requested to lend their support or endorsement to the political, legislative and advocacy processes V4C and its partners are engaged with. One example of this was their attendance at the launch of the “Being A Man in Nigeria” landmark report.

iv) Some religious leaders feel confident about taking action with their new gender awareness, and some don’t.

“The training gave me the courage to become an advocate for women in the church and community.” (A Christian Pastor)

The changes in RLs, and the changes that RLs have brought about, vary widely. Some have visibly organised to take action on gender equality relatively rapidly, perhaps finding themselves convinced to take action on something they have believed all along, or in an already receptive environment. Others find themselves uncertain, or at the beginning of a long and difficult road, facing others with deeply entrenched positions. Any group of RLs are likely to be at different Stages of Change26 themselves, and after their participation in V4C

26 See V4C’s Approach to Changing Discriminatory Social Norms pp 4.42


activities some may only be at the ‘contemplation stage’ while others are at the ‘planning stage’ or ready to take action. For those for whom gender equality is a new concept, it can be hard to articulate and defend in a challenging environment. One pastor in Kaduna (IDI 11) has enthusiastically organised several large events and forums in his church to address and sensitise his congregation, but he has invited V4C staff to make the presentations. Thus, while it can be assumed that religious leaders are used to public speaking and large audiences, V4C’s GEWE messages may need special skills that go beyond the everyday religious messages that they are used to delivering. It was evident from the interviews for this study that some leaders return to their organisations relatively alone and unsupported, while others are surrounded by allies. Some are secure within their congregations, others not.

The amount of change in RLs, as well as the amount of change they can bring about in others, is thus to some extent determined by where they are at the beginning. Equally, the extent of change can be relative to the supporting or inhibiting factors outlined above. Their progress thus needs to be seen from this perspective, with some immense changes at the Contemplation Stage likely to be unreported or invisible and yet nevertheless very significant.

“There should be a trans-generational approach that will systematically break the long years of entrenched patriarchy, injustice and inequality that exits.” (Christian pastor)

This ‘finding’ is in many ways an observation about the nature of the continuum of change relating to RLs and their awareness of gender equality. Where RLs are on that continuum, and why, can certainly not be attributed to any single causal factor. However, V4C’s awareness of this continuum was surfaced during it’s inception phase, and the intention to move people along it, was woven into project design from the outset. It also recognised that different individuals are at different points along a pathway to change27 and that a long term perspective on this change is necessary28.

v) Religious leaders are collaborating to leverage institutional change and contribute to a ‘rising tide’ of change.

Some examples of RLs teaming up to challenge gender inequality encountered during the research (IDI 1, IDI 3, IDI 12) suggest that facilitating connections among RLs can be an important part of realising change. Most of the examples of action given by RLs showed that they are still largely working within their own sphere and have not yet begun to collaborate. Thus only a few respondents spoke of these connections taking place. The members of CMO, an organisation with extensive membership within the Catholic Church in Nigeria, spoke of how they worked together when they returned from the training to implement a common action plan within their diocese. This enabled them to implement an organisation-wide approach and thus potentially affect all their members as well as other Catholics, rather than just their immediate group. “For reasons of uniformity one action plan is being used by us all in all the parishes, and this has been integrated into CMO routine activities.” They stepped-down the training “to other members of the organisation including all the priests in the diocese.” (FGD2). This implies that when several members of an organisation have taken part in the training, it can increase the potential for RLs to support each other in bringing about institutional change, and thus the chances of gender equality becoming common practice, or even policy in areas such as gender balance in the membership of committees.

27 See V4C’s Approach to Changing Discriminatory Social Norms pp 5.28 V4C Strategy on Working with Religious and Traditional Institutions and Leaders – September 2014, pp8

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If actors at all levels in a community or institution are on board they can work together to give a community a sense of a critical mass of support, or what V4C calls a ‘rising tide’, of change and thus bring momentum behind efforts to change discriminatory social norms29. Several RLs explained how they found obstacles or lack of support higher in their organisation’s hierarchy and that this prevented them from organising further (IDI 1, 11). V4C staff also gave examples of how they had been asked to help open doors for change by visiting senior leaders and explaining the V4C vision and the value and importance of gender equality. In so doing they had paved the way for actors at all levels to join together to realise change. (IDI 15)

Alliances that have helped to realise change have also been forged across generations and across organisations and religions. A group of female Muslim National Youth Service Corps NYSC personnel based at the Islamic Centre in Enugu were supported by the men who worked at the centre to form a group (FGD2). Their leader, who had attended a V4C training programme ‘stepped down’ the training to her group. They then carried out a sensitization event with female NYSC members serving in Enugu State with the assistance of the V4C State Coordinator. They have since gone further to develop a proposal to spread messages of gender equality to their peers in NYSC, potentially affecting each batch of Corps into the future. The backing and endorsement of the older RLs for these young Muslim women has helped to make way for broader change.

Finally, many of the participants in the V4C gender programmes have expressed their appreciation for having participants from both of the major religions in the training programmes. This has led to helpful exchanges that have shed light on doctrine, and enabled them to see the common ground lying beneath their differences.

“The training gave me the opportunity to interact with people who have impacted positively on me and helped to increase my passion for becoming an advocate for women’s’ causes. It brought together people from diverse religious backgrounds and potentials, who have since become close friends and allies towards the same goal. The way the training was organised motivated everyone who attended to speak up for change on gender justice and women’s rights.” (A pastor, IDI 13)

“I never knew Muslims are this learned. With knowledge we can not only tolerate one another, but show respect, which can also be translated to our relationships with women.”

“My perception about women is not the only thing that has changed positively, but Islam” (Gender and Masculinity Training for Religious Leaders Report – Enugu, February 2015 pp8)

Causal factors and the role of V4CMost of the impetus for these successful connections among religious leaders appears to have come about as a result of the spirit of openness and cooperation from those in leadership positions, who have deliberately set out to engineer a connection and bridge a divide. V4C has contributed to these links by weaving the spirit of cooperation into the design of the training programmes and their subsequent programmes of action, and by suggesting to the RLs that they team-up to bring change. This was achieved by bringing together RLs from the different religions in the one training programme rather than having separate ones, and by putting the participants into mixed groups to undertake the training exercises. They also put everyone in touch by sharing contacts at the end of the programme,

29 See V4C’s Approach to Changing Discriminatory Social Norms pp344


and facilitated quarterly reviews to enable them to meet and share experiences on a regular basis.

“V4C has done tremendously well by bringing Christians and Muslims together to seek and understand each other, addressing both at this crucial time in the life of Nigeria. This process has enabled leaders from both religions to see areas of mutual belief and observe that there is similarity and harmony within the two religions. V4C has not only helped participants to adjust their relationship with their wives, but it has opened a new channel for dialogue, talk about peace and national issues between Christian and Muslims.” (A Muslim leader and V4C facilitator, IDI 12)

Analysis of the actions taken by RLs however, suggests that although these introductions have led to a change in mindset, or perceptions of being part of a wider change, RLs are largely working autonomously. There were no examples cited of them initiating new interfaith collaboration.

Analysis of outcome area: Religious leaders are more gender aware, and are taking action in the spaces they influence.


Domains and types of change:o The RLs engaged by V4C have accepted that they need to do

things differently at a personal level and have identified how they can use their influence to lead change among their congregations.

o The changes are mainly found in the RLs as individuals (self) and in the religious groups they are associated with (society). A few of their actions are targeted at and affecting organisational policy, but most change at this stage is happening in the groups with which RLs have immediate contact, with a few examples of RLs finding new audiences outside religious organisations.

o The most striking changes are with the RLs themselves who are personally affected by the GEWE messages and trying new behaviours, practices, activities and actions in existing spaces. They are also trying to positively influence attitudes and change relationships among young people and within families.

o Most of their activities are face-to-face, with only a few using mainstream and social media to extend their influence.

o The RL’s understanding of what gender is all about varies, as does their level of commitment to realising GEWE.

Synergies:Religious leaders make key contributions to other aspects of V4C’s work by endorsing the GEWE messages at high level events such as those associated with the passing of the VAPP Bill and the launch of the ‘Being a Man in Nigeria’ report. Their interaction with PSS students in tertiary institutions helps to clarify and resolve their religious questions about GEWE, and their participation in radio programmes on GEWE helps to complement add weight to the messages promoted by Purple Tinz and Purple Academy.

What does the evidence suggest about causal factors

o Initiatives from government, civil society organisations and international development partners have prepared some of the foundations for the work of V4C, most notably those working in

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and the contribution V4C has made?

education to enable girls to continue up to tertiary level.o Most of causal factors for the changes mentioned by religious

leaders however were attributed to the training programmes and other activities of V4C.

o The most-mentioned significant contributions by V4C were the participatory methodologies used in the training programmes, the mix of participants from both major religions and the use of religious texts and religious scholars/facilitators to help demonstrate that GEWE is consistent with their doctrine.


o Some of the RLs who have been trained are convinced about the importance of gender equality and are using the spaces over which they have influence to spread the word, including their homes. In most cases these involve hundreds of people, not thousands, and are thus limited in reach, but there is every reason to believe this can continue and a ripple effect could take place that need not depend on external influences or funding. This is particularly the case if the media bring synergy by continuing to broadcast GEWE messages.

o RLs are reaching out to young people in tertiary institutions of learning and the NYSC, aware that they change each year, and often move States once their period of study or service is over, thus increasing the chance of spread.

o Except for the NYSC, the RLs do not appear to be collaborating with non-religious organisations in order to widen their scope, nor undertaking larger advocacy work at the institutional level at this stage, but this is perhaps to be expected as it is early in the process for many.

Outcome area: i) Women and girls are now in leadership positions in religious, student and government institutions.

This change is presented as a separate outcome area because it extends beyond the attitudes practices, activities, relationships and behaviours of the RLs themselves to affect changes in women’s leadership and decision-making. Although the data gathered for this case study was insufficient to draw conclusions about the degree of widespread change, several remarkable examples were described by the religious leaders of how they had used their influence to bring change that had resulted in increased women’s leadership relatively quickly. It also appears that these have the potential to be lasting institutional changes that could alter women’s role in the decision making in their organisational and physical communities.

Christian pastors in Enugu and Kaduna (IDI 1,3, 13) spoke of how they had simply announced that a proportion of decision-making positions would henceforth be occupied by women. This type of rapid decision appears to be more common among leaders of independent churches or faith-based centres, where the leader is free to make and implement decisions without seeking approval from a bigger hierarchy. One example of this, is a Christian leader (a pastor and founder) from Enugu who reported that he had returned to his congregation after the V4C training and appointed a female to head the youth wing of the church. He hoped this, “will promote the message of supporting women in leadership and decision making roles” (IDI 5). He also decided to train the men’s, women’s and youth fellowship leaders so that they can teach others about gender justice in his absence.

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Similarly, a member of the CMO in Enugu, reserved 6 out of 11 slots for women on the laity council of his parish at its most recent election. He also appointed 2 women to be part of the town union executive, and facilitated the appointment of women in the traditional ruling council (Igwe Council) in his community (IDI 1 p2). Another colleague in the CMO in Enugu (IDI 1, p2) said he had started pushing for 30% female representation in leadership positions, reasoning that this was a positive start towards getting the ideal 50:50 representation eventually. Leaders within churches with a more complex and extensive organisational structure, while sometimes frustrated by the limits on their independent decision-making, have nevertheless been able to instigate far-reaching changes within their institutions by teaming up with others who took part in the V4C training to devise systematic plans to step down the training to others within their organisation. An example of this are the CMO30 leaders in Enugu who have plans to train all the parish priests in the Enugu Diocese, and to work with their Bishop to organise a meeting for all Catholic traditional rulers to encourage them to incorporate women into their cabinets and meet with the town unions (TU) to create space for women to attend TU meetings and be part of the executives. (IDI 1 p3). These actions could have far reaching consequences for both women’s leadership and other aspects of GEWE.

Muslim leaders from the Islamic Centre in Enugu, which is carrying out a campaign against early child marriage, are working closely with the female Muslim NYSC members placed at the Centre, encouraging them to be mentors and teachers, and to stand out as role models for the younger girls, by providing evidence in person that going up to tertiary level in education will not result in a girl “going astray and becoming a no good”. (FGD 4). They have also backed a female Muslim NYSC members to form a group to sensitise other female corps members in Enugu State.

The research for this study encountered two notable ‘positive deviants’31 who have demonstrated exceptional leadership and set out, supported by religious leaders, to impact on wider institutions. One is the NYSC member alluded to above who was inspired by the V4C training she received, endorsed by the leader of the Islamic Centre in Enugu and is being supported by V4C to spread the gender equality message to all her NYSC colleagues (FGD 2). She formed a group with her NYSC colleagues and they are currently developing a proposal to secure funds to enable them to reach out to Community Development Service (CDS) groups with GEWE messages32 in the various LGAs in Enugu State, beginning by training the presidents of the various CDS groups, who will then train their members.

The other example is a female medical student in Kaduna State who is currently Co-Lead for the North and Regional Coordinator for the Nigeria Medical Students’ Association (NIMSA)33. She is also the representative for her college on the national committee planning the Summit of NIMSA to be held in Lagos in November 2016. Having been part of a Purple Safe Space group and a participant at a V4C training on women in leadership, she has been supported by her fellow male students, as well as encouraged by religious leaders at her university, to take up leadership positions. She was exposed to joint religious leaders’ sensitization as well as inter-faith meetings on women, leadership and religion. She identified particular Muslim and Christian Religious leaders as sources of inspiration and as people who could interpret and present religious texts properly. Impressed by the harmony and mutual focus of the 30 CMO is an umbrella body of all men in the Catholic Church31 V4C’s Religious and Traditional Leaders Strategy uses this term (pp7) to refer to people who have changed and can demonstrate that another way is possible and thus help to promote new norms.32 The NYSC CDS group is a subgroup within each state NYSC team that plans mini project(s) within the service year in various areas including environmental hygiene, sensitisation on health and livelihoods, economic empowerment, health promotion and human rights. Each group usually is formed of between 50-100 Corps members.33 A body with approximately 60,000 student members. http://www.ifmsa.net/public/nmo.php?id=65

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http://www.ifmsa.net/public/nmo.php?id=65

Islamic and Christian clerics and leaders who are facilitators for V4C, she believes such joint action has resolved many issues among the student body that arise from misinterpretation of religious texts.

Causal factors and the role of V4CThe data gathered for this study suggests that the influence of religious leaders on these changes to women’s leadership has ranged from direct to indirect, and from instigating and determining the change to offering inspiration to a large group of which the female leader happened to be part. What actually caused these changes therefore has varied as well.

Certainly, the inspiration derived from the V4C training programmes has resulted in religious leaders making unilateral decisions to take action to rectify imbalances in women’s representation in structures over which they have authority (IDI 1, 3, 5,6, 11, 12, 13). The synergy between the various aspects of the V4C programme is also apparent in the two examples of young women cited above, one of whom took up a leadership position traditionally occupied by a man (IDI 8), and the other creating a new space (IDI 2). The combined exposure to GEWE messages from V4C training, the words of V4C-trained religious leaders on the radio or speaking in various events and spaces in tertiary institutions have all played a part. As outlined in section 5 above, for some of the people who changed (religious leaders and the female leaders), the V4C intervention simply resonated with their existing conviction about gender equality and was thus only partially the cause of the change, convincing them that they were not alone and would be supported or part of wider movement if they took action. For others, it was a revelation and thus almost wholly the cause of their action.

Analysis of outcome area: Women and girls are now in leadership positions in religious, student and government institutions


Domains of change:Once they have undergone transformational change (self domain); RLs can exert extensive and immediate influence in the domains of Society and Institution, as their roles sometimes give them a free rein to bring an immediate change. They are often looked up to and deferred to by their followers and thus allowed to make changes in governance arrangements and guide collective thinking. In this case they have used their power to bring gender equality in their sphere of influence and sought to persuade people that GEWE is acceptable and advantageous to all.

Synergies:The young women leaders (and the young men who support or make way for them) in tertiary institutions and NYSC have been exposed to the same kinds of GEWE messages offered by the media (PT, Purple Academy), PSS, religious leaders and V4C events. RLs have thus endorsed what the student women are hearing at their places of learning and on-line, helping to create a sense of a consistent and enabling environment opening up.

Types of change:o Actions: RLs can sometimes simply choose to decide that

women will become leaders or play leadership roles in religious organisations. They can also persuade or inspire

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followers with religious arguments in favour of GEWE, such that the space is opened up for women.


o RLs who have taken part in V4C training and are convinced of the need for GEWE, have been equipped with the tools and confidence to present and express it in a variety of spaces. This can lead to them making changes where they feel they can and to others being inspired to. In this case, they have opened up spaces for women’s leadership and decision-making, and endorsed and inspired women who wish to take up leadership roles to do so.


o These changes are likely to be sustained because the actors involved (the women themselves and the RLs) have changed their thinking and this is unlikely to reverse, unless they encounter particular resistance or move to another sphere.

o While women’s leadership is not yet widespread (e.g. only a few women have taken up student leadership positions so far), the synergies between the effects of V4C’s different activities suggest that a ‘glass ceiling’ has been broken and ‘positive deviants’ have demonstrated that there is another way. This has the potential to open up a pathway to wider change.

o The women’s representation in decision-making bodies of church organisations has been strongly influenced by the RLs. As such they could be changed back if the RLs are no longer insisting on the change. Where an RL has announced gender balance as policy, the changes have been widespread within their sphere of influence.

3.3 Conclusion

The research for the study found that the changes in the RLs are mainly to be found in the V4C-domains of Self and Society, i.e. in themselves personally or in the religious groups they are associated with. A few of their actions are targeted at and affecting organisational policy, but most of the changes at this stage are happening in the groups with which RLs have immediate contact, with only a few examples of RLs finding new audiences and collaborations outside their religious organisations.

The most striking changes are with the RLs themselves, who are personally affected by the GEWE messages and are trying new behaviours, practices, activities and actions in existing spaces. They are also trying to positively influence attitudes and change relationships among young people and within families.

Religious leaders have also made key contributions to other aspects of V4C’s work by endorsing the GEWE messages at high level events such as those associated with the passing of the VAPP Bill and the launch of the ‘Being a Man in Nigeria’ report. Their interaction with PSS students in tertiary institutions helps to clarify and resolve the students’ religious questions about GEWE, and their participation in radio programmes on GEWE helps to complement and add weight to the messages promoted by Purple Tinz and Purple Academy.

Most of causal factors for the changes mentioned by religious leaders were attributed to the training programmes and other activities of V4C, although some mentioned previous and current initiatives of government and civil society or their own previous belief in the value of

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GEWE as responsible for paving the way. The most-mentioned significant contributions by V4C were the participatory methodologies used in the training programmes, the mix of participants from both major religions and the use of religious texts and religious scholars/facilitators to help demonstrate that GEWE is consistent with their doctrine. The research, strategy development and course design work has also clearly been important in identifying a culturally and religiously acceptable approach.

Most of the changes initiated by the RLs so far involve hundreds of people, not thousands, and are thus not yet widespread. However, most of those described do not depend on external impetus or funding and are part of wider networks, and thus there is the potential for them to continue and spread, and to create the ‘rising tide of change’ that V4C envisages. This is particularly the case if the media and safe space work initiated by V4C continues to bring synergy by broadcasting and perpetuating GEWE messages. Furthermore, if the RLs continue to reach out to young people in tertiary institutions and the NYSC, whose students and personnel change and move on each year, the chances of the rising tide happening are even greater. Apart from these few examples however, the RLs do not appear to be collaborating with non-religious organisations in order to widen their scope, or undertaking larger advocacy work at the institutional level at this stage. These steps would significantly increase their influence. Another action that could help perpetuate what has already begun is some continued and expanded training/capacity building work to increase the number of RLs who feel confident about facilitating training and speaking at events and on the radio. Many of the RLs are still reliant on V4C staff as resource people. It is possible that the 62% of RLs who took part in the V4C training, but have not taken action, would also welcome further support.

Some religious leaders have used their influence to help increase women’s leadership. Their influence has ranged from instigating and determining the change to offering inspiration to a large group, of which the female leader happened to be part. RLs can exert extensive and immediate influence in the domains of Society and Institution, as their roles sometimes give them a free rein to bring an immediate change. They are often looked up to and deferred to by their followers and thus allowed to make changes in governance arrangements and guide collective thinking. In this case they have used their power to bring gender equality in their spheres of influence and sought to persuade people that GEWE is acceptable and advantageous to all. The young women leaders (and the young men who support or make way for them) in tertiary institutions and NYSC identified in this study have also been exposed to the messages offered by the media (PT, Purple Academy), PSS, religious leaders and V4C events. RLs have thus endorsed what the student women are hearing at their places of learning and on-line, helping to create a sense of a consistent and enabling environment opening up.

These changes can also be largely attributed to V4C activities. RLs, convinced of the need for GEWE, have been equipped with the tools and confidence to present and express it in a variety of spaces. This has led to them making changes where they feel they can, and to others being inspired to as well. In this case they have opened up spaces for women’s leadership and decision-making, and endorsed and inspired women who wish to take up leadership roles to do so.

It appears likely that these changes will be sustained because the actors involved (the women themselves and the RLs) have changed their thinking and this is unlikely to reverse, unless they encounter particular resistance. While women’s leadership is not yet widespread (only a few women have taken up student leadership positions so far), the synergies between the effects of V4C’s different activities suggest that a ‘glass ceiling’ has been broken and ‘positive deviants’ have demonstrated that there is another way. This has the potential to open up a pathway to wider change. The women’s representation identified in

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the decision-making bodies of church organisations has been strongly influenced by the RLs. As such this space could shrink back if the RLs are no longer insisting on the change and others have not taken over the baton.

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Section 4: Traditional Leaders Case Study4.1 Case study background

V4C recognises the role that institutions in Nigeria such as traditional and religious bodies can play in either upholding or instigating change of perception and transformation in social norms for positive development. Traditional leaders (TLs), who are largely men and role models for their followers, are crucial allies in promoting Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment within the community and indeed the wider Nigerian society.

In an attempt to increase support from men and boys within communities to promote positive attitudes towards women and girls, V4C has sought to expand the pool of traditional leaders advocating for positive change amongst members of their communities. It has primarily gone about this by offering a 2-day seminar on the theme of gender and masculinity to ‘First Class’ (or the highest tier of) traditional leaders, although in Year 3 it has included a few women TLs in its ‘Promoting women in political leadership events’ as well. See the box below for details of its approach to working with TLs.

Summary of V4C’s Activities with Traditional LeadersV4C’s work with traditional leaders falls under its Output 3: Key influencers, including boys and men, with improved attitudes to girls and women (V4C Logical framework 28 September 2015, approved by DFID). The activities have mainly consisted of the following:

1. Strategy development based on a rapid assessment – V4C’s work with RTLs is based on its: Strategy for Working with Religious and Traditional Institutions and Leaders, Sept 2014. It also draws on several other strategic documents including those related to changing Social Norms, Men and Boys, and V4C’s overall theory of change and intervention logic.

2. Preliminary engagement activities – Several preparatory activities took place to help secure the agreement of the TLs to a seminar taking place, and help the facilitators attune the content appropriately and to factor-in their interests and concerns. V4C staff gave a 10-minute presentation to the First-Class chiefs of Enugu State at their monthly meeting held at the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Local Government Affairs. They asked questions and then agreed on suitable dates and requested that the state Ministry of Chieftaincy and LGA be asked to coordinate the selection of participants.

3. Seminars on gender and masculinity34 – In the same vein as the programmes with religious leaders and men’s networks, the traditional leaders were invited to take part in a 2-day “seminar” on gender and masculinity. In the case of the traditional leaders this course was only 2-days long with the participation of 26 first class traditional rulers, drawn from the 17 Local Government Areas of Enugu State. This took place in December 2015. (A similar course was organised in Lagos State with 20 participants a month later, and another is planned for traditional leaders in Kaduna State in November 2016).o The overall goal was “to increase the understanding of Traditional Rulers on

gender and masculinities and their role as critical agents in the promotion of gender equality”.

o Its key objectives were to: “Explore the role of traditional rulers in fostering gender equality in a society

34 See report of the process for details: Enugu Traditional Leaders Training on Gender and Masculinity, V4C report, December 2015

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like Nigeria where gender justice remains elusive for a higher percentage of girls and women.

Increase understanding of gender and masculinities and how this influences the lives of individuals and relationships within their communities.

Clarify how cultural and religious values play a key role in determining these attitudes and behaviours.”

o the leaders resolved to act by: Calling for Traditional Rulers’ Councils at state, zonal, local government and

community levels to discuss gender equality. Cabinet members were also to be involved.

Organising sensitization meetings at grassroots level Engaging with local government authorities, GEWE ‘champions’, women’s

associations at various levels, town union executives and church leaders in promoting gender equality.

Publishing a communiqué signed on their behalf by the Chairman of the Enugu State Council for Traditional Rulers. It was agreed by the leaders that the communiqué would appear in the Dailies Newspaper the following week.

4. Promoting women in political leadership – In June 2016, V4C organised a series of events for ‘key women influencers’ from Enugu and Lagos States, to which a few newly installed women chiefs were invited35. 34 women from traditional councils, Umua-ada associations (first born daughters), female religious leaders and women activists including those from NGOs and the media took part. (A second event took place in Kaduna in August 2016 for participants from Kaduna and Kano States).

5. Young people who have taken part in V4C’s events and processes with communities and tertiary institutions have been encouraged to dialogue with traditional leaders from their communities. (See Annex 9 Spotlight: Engagement between young people and their traditional leaders for an example of how this has taken place.)

6. Other V4C-supported activities involving traditional leaders – A small group of TLs who had taken part in the Gender and Masculinity training engaged members of the Enugu State Assembly to urge them to pass the Gender and Equal Opportunities (GEO) Bill and the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Bill at state level (14 October 2015). Traditional rulers were also involved in re-presenting the GEO Bill to the Senate in 2016.

Following reports from several of the TLs who had taken part in the V4C seminars on gender and masculinity that they had installed women chiefs, this case study sought to understand more about what had taken place and how. The researchers tried to find out about the nature of these changes and what they mean in practical terms for the TLs, the newly installed women chiefs (at the centre of the change) and the community members who live within their areas of authority (observers of the change). The research focused in particular on the nature and degree of the women TLs’ new authority, and on the effects this had had on the traditional governing relationships as a whole, as well as more widely in the community.

Data was gathered in 4 communities located within the 3 LGAs that V4C works with in Enugu State (see section 1.3 for details). Details of the respondents can be found in section

35 Three women chiefs from Okpanku, one of the communities in this case study, were participants.53


1.3.3 and Annex 4, while a note on the limitations experienced by the data collection team can be found in section 1.3.5.

4.2 Discussion of outcome

Outcome area: Women are being installed as fully titled chiefs and members of cabinet.

i) Women have been invited into royal cabinets, broadly on the same terms as men.

In all the four communities visited, there was evidence of women being included in the traditional ruling cabinet. Several respondents (male and female traditional leaders and community members) said that this change was being extended to other organising and decision-making bodies in their community. Three of the four communities (Ihe n Owerri since 2014, Udi Ancient Kingdom since 2008, and Okpanku since 2010) already had women in advisory roles, though not in key positions, but for all this was the first time any woman had been installed as a fully titled chief. Most remarkably perhaps, in all the four communities, women have recently been given senior and permanent roles that many community members said they thought would never have imagined possible. While the proportion of women in the cabinets is not yet large, there was a general view among all those interviewed that the installation of women as full chiefs was ground-breaking, has received widespread support from most community members, and is unlikely to be reversed.

A summary of the number of women leaders and their positions in the communities is shown in the table below.

Table 7: Women’s new leadership roles post-V4C trainingCommunity/LGA

New Roles Source

Ihe n’ owerri Women chiefs: Treasurer to the Cabinet, King’s Announcer

Male TL

Neke uno nike 15 women from the community brought into the cabinet.o 3 installed as full cabinet chiefs in the core royal

cabinet (2 occupy strategic positions in the cabinet as “Deputy Prime Minister I and II”, 1 Treasurer of the royal cabinet).

12 cabinet floor chiefs, including social secretary and various advisory roles

Male TL

o 3 women installed as fully titled chiefs in the cabinet

a female is the “King Announcer”.

Male young person

Okpanku o 3 women members of the royal cabinet, with full chieftaincy titles and adorned with the full chieftaincy regalia and paraphernalia. 1 is Assistant Secretary to the royal cabinet (with only the Prime Minister (Ononwu) and Secretary above

Male TL

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her. The other 2 mandated to organise the women to harness their input into the community development agenda.

o Women now included in the vigilante group, undertaking community patrols day and night.

o Women now among the Community Development Union Executive members.

Udi ancient kingdom

23-person cabinet has included women since 2008, but as advisers. V4C training led them to expand their roles, with two women now titled chiefs in the royal cabinet. Others are advisers who advise the cabinet members.o Women lead special committees and task forces on

different community development agenda, e.g. a scholarship scheme for girls - a woman is in-charge.

o One woman is finance secretary to the cabinet - a key position.

Male TL

Two of the traditional leaders (TLs) (IDI 1, IDI 5) said that they had ensured that women had been given influential positions so that they could make a significant impact.

“A family is not controlled by a man alone; it is also controlled by a woman….and I believe they are more trustworthy in some situations especially when they have key positions.” (Male TL - HRH)

“Our women have been able to influence a lot, like creating spaces in the market for women to sell their goods. They are also campaigning against HIV/AIDS. They are doing a lot because they have key positions.” (Male TL)

“I came back from the seminar on Gender and Masculinity and met with my chiefs and discussed with them. We decided to include women in our cabinet and we gave them key positions such as the treasurer and the social secretary. Before the seminar, we didn’t have regards for women but after the seminar, after I shared what I had learnt about what women can contribute to good leadership and community development with my cabinet chiefs, we decided to install female chiefs and we installed them on the 15th of January 2016”. (Male TL)

Both male and female TLs mentioned that as well as playing key roles, women had also been asked to lead or contribute to leading special working groups and committees. Thus, there was also a sense of women’s roles and influence beginning to be dispersed and widespread as well as authoritative, offering a collective feminine influence on the broader culture of organising and leading in the community, and a shift in agenda and priorities.

In all the communities both the male and female traditional leaders interviewed believed that the newly installed women chiefs have equal voice and equal authority with men, both within the cabinet and within the community.

“…some of our mothers and aunties are cabinet members or chiefs. They tell us that the Igwe does not treat them differently from the men. They told us that they and the men sit together, discuss and even argue matters and there is no problem”(Vice President Youth Union)

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“As the Igwe’s daughter and Princess of the community, I was very surprised when I returned home from school one day and found women sitting with the men in a cabinet meeting! .... Since I came back I have been seeing the women, particularly three women, coming in for different meetings with the other cabinet chiefs and I sometimes over hear them discussing and talking like men in the meetings. I am surprised, but it is very good. I like the change!” (Young woman)

“Women and men are treated equally by the Igwe and the men in the cabinet. We have equal voice, power and votes as the men. Some of us lead special committees and task forces on different community development agenda. For instance, the Igwe instituted a scholarship scheme for girls and a woman is in-charge. Also, a woman is the finance secretary to the cabinet. This is a key position and one which shows just how much women are valued in the cabinet and by the community. We also play a lot of advisory roles” (Udi Kingdom Female TL)

“We discuss issues openly as men in the cabinet. Where we are not in agreement, we expressly convey our opinions and suggestions about any subject matter. In fact, there are many instances where our opinions have been taken over other opinions by fellow male cabinet members. We do our work in mutual respect to each other and guided always by the need to do what is best for our community” (Female TL)

Most were of the view that the newly appointed female traditional leaders are able to contribute to cabinet discussion and decision-making in the same way as men, and could freely take part in debate. In Okpanku, the women chiefs were said to enjoy the same royal benefits and privileges as their male counterparts.

“Now, there is stronger women advocacy. The women now voice their wants without fear of persecution.” (Young man)

“I have 23 cabinet members made up of both men and women. I included women in my cabinet in 2008 as advisers, but after the V4C seminar I expanded their roles and installed some women as chiefs in the royal cabinet. So we now have both female chiefs and female advisers who advise the cabinet members and I treat all of them the same way I treat the men”. (Male TL)

Both female and male chiefs expressed the view that women are particularly good for certain roles. These included those relating to community finances, and roles that are perceived to especially need the involvement of the women community members. One chief said that he believes that women are more “honest, prudent and accountable” (IDI 5) and so the appointment of a woman to the position of Treasurer was critical to the cabinet. In his community, a woman has also been appointed to the senior position of King’s Announcer in the cabinet, said to be a first for the community and, they believe, all the Igbo communities in the entire State. Another male chief (IDI 2) said he believes women to be “more compassionate, more efficient in certain tasks and more thorough, especially in financial matter.”

A few respondents referred to women chiefs having a representational role (representing the female members of the community, or a particular village when a traditional area combines several). However, overall this was not emphasised and most spoke of the women TLs roles in terms of the same overall leadership and decision-making roles as their male counterparts. Mostly, the women were regarded as people who can make a particularly good contribution by virtue of their proven track record and their demonstrated talents or achievements observed within the community’s previous activities (see section on criteria for selection below).

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Criteria for the selection of women chiefsIn all the communities, the process for selecting the new women chiefs was said to be the same as that for men. The only exception to this was in one community where women are selected directly by the Igwe himself, while the men are appointed by the overall king within the district (IDI 2). Both however are said to be recognised at the district level. The main considerations in this selection process are:

a) a proven track record of good behaviour and service in the development of the community

b) broad community support for the appointee – some chiefs asked community members (usually community leaders) for nominations, and if these tallied with the people he had in mind they were appointed.

c) balanced representation - for example, in one community where three women were chosen, one is selected from each of the three villages making up the traditional area.

The overall picture of how the women chiefs are selected therefore was one of reaching consensus following a process of limited consultation.

“The process is the same for everyone, men and women. You have to have a good reputation and character and must be someone who has either contributed to community development or at least seriously interested in developing the community. There are also leadership attributes, women who show exemplary leadership. Normally, the Igwe and cabinet identify qualified women and men who meet these criteria, sometimes in consultation with certain elders and institutions like the Town Union, and they are conferred with the honour to serve the community through the cabinet. Sometimes, the Igwe may request for nominations from the cabinet chiefs or these other institutions. In as much as the Igwe and his cabinet has given such a directive and goes ahead to confer these titles and positions, it is a done deal.” (Female TL)

“We were chosen because of our character and our level of involvement in our women group activities in the community. We were also chosen from the 3 villages that make up the community. It is the same criteria and process with the men, the only difference is that it is the overall king (HRM) that crowns the men while it is our community king (HRH Eze Ogbu) that crowns us but we don’t feel different about it because we attend both meetings.” (Female TL)

“We know the women who have from time immemorial been active in community development, those who present themselves as our culture demands and women who have the right character and behaviour. When Igwe told us he wanted to give some women chieftaincy titles and to include them in the royal cabinet, we knew who and who were qualified. They were recommended by their fellow women, because of their character, behaviour and commitment to community development and since the cabinet and Igwe had no objections, they were traditionally installed, just as we do for the men” (Male TL)

“We know who is who amongst us. We know those women who have exemplified themselves, distinguishing from all others in their behaviour, conduct and contribution to community development and so we didn’t find it difficult to identify those women who are worthy of this honour. I had some women in mind and when the cabinet suggestions were put forward, they happen to be the same women I had in mind and so we give thanks to God for leading us in the process.” (Male TL)

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“The women who serve in my cabinet were chosen based on their behaviours. They grew up with us in this community here so we know their attitudes and what they are capable of doing. We also monitored how they contributed in their various women’s meetings. We select women who we believe can advocate for the community” (Male TL)

The process and ceremony for the installation was also said to be the same for men and women in all communities, as well as the benefits and privileges attached. A male TL from one community (IDI 1), believed that although no specific by-law had been enacted at the community level, the appointment of women chiefs is nonetheless now binding on the community. He observed that historically, it is uncommon for decisions of kings to be rescinded by their successors, although titles have been stripped of people who have contravened the culture and traditions of the people, or whose behaviour deviates from the tenets upon which chieftaincy titles are conferred.

“It is not possible for this process and the decisions we have made now to be changed, except the persons in question depart from the values and attributes upon which such titles were conferred. The people like it, it has not been forced on them, we have collectively agreed that this is the way forward and so it will be. What I can say for now, is that the full implementation of the gender equality program as preached by V4C may take some time to be fully realized. We have started and we will march on forward and as I said before as knowledge about this matter increases, so will acceptance by the people” (Male TL)

The respondents were not asked what would have happened if there had not been consensus about the candidates, but according to the people interviewed, consensus was easily reached in the four communities in the sample for this case study. Presumably, a lack of consensus could give rise to the same kinds of conflicts that have stemmed from the appointment of male chiefs. However, there was a striking sense in these particular communities of the decision being made through a process of consultation and deliberation, followed by an announcement of a decision that is expected to prevail.

Approaches to implementing the changeDifferent chiefs have gone about integrating women chiefs in different ways and at different speeds depending on the precedent already set. For some, V4C’s initiatives have provided the stimulus or moral backing needed to consolidate women’s existing roles (IDI 3, IDI 5). For others, it has been the first step and has required significant diplomacy and an incremental approach to change. One TL (IDI 1, IDI 2) has planned a gradual process for increasing women’s involvement in leadership so as not to make the process confrontational. Another promised change within a one-year time frame to give him time to consult and check on the implications of the change for safeguarding traditional culture. He believes that, as women increasingly take up roles and excel in these, the role of men will also shift and become more accepting and embracing. (IDI 3)

In all the communities, it was evident that the TLs with the ultimate authority, the ‘first class’ chiefs who had attended V4C training, had taken pains to explain the purpose and process of change to their fellow traditional leaders and community members. Many spoke of the need to “sensitise” the members of the cabinet on their return, and to secure the support of the wider community. (See also section below on Community Response)

ii) Women traditional leaders have initiated or influenced changes in local laws and policies.

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Despite the short period since the installation of women as core cabinet chiefs, both male and female TLs said that the women chiefs’ presence had already been felt, as this change had already led to changes in local laws and practices. Table 7 lists the changes that were attributed by various respondents to the involvement of women as TLs. The different sources have been retained to show the slight differences in perception and priority. It should be noted that it was not always possible for the researchers to verify that these changes were attributable to the presence of women chiefs alone, and that some of these changes may have been cumulative. Nevertheless, these are the change that the respondents associated with the presence of women in leadership:

Table 8: Changes attributed by respondents to the involvement of women as cabinet chiefsCommunity/LGA

Change Source

Ihe n’ Owerri o women are influencing the Local Government Authorities to expand the local market to create new spaces for the women to engage in petty trading

o championed the campaign against HIV and AIDSo advocating for the abolition of laws and practices

which promote the maltreatment of widows.

Male TL

Neke uno nike o championed the abolition of the unfair treatment of widows in the community

o change in women and girls’ inheritance rightso women now have the right to own lando women can now go out after 6pm and drink alcohol

if they choose

Female TLs

o widows’ rights are respected e.g. they are now allowed to take a bath and go to their farm during the first year after their husband dies.

o women can now benefit from community land sharing alongside men

o the youth council now includes boys and girls. Girls hold some positions on the executive including president and secretary

Female community members

o restrictions on women’s movement in the night have been abolished,

o greater participation of younger women and girls in community development

o women are now allowed to speak in the presence of the King

o women now partake in the sharing of land and get their own share of the land (although once she gets married, the land ceases to be hers and becomes either her father’s or her relatives’, although she can decide to sell the land).

o “The power of attorney is the group of people who handle the affairs of the community. They are all men and 36 in number and their tenure lasts for 4 years. We have decided to include women in equal proportion for the next tenure, starting in November

Young men

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this year (2016)”Okpanku o increased importance of the girl child

o increase in younger women and girls’ participation in political roles including President of the students’ union

o law against wife beating introduced

Male TL

o abolition of the inhumane treatment of widows in the community. (Widows are prohibited from bathing for days and prevented from farming or harvesting from their husband’s farms during the mourning period, as well the right to share in the inheritance of their late husband’s property.)

Male TL

o child labour banned, including children hawking during school hours (heavy fines have been added into the community by-laws for offenders and women-led committees established to monitor compliance.)

o promotion of girls’ enrolment, retention and completion of school.

o increased interest in education by adolescent girls,o child marriages banned

Male TL

Udi ancient kingdom

Women are making major decisions in the community including those related to:o abolishing unfair treatment given to widowso reducing “wife battery” and teenage pregnancy

Female TL

Note: the data in the table above is imbalanced because it was not possible to gather community members in Udi kingdom and Ihe n’ owerri during the field work period.

The examples given by respondents in Table 7 show a mixture of laws being introduced and of changes in attitude towards women and girls’ rights. The women TLs and young women community members described what these changes mean in the lives of women in their community:

“Before we were made chiefs, widows were forced to mourn their husbands for a year and two months without going out of the house or bathing, but now we have put an end to that. You can mourn your husband but you can also go out, bath and look good. (Female TL)

“Before we were made chiefs, women were not allowed to drink alcoholic drinks and also go out once it is 6 pm, but we have also put an end to that. Now women can go out any time they want and drink anything they want. Women were also not allowed to get any share of the land, but now women now get their share of land. The king has also promised to include them in the power of attorney.” (Female TL)

“Widows are now free, unlike before when they used to treat them harshly as if they are the ones that killed their husbands. They didn’t allow them take their bath or go to the farm when they were mourning. Sometimes, they will be starving, they cannot even feed their children, but they have to complete the tradition for one year and two months even after the man has been buried. It was very bad. Some of us young girls have even said in our minds that we will not marry from this community because the treatment is really very bad. But since this change everything has changed because the women went to fight for us in the cabinet.” (Young female community member)

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“Before, women do not benefit from community land sharing, only the men and boys. But now the Igwe has told us that from next year, women will be selected to be part of those people sharing the land, so that they can also share land for women and girls too. It is good because some of us who are not able to further our education can sell our lands to pay for our university education, if our parents cannot afford to pay for us” (Young female community member)

Several respondents (both male and female) from 2 communities associated a perceived decrease in abortion, “wife battery” and teenage pregnancy, with the increase in women in leadership, though the link with V4C interventions would be to verify.

iii) Women have been included in other decision-making bodies in the community.

Male TLs from all the four communities, said that they reasoned that if women were to become members of the core cabinet, it followed that they should also be at the forefront of other bodies in the community. The most mentioned were the town development unions and working committees of the cabinet, particularly those that principally affect women and youth unions. As discussed by the participants during the V4C Gender and Masculinity seminar, some TLs thus took steps to instruct changes to the gender balance of these bodies on their return to their communities.

“I called a meeting of the community vigilante group and also the development union executives. You know, by our culture, historically, women are not supposed to be part of these groups. I instructed them to make the necessary arrangements and adjustments in their various organizations to accommodate women. There was no objection to this and I am happy to tell you that today, women are members of not only the community development union executive, but also in the community vigilante group. The women perform all the necessary roles as the men, and things are working very well” (Male TL)

Several other respondents spoke of the synergistic effect that they had observed between the introduction of women chiefs, and women recently taking in leadership roles within other groups within the community. The women and young girls interviewed in Neke-Uno-Nike expressed a sense of wider change:

“We too as young girls have benefitted a lot from the change. For the first time in the history of our community, the youth council now includes boys and girls, and some of us hold positions in the executive. I am the Vice President and the Secretary too is a girl. The boys see us as equals with them, and we work together for our community. This makes us very happy”(Young woman, Vice President Youth Union)

“We are witnessing an era of change now, where women are allowed to participate freely without discrimination. Knowledge is empowerment! V4C came and enlightened women on their rights. Today women are working as partners with the men in community development and this has been transmitted into most of the community way of life. Everywhere in the community women are making real differences from the family level to community and commerce. The younger girls are now more interested in education because of the efforts of women and are more aspirational. Above all there is more peace and harmony at all levels and we are happy about these”. (Female TL)

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iv) There are changes in relationships in households and the community more generally.

Some respondents also spoke of wider change in the quality of relationships between males and females in the community as a result of the changes in leadership, with greater respect for women and girls.

“In our community, things have never been better. We live in greater harmony; the women are happier and there is reduction in the number of cases of conflict between husbands and wives”. (Male TL)

“I don’t think there is anyone in our community who has a problem with women joining the cabinet right now. Men and women still relate with each other as before, except that now, certain places or things done in the community where the men will usually chase the women away, they don’t do so anymore. The Igwe does not treat women differently also, and since the change, women are more free than before, and are able to sit with the men and have a discussion and conversation, which never used to happen.” (Female community member)

“Men are generally supportive of the new idea to allow women to be involved in the cabinet. There is more respect and recognition for women now both in the community and even in our homes. The youths too have greater respect for the young girls and involve them in the activities of youths. Men and women are all living in harmony now compared to before.” (Female community member)

“We too as young girls have benefitted a lot from the change…. The boys see us as equals with them, and we work together for our community. This makes us very happy.” (Vice President, Youth Union)

Community responses to the changesRespondents of all types (male TLs, female TLs, young women and young men) said they perceive there to be widespread acceptance of, and enthusiasm for, the inclusion of women in the core cabinets of their community.

The reasons given for this general sense of acceptance varied however. While most referred to the fundamental equality inherent in the decision, women TLs and female community members generally expressed their happiness about the changes in terms of having new kinds of influence, and of more female voices, decision-making powers and priorities, now working alongside the male ones.

“We are very happy with the installation of women as chiefs in the royal cabinet. We are happy because we believe that mothers know the heart of the children more than the men so they influence the male chiefs and most of our views are brought to the cabinet through the female chiefs” (Female member of a youth union)

“Since it’s the Igwe and cabinet that made the announcement, even if anybody doesn’t like the idea, they cannot go against the Igwe and cabinet. The women are very happy. We the young girls especially because now because of the change we too are able to be part of the town youth council. I cannot tell what is in the men’s’ minds, but so far nobody as opposed the idea.” (Young female community member.)

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The support for the change among the male traditional leaders interviewed however, was more based on the realisation that excluding women as leaders denies the community of their contributions. Thus, harnessing the whole community in support of the community’s development is a welcome step forward. Some also said that their communities needed to keep abreast with a wider national trend towards GEWE (IDI 1, IDI 3). One TL said that he felt the attitude of traditional leaders across the State is changing, and he feels optimistic that, with the help of V4C, many more TLs would follow the trend. This suggests that some of the TLs sense a rising tide of change that V4C seeks to contribute to.

Community members in one community (FGD 4) attributed the low level of opposition to the introduction of women leaders to the general acceptance among community members of the chief’s authority (if revered and highly regarded, then community members accept the decision in good faith), and the fact that once the Igwe has spoken, people will generally not speak against him.

Although it was not possible to identify and gather those who did not support the inclusion of women during the field work (see limitations section 1.3.5 above), most of the people interviewed, said they were aware that there were a minority of men who were not convinced about women becoming core TLs. One male TL said he had been visited by a delegation of other Igbo chiefs who questioned his decision.

“When I installed women as chiefs in my cabinet and gave them powers to participate actively as core cabinet chiefs, I had delegations from various Igbo states asking why I installed women in the cabinet and I replied by asking them if there is any place in the constitution where women are not allowed to participate in government. There are some people who are not happy with the idea, even in my cabinet, although they don’t say it openly. But as a man of wisdom, I know through conversations that some people are not happy.” (a male TL - HRM)

Others expressed the same awareness of some dissent within their cabinets:

“I have been spreading the message and I believe that very soon most of them will follow my lead. I know there are some critics, but nobody will say it out.” (Male TL HRH)

“I have not had opposition from any other traditional leader, or my subjects, although due to the human nature, it is likely that some persons may still harbour some resistance secretly in their hearts. However, I believe strongly that with more information and community sensitization and regular training, people will come to terms with the trend.” (Male TL)

Thus, despite the sense of overwhelming support for women’s involvement as cabinet chiefs described by all groups, most also acknowledged a dispersed uneasiness amongst a few elders and cabinet chiefs about the change. One leader reasoned that many traditional leaders, especially those who have not been part of the V4C intervention, have still not come to terms with the idea of women serving alongside them in their royal cabinets. However, he believes that, given that these changes amount to altering long held traditions, pockets of resistance are to be expected. He was also optimistic that further sensitization and exposure would overcome this resistance, and that time should be allowed for them to engage with the new information and knowledge, to understand why this change has become critical for advancing their communities.

There was also the recognition that inviting women to become leaders was the beginning of a journey, and thus a V4C training for the newly appointed women was welcomed by both

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men and women themselves. A request of V4C that came up in most interviews with the TLs, was to have continued backing in their task of explaining to community members why and how GEWE is good for their community. The emphasis throughout was on support for arguing the case to all segments of the community, rather than any mention of funding.

“Over two thirds of our women still don’t know enough about their rights and the issues of women’s advancement. This is an area where we need more of V4C. We are not asking for money, just come and do more sensitizations for women and girls and I believe this will energize the momentum thus far created.” (A female TL)

The range of community responses described above relates strongly to several aspects of V4C’s strategy on social norms36, which acknowledges the idea of “diffusion” and that a stage is reached (a ‘tipping point’) “where change rapidly accelerates and the new behaviour is widely adopted and becomes the new norm”37. Resistors also become aware of themselves as a minority. They may not yet be convinced of the need or benefits of change, but they realise the change is widely supported. The evidence also resonates with the strategy in terms of the spectrum of responses that can be seen in these 4 communities. This is normal and includes champions (the chiefs who have taken it up), the early adopters (e.g. young people), and the resistors or ‘laggards’ (some male community members) who need more time to be (or may never be) convinced.

Negative effects of the changesDue to time and privacy limitations (see limitations section 1.3.5 above), it was not possible to delve deeper during the visits to the four communities to find out more about the possible negative impacts of some of the changes mentioned. However, there were signs during the interviews that there could be some. While improvements in children’s rights were mentioned as positive changes, no data was gathered on how these had been achieved in practical terms. Global experience to date however, suggests that it is possible that there could have been increases to the women’s workload following the decision by some traditional leaders to ban child labour and children hawking during school hours, and the addition of women to vigilante groups and community decision-making and organising bodies may have had some destabilising effects on household income or young girls’ prospects of staying in school. It was also not possible to gather data on such things as what has happened to girls who get pregnant following a perceived decrease in abortions in one community, nor indeed whether boys are part of the campaign to reduce teenage pregnancy. It is also possible that these decisions may not relate in any way to the TLs participation in V4C programmes.

One young woman mentioned that the changes in land rights for women could help her to pay for her needs such as school fees.

“Before, women do not benefit from community land sharing, only the men and boys, but now the Igwe has told us that from next year, women will be selected to be part of those people sharing the land, so that they can also share land for women and girls too. It is good because some of us who are not able to further our education can sell our lands to pay for our university education, if our parents cannot afford to pay for us.” (Young woman/ Neke Uno Nike community)

The land issue alluded to here is part of a much bigger land ownership issue that is not gender related, and arguably young women should have the same right to sell land if they choose, as men. However, suddenly increasing the number of land owners (and sellers) could have severe negative effects on cultural and community cohesion and identity if not carefully managed, and potentially blamed on women in the long term.

36 V4C’s Approach to Changing Discriminatory Social Norms Social Norms.37 Ibid, pp4

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Causal factors and the role of V4CIn all four communities, the role of the V4C seminar for TLs38 was widely acknowledged as being instrumental in opening up both new and continuing conversations among traditional leaders in the community about women in leadership. It was also evident that V4C had played only a catalytic role in the changes (i.e. stimulating the change and yet having no (or a minimal) role following the seminar) as the TLs have facilitated all subsequent action themselves.

Despite this common input from V4C, different pathways towards change were evident, with a variety of factors prompting the TLs to rethink their view, or to make the decision to take action. In two of the four communities, the traditional leaders said they did not need convincing of the need for change as they had already been exposed to ideas of GEWE at their places of employment, and by attending events that had taken place in their community as part of development projects run by NGOs39 (IDI 3, IDI 5). For these leaders, the most valued contribution of V4C was in helping them to see how they could go about implementing change - how they can approach the change, and what kinds of things they can begin to work on, with whom. The close correlation between what the TLs said they had decided to do and the content of the seminar was noticeable, and suggests that the TLs had been convinced and guided by the seminar experience. For example, influencing the gender make-up of the town unions, vigilante groups and youth councils, and addressing land ownership and inheritance and widowhood rituals and inheritance were all part of the seminar.

The following are the main V4C contributions that were mentioned by the different respondent types as having caused them to act.

a) Male traditional leadersAccording to the male TLs, the 2-day V4C seminar on Gender and Masculinity in December 2015:

1. Clarified the difference between the inclusion of women, and the previously perceived threat of women taking over leadership from men. It offered a vision for women’s participation and the benefits of women’s leadership for all, not just women or women versus men. It also showed them the difference between appointing women as full chiefs as opposed to merely advisors, and generally provided a culturally acceptable definition of GEWE.

“I was very interested and keen to know more about the gender program of V4C for a number of reasons; but mostly because in my community, we have since 2010 realized that women had a lot to offer in community development and we had taken some bold steps to appoint women as advisers to the cabinet as well as giving them leadership of some community development tasks. So I wanted to know how this differed from the gender inclusion that V4C was preaching because personally, I was not comfortable with the aspect of women leading in the cabinet or in our traditional leadership system. This was quite unclear to me”. (Male TL)

2. presented a positive (rather than confrontational) message about GEWE. TLs said they were persuaded of the value of women’s participation and saw how their communities are missing out on the potential contributions of women if they are excluded from leadership roles. They recognised how these can be harnessed to

38 Only one V4C intervention, a 2-day seminar, had taken place with the TLs prior to the interviews for this case study. See section 4.1 for details.39 The data collection team thought these are likely to have been part of the DFID-funded SAVI programme.

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enhance community development and how the increased status of women in cabinet can help with cabinet affairs.

3. revealed the negative effects of female exclusion and certain traditional cultural practices on women to them in a new way.

4. exposed them to a different way of seeing women in leadership, based on examples of women in top leadership positions from their own community, from Nigeria and globally as well. This provided them with convincing evidence of the role that women can play if they are given the space and support.

“The instances of women who had performed well in national and state governance impacted on me the most.” (Male TL)

“Many examples of women who have achieved great things in our country and internationally and even in Enugu State were mentioned and I reasoned the truth in what was said by V4C. I believed what I heard, because in our community there are many projects which were abandoned which the women took up and completed, so I was a personal witness to that.” (Male TL)

5. gave them the chance to see themselves as part of a wider community intent on realising gender justice, (a rising tide of change) as well as the need to keep up with the times.

“We were told that the United Nations agitated for the inclusion of women in the cabinet. They gave us examples of some Nigerian women at the international level such as Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala40 who has done very well at national leadership level as well. I made up my mind that upon my return I will take some definite steps to ensure that my community aligns with the current trend in gender equality and create opportunities for women to participate more in community affairs at the leadership level.”

6. affirmed, and helped them to articulate, their previous convictions about female inclusion and the need to spearhead this in their sphere of influence. It also helped them to see the potential role they could play in making it happen, and liberated some from the feeling that nurturing tradition means keeping everything the same.

“I was already exposed to the concept of gender and equality since I had worked with many great women while working for (employer). It was still difficult to convince my kinsmen and subjects about this change, as it was a firmly held cultural tradition inherited from the old days. But the seminar reinvigorated my zeal to do something about this so that my community can be a part of the global movement.” (Male TL)

7. provided practical ideas and help in navigating the difficult balancing act they perform as traditional leaders in the current age as custodians of tradition and gender advocates, responsible for, charting a new inclusive course of action while retaining respect for and preserving the best of their culture and traditions. Thus, it liberated them from feeling that they have to keep everything the same.

8. provided educational materials they can readily use to convince their traditional leaders and community members of the need for change.

40 Finance Minister of Nigeria (2003-2006, 2011-2015) and Managing Director of the World Bank (2007-2011)66


“To tell you how interesting and serious I took the lessons from the seminar, I photocopied the training manual with my personal funds and with it, I shared my experiences with my cabinet and the key women leaders and I have since ordered that the women use it in their meetings to educate themselves…. The booklet is doing wonders, with the pictures in it and the messages, it has helped to convince my people that this idea is a good one and something we should not relent to adopt and implement with zeal and speed.” (Male TL)

As well as the things mentioned by the TLs, other causal factors identified by ‘observers of the change’ were:

o that the V4C seminar encouraged the TLs to make a commitment to taking action. During the final session of the programme they identified the actions they could and would take. The interviews with the TLs suggested that they took these commitments seriously, and took steps to implement them swiftly too.

o being challenged by their young people in a culturally respectful and yet adamant way. In one community, the activities of an organisation that worked with the young men had led to them approach the chief about addressing the rights of women in their community. This resonated with the TL’s own experience at the V4C seminar. (See Spotlight on Engagement between the Young People and TLs in Annex 9)

b) WomenThree of the female traditional leaders from the 4 communities visited (who all came from one community) had participated in the V4C training programme for women influencers in June 2016. These women said that they had found this extremely valuable for several reasons. It had increased their knowledge of gender equality issues, helped them to see how they could use their role to secure women’s rights, and generally opened up a vision of the potential impact they could make:

“When we were appointed, we were not opportune to know our rights or the scope of our responsibilities. We merely flowed along in cabinet meetings, making limited contributions. We saw it as a privilege to contribute in council meetings, but after the sensitization program by V4C, we realised that it is not a privilege but our right, our duty and our mandate.” (Female TL)

“We learnt a lot. The training opened our eyes to so many things we should be doing not only for the community as a whole, but specifically women and girls in our community working together with the men; One hand cannot kill a fly. We used to believe that training a girl educationally is a waste but during the last V4C workshop in Lagos, we were made to understand that a man and a woman have equal rights in the society and that if you train the girl very well in academics, the girl will be very useful to the society irrespective of her sex. There is nothing like girls are made for the kitchen alone” (Female TL).

Although the women TLs were not initially the primary target of V4C interventions, because it prioritised men as the key gatekeepers, this seminar seems to have been an important factor in helping to ensure that the female TLs could fulfil their new roles successfully. In particular, the female TLs said that it helped them to pinpoint the kinds of things they could begin working on. Mapping out a possible agenda that they could focus their energies on strategically in this way seems to have optimised the effects of their contribution. The training thus served as a partial orientation programme, but also linked them up with other women on the front line of change, though working in different spaces.

c) Young people

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The interviews with one group of young people as part of this case study (FGD 2) told a story of how the intervention of another organisation had affected their thinking and propelled them to take action in their communities as well as other spaces.

“They held a day seminar which lasted for 5 hours in our community. In this seminar, they taught us a lot about the importance of women empowerment and gender equality. The seminar made us realise that we have been cheating women in our community” (Young man)

“Women were not included in our meetings but about 2 years ago, some people came to enlighten us about women equality. That day was a “terrible” day because we felt bad when we were told about all the wrong things we were doing to women and girls in the community. We never included women in our affairs, women were not allowed to talk where men are talking. After the enlightenment program, we convened a youth meeting and discussed the issues again and we took a unanimous decision to go to the Igwe and his cabinet to sensitize them and demand for a change in the status-quo of women and girls in the community, including the active involvement of women in the royal cabinet... (Male young person, president of youth council).

These non-V4C activities with young people had clearly been an enabling factor as they helped to prepare the ground for the TLs to appoint women TLs in a supportive environment. They also helped to convince the TL to take action.

d) SynergyTriangulating the data from the male TLs, female TLs, female community members and young men from one community, suggests that a good deal of synergy has occurred as a result of both V4C interventions and previous programmes such as SAVI. This reveals how consistency between development interventions over a period of time can produce a cumulative effect. It also shows how working with several segments of a community simultaneously and from their different perspectives can help to optimise the potential for change. In this case, the combined influences of the work of the Purple Clubs with young people in tertiary institutions, the training for women influencers and the seminar for male traditional leaders seems to have culminated in a shared understanding of the need for change, as well as a potential pathway that is desirable for all from their different viewpoints. From the reference made by the respondents, it seems probable that SAVI, V4C’s media work and other previous non-V4C experiences of the target groups have all served to soften the ground for the recent interventions. This could account in part for the way in which, what seems to be a profound change in deeply established cultural norms, looks to have taken place surprisingly swiftly and painlessly.

“Women have been a key part of our traditional cabinet since 2008. Historically, the women have been very involved in community development. Besides, some other organizations have come to do sensitizations on gender from time to time in the past. So, I think the Igwe, realizing our contributions decided to get us involved in the mainstream of governance and decision making” (Female TL)

e) V4C StaffThe observations of V4C staff about the change process to date also raises some interesting learning points. These perspectives on what has caused the change in the male TLs, are from a process facilitator’s perspective. Thus, in terms of the training programme, they are at the centre of the change, but observers of the change thereafter:

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o It was important to begin with First Class traditional leaders as they are generally followed by Second- and Third-Class leaders. If the latter are reassured that approval has been given by the First-Class chiefs, ‘the way is clear’ for them to follow.

o Engaging with the intersection between State government and traditional government is helpful. Giving a 10-minute introductory presentation to fifty First-Class Chiefs at their monthly meeting at the State level office of the Ministry for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs meant that V4C could solicit the approval of the top layer of authority, and the TLs could ask questions, express any misgivings they had about the content and purpose of the training. V4C could then respond and adjust the process accordingly, as well as meet 50 chiefs at once.

o The TLs are concerned about the imposition and importation of Western ideologies. As custodians of Nigerian/Igbo culture, it was important for them to be reassured that this was not the aim, and that a home-grown perspective focused on optimising the development of their communities lay at the root of the initiative.

o What resonated most with traditional leaders was a connection with the history of their culture and tradition, which they have responsibility for preserving. The idea that culture can be at once be retained while being dynamic and changing was thus reassuring.

o It was not realistic to invite TLs to periodic review meetings following the training programme. The approach agreed upon for finding out about change therefore was for V4C to visit them if they were carrying out activities in their community, and for the TLs to invite V4C personnel to events that they are planning.

o Some 2nd and 3rd Class chiefs have heard that the 1st Class chiefs are involving women in their cabinets and have told V4C that they plan to do the same.

o V4C received feedback from some of the male TLs that it is not always just the men that perpetuate harmful traditional practices or create obstacles to change, and it was thus important to also offer events for influential women who could then influence other women. They responded by organising seminars for ‘key women influencers’, including members of the Umua-da associations (of first born daughters) and newly installed female chiefs.

o TLs are increasingly resentful of being constantly told they are not doing it right and of people coming to teach them what they think they don’t know. Facilitating a space for discussion, and sometimes debate, has been appreciated by the TLs and worked well for creating an environment for openness and shared learning, and where the ideas views and perspectives come from the TLs rather than the facilitators.

o The participatory methodologies used by V4C, have been helpful for drawing out the experience, knowledge and wisdom of the TLs and building on this to draw attention to positive examples of successful and widely respected female leaders from their own context as well as from around the world. Examples they have shared have been from other parts of Nigeria and from their own communities and families, and from the past, as well as the present. These have convinced them of the value of women’s leadership much more than being told what is ‘right’.

Analysis of outcome: Women are being installed as fully titled chiefs and members of cabinet

What is the evidence of change and what kind of change does the evidence relate to (type of change, domain of change,

o The male TLs in this case study have taken swift action in their communities, and this is unlikely to be reversed.

o The TLs have not only appointed women as fully titled chiefs, but called for women’s representation to be extended to other decision-making bodies in the community over which they

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synergies)? have influence such as the Town Unions and Youth Councils.o The TLs from the 4 communities are ‘champions’ who have

either been convinced of the benefits of women in leadership, or were already convinced and have been affirmed in their belief.

o There is synergy between V4C’s training and sensitisation interventions and those currently or previously happening within the Igbo Kingdom.

o The changes in policy (women as chiefs) may be rapidly pronounced by a TL and yet care and time is taken to consult and convince both before and after that pronouncement.

o There is widespread support for the inclusion of women as chiefs, although not total support.

Types of changePolicieso The ‘policy’ in each community has been changed to permit

women as well as men to be fully titled chiefs. The same is true for Town Councils, Youth groups vigilante groups and others.

o Local laws on widowhood, land inheritance and women’s movement at night have been changed to ensure women’s rights are respected.

RelationshipsThe relationship between male and female traditional leaders has brought a change both within the cabinets where women’s voices and contributions are said to be equally heard and valued, and within the wider community where women community members feel this has rippled out to affect relationships between husbands and wives and women and men more generally.

Practiceso Decision-making practices have changed such that women

are part of the agenda setting, deliberations on an issue and the final decision.

o Traditional practices for the installation of chiefs have remained the same, but are now applied to women as well. (women are thus not treated differently).

o Cabinet decision-making processes have also remained the same – consultation followed by pronouncement – though they now incorporate women cabinet members who raise women’s issues and views.

BehavioursFemale community members in one community feel that women in leadership roles has affected the wider culture of interaction between women and men at household and community level.

Domains of change:Change has taken place in all three of V4C’s domains of change. The training has affected the TLs as individuals and their perceptions of women in leadership. Community laws and practices have changed (society), and one of the fundamental

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aspects of the traditional chieftaincy (only men can be chiefs) as an institution has changed as well.

Synergies: The V4C interventions with women key influencers and male TLs have converged at community level to achieve a smooth change process.

V4C interventions have built on those of others working within the community including current and previous programmes addressing GEWE, and the training and policies advanced by TLs’ employers.


o V4C has played a catalytic role in a change process implemented by TLs, rather than V4C personnel leading the change.

o Through its training and seminars, V4C has offered ideas, vision and training materials to enable a different way of seeing both the potentials for GEWE and the negative aspects of cultural practices.

o The training methodologies which use participatory and non-imposing approaches based on the history and respectful of Igbo culture have led to TLs changing or affirming their views on how women’s leadership can play a key role in community development in a way that is culturally enriching and acceptable.


Sustainable:o Male and female TLs have both used the learning from the

relatively brief V4C seminars/training programme directly, immediately and independently of V4C support.

o Community members think that the changes are likely to be sustained because the King has pronounced them.

o Addressing the highest tier of the traditional hierarchy at State level meant that V4C reached the key influencers simultaneously. A “seminar” seemed to be an appropriate platform for the male TLs to catalyse change and this is potentially readily replicable in other traditional areas. This could enable the changes seen in Enugu State to be seen elsewhere, although they may need contextual/cultural adaptation. In addition, the facilitation capacity, which currently appears to reside in one or two people within V4C, would need to be expanded and deepened to achieve this.

Widespread:o The inclusion of women in royal cabinets as fully titled chiefs is

said to be widely accepted.o The changes are perceived by female community members to

have gone beyond women’s leadership and representation at community level (the inclusion of women as chiefs and community group executives), to wider changes in the relationship between females and males in the community.

o V4C staff have heard of second and third class chiefs hearing of the first-class chiefs making these changes and following suit. No primary evidence of this was gathered during the case study however.

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4.3 Conclusion

In the four communities visited in Enugu State, all the respondent groups confirmed that women have been installed as fully-titled chiefs, with some as core cabinet members in the most influential positions, and that this is expected to be an irreversible change. All groups said that the change is widely supported among community members, although a minority (mostly men) are yet to be convinced. The usual traditional methods of selecting the chiefs are being applied and these are based on criteria, among which are: a general community consensus that the nominees have the capabilities and attitudes needed, and that they have the community’s welfare at heart. The women chiefs have been installed in the same way as men (with a small exception in one community), and are said to be participating fully in cabinet processes. Following cabinet and community consultation, the male TLs are going further to pronounce that women should be included as leaders in other areas of community leadership, including Town Unions and Youth Councils. The inclusion of women chiefs is said by both the male and female TLs to have already been responsible for changes in local laws and practices. These mostly relate to widowhood, land and property inheritance, and women’s freedom to move about within the community at any time of the day. Some however are also engaging with LGAs to secure improvements in the community such as better markets.

The changes that have been made are attributed to a combination of the training and sensitisation interventions of V4C, the existing conviction of some of the male TLs, the fertile ground created by previous interventions including SAVI and the perceived wider climate of change in favour of GEWE in Nigeria and globally.

Data gathered in one community suggested that where several segments of the community are exposed to V4C’s GEWE messages (young women, young men, female leaders, male leaders), and where the male traditional leaders are convinced, change can be rapid. The changes in leadership were also said to have generated increased harmony among men and women generally, as well as a collective vision and broader mobilisation of effort for community development.

V4C’s role has been largely to have facilitated culturally sensitive and appropriate training processes that are not perceived to impose Western values on the TLs. The V4C approach has been to use participatory methods that draw upon the history and traditions of the participants to provide convincing evidence of the benefits of including women in leadership roles and involving women in the collective community development effort more generally. It has also worked, differently, with women TLs as ‘key influencers’ and with the young people (through the Purple Clubs) to enable them to see how they can use their position to bring positive change in the community.

Some respondents, including women TLs, believe that women are not necessarily skilled leaders or protectors of women’s rights. Most people interviewed saw the need for further contributions to the change process by V4C. The most mentioned were: providing further training opportunities to enable the newly installed women leaders to be effective, well-informed and visionary in their roles, and supporting the male TLs to involve all community members in the change process. V4C’s current facilitation capacity in relation to TLs appears limited to one person, supported by an assistant. For these interventions to spread to other states and other chiefs within Enugu State, and to support these ‘champions’ to

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consolidate the changes they have made, expanded specialised facilitation capacity will be needed.

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Section 5: Gender Technical Unit Case Study5.1 Case study background

A critical aspect of creating an enabling environment for girls and young women in Nigeria is the presence of laws and policies that support gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE), and this was part of V4C’s strategy from the beginning of the project. This meant finding a way to engage as effectively as possible with the main legislative body that governs the country, namely the National Assembly. It also made sense for V4C to look for existing bodies or structures, rather than set up new or additional ones. Since the Gender Technical Unit was already in existence, albeit in a somewhat faded form41, the decision was made to invest in its capacity in order to influence national legislative processes and to relate with those already engaged in pursuing and contributing to gender-sensitive policies and laws. During Phase 1 of the case study process, the V4C Output 4 Lead mentioned the passage of the VAPP Act as the most significant change affecting the legal framework for girls and women. This was affirmed in a subsequent interview with the GTU facilitator. However, although the VAPP Act was the most obvious evidence of progress so far, because of the magnitude of its potential impact for the whole country and because it had taken so many years of work previously to achieve, it was observed that understanding the process for passing the legislation was of equal value. Understanding the strategies and the causal factors could also provide key lessons that others could learn from in passing subsequent legislation. It was thus important to understand how the process had taken place and how the institutional factors at play had been handled.

The research for this case study all took place in Abuja, and involved a total of 18 interviews with staff of the GTU, NASS and V4C as well as with CSOs, development partners and members of the national assembly (12 women and 6 men). Details can be found in section 1.3 and Annex 5.


Outcome area: GTU facilitated the passage of the VAPP Act and the progression of the GEO Bill and has gained recognition as a facilitator of gender responsible legislative processes at the National Assembly in Nigeria.

i) GTU was instrumental in the passage of the VAPP Act and the current progress made with the GEO Bill in the National Assembly.

The VAPP ActThe Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act, 2015 (VAPP) was finally passed in May 2015, after 13 years of advocacy by coalitions of CSOs. The Act seeks to prohibit all forms of violence against persons, both in private and public life. It also provides maximum protection and effective remedies for victims and punishment of offenders. It covers the following: (i) sexual offences such as rape and defilement; (ii) wilfully causing or inflicting 41 GTU commenced operations in July 2010 with funding from Coalition for Change (C4C). It worked for about a year before the Coalition for Change Program ended. GTU virtually stopped operations from December 2011 to January 2014, due to lack of funds to pay staff salary, though according to a staff of WRAPA, the office was opened once a week. (IDI 1 & IDI 5)

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physical injury on another person; (iii) coercing another person to engage in any act to the detriment of that other person’s physical and psychological well-being; (iv) placing someone in fear of physical injury; (v) compelling someone to undertake an offensive conduct; and (vi) prohibition of female genital mutilation. Not surprisingly, this is regarded as a very significant outcome by the V4C staff, CSO partners, donors and legislators interviewed. For V4C, it goes a long way to contributing to the project’s goal of creating an enabling environment for adolescent girls and women, as well as for adolescent boys and men.

Several CSO coalitions had been pushing for the enactment of the VAPP Bill, but with limited success (IDI 7, Donor). An example of this is the work of the Legislative Advocacy Coalition on Violence Against Women (LACVAW), a network of seven CSO member organisations that was established in 2001. LACVAW was formed in response to the need to bring together and amplify the efforts of NGOs, international human rights groups, religious organisations and other stakeholders across the country that were proposing bills at the State and National Assemblies on issues such as domestic violence, women’s human rights. The Affirmative Action Coalition for Women in Nigeria (AACN) (formerly called NCAA) was established in 2003 as a coalition of 150 members working towards the entrenchment of affirmative action policies in the Constitution of Nigeria. In addition to the efforts of these CSO coalitions, there were projects like the Gender and Affirmative Action (GAA) Project, which also sought the passage of the VAPP Bill. It was therefore to boost these efforts that the GTU was established in 2010 as a project office of the Coalition for Change (C4C) Project. However, when the project ended in December 2011 the VAPP Bill had still not been passed.

As noted in section 1.2, in line with its own strategy of working with institutions like the legislature to create an enabling environment for adolescent girls and women, V4C revived the GTU in March 2014 with one member of full-time staff. A second member of staff, the current Gender Expert and Senior Facilitator (hereafter referred to as the ‘GTU Facilitator’), was recruited in September 2014. Barely eight months after the GTU Facilitator was in place, the VAPP Bill was passed into law.

The V4C Output 4 Lead and the GTU Facilitator estimated that nine organisations and CSOs (including National Stability and Reconciliation Programme (NSRP), Justice for All (J4A), Ipas Nigeria, LACVAW, and AACN were part of the movement for the passage of the VAPP. Despite this, surprisingly it is the GTU’s contribution (and by inference, V4Cs financial and technical support) that was widely regarded by respondents as responsible for up to 80% of the result. Thus, although there have been a succession of efforts by CSOs and donor funded projects (see Annex 10: VAPP Act Progression Chart), the various stakeholders interviewed as part of this case study, many of whom had contributed to the passage of the VAPP Act themselves, agreed that it was the revamped GTU that played a pivotal role in this achievement. The following are some of the respondents’ answers to the question: ‘What would be your score for the contribution of the GTU to the passage of VAPP?’:

“I will give them 80-85% because they were really helpful … GTU is the best thing that happened to us as CSOs working on legislative advocacy. (IDI 4, CSO)

“I will give a 60% to contribution by the GTU during the 7th Assembly, when it served as a strong catalyst. This rating is particularly for the tail end of the advocacy and internal National Assembly processes to move the Bill across the two Chambers and on to the President”. (IDI 5, CSO)

“GTU’s performance and contribution to the passage of VAPP can be rated 8 out of 10; the remaining 2 points are attributable to other external forces” – (IDI 16 – National Assembly staff)

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“Out of 10, I would give 8 because a lot had happened prior to their advent. However, within the short time of their existence, they did such a tremendous job that they deserve to be in the annals of history as those who promoted the passage of the VAPP Act. GTU played a key role in providing technical support”. (IDI 7 - donor)

The GEO BillAnother piece of key gender-related legislation that the GTU has worked on is the Gender and Equal Opportunity (GEO) Bill. At the expiration of the 7th National Assembly, the Bill had been passed by the House of Representatives, but it had not reached the Senate because it had not been forwarded there. It, therefore, had to be re-presented to the two legislative bodies in the 8th National Assembly. The status of the GEO Bill at the time of the field work for this case study was that it had been re-introduced to the 8 th House of Representatives. At the second reading, the House had used its fast track rule, which says that bills passed by the previous House do not have to repeat the process of public hearing. However, during this process, a member of the House raised an objection, saying that there was no need for the law because the Constitution already guarantees equality of persons. As at the time of the research for this case study in September 2016, the GEO Bill was before the Joint Committee of Justice and Rules and Business for it to assess this constitutional issue. This could be the reason why, a legislator interviewed said, “They (GTU) have not been able to mount convincing campaigns for the passage of the GEO bill”.

Despite the setback, the progress that has been made so far with the Bill has largely been attributed to the role played by the GTU. This was confirmed by several stakeholders interviewed:

“When it failed in 2015, it was a big blow, but the GTU picked up the pieces and supported the CSOs to regroup and encouraged them to come up with ideas to strategically address the problems. … They (GTU) requested for a retreat with staff of the House and discussed extensively what was offensive in the bill and what to add. Our interaction with them really helped”. (IDI 7, donor)

“When the GEO Bill was thrown out of the Chambers of the Senate, the GTU reached out to us and we had a conversation about what they had been doing so far and how they felt we could move forward. We were linked with a network (GAA) and it was the group that initiated the Technical and Advocacy Teams that reworked the Bill and re-presented it to the House”. (IDI 14, NASS staff)

“GTU contacted me (sponsored a Bill on Affirmative Action) to collaborate on pushing for the passage of the GEO Bill” (IDI 11, member of the National Assembly).

According to a previous GTU Facilitator (IDI 1), what accounts for the success of the GTU following its revival by V4C is that, whereas she was an outsider to the legislature, the current GTU Facilitator was seconded from the National Assembly. He therefore has direct and in-depth experience of the legislative processes and procedures involved in passing legislation. Moreover, as an insider, he has been able to connect the network of staff and legislators he knows (who he could easily approach) to the position. This single factor, together with the financial and material support given to the GTU by V4C and others, is widely believed to have been the most significant facilitating factor in the passage of the VAPP Act and the progress made with the GEO Bill.

The GTU Facilitator himself however also emphasises the role played by other CSOs, donors, legislators and staff of the National Assembly (NASS) (clerks of various committees, aides and advisors to the legislators). As noted above, he acknowledged that nine

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organisations and CSOs were part of the movement for the passage of the VAPP. Similarly, with the GEO Bill, he acknowledged that GTU worked closely with two organizations: LACVAW and NCAA.

Details of what the GTU actually did, and its contribution to the enactment of the VAPP Act, and the progress of the GEO Bill, are outlined in the section below.

ii) A modified approach to legislative advocacy by the GTU has led to improved relationships among, and between, CSOs, legislators,

NASS staff and donors, and accounts for much of the success with the VAPP Act and the progress made with the GEO Bill.

Interviews with stakeholders during this case study process, described the role of the GTU as a facilitator and a bridge between CSOs, donors and the various parts of the legislative machinery. Those interviewed repeatedly used the word, ‘easy’ in reference to the GTU:

o It makes it easy for them to gain access to the National Assembly complex and to the legislators and staff in that it makes it easy for them to get appointments (IDI 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10).

o It makes vital information readily available. (IDI 6)o It makes it easy for CSOs to work together as a cohesive group (IDI 4)o It makes it easy for development partners to realise their objectives. (IDI 10, donor)

Apart from positioning itself as a facilitator, and a bridge for CSOs, NASS and development partners to access and relate with each other, the revamped GTU is acknowledged to have undertaken several initiatives itself in facilitating the passage of the VAPP and to move the GEO Bill to its current stage. The GTU undertook day-by-day and desk-by-desk monitoring of the process that led to the passage of VAPP and the ongoing progress being experienced with GEO Bill. According to one interviewee (IDI 3, CSO) GTU was able to do this,

“Because legislative advocacy really requires not only forming a relationship with legislators, but also the desk officers; the administrative machinery, clerks, secretaries, people that have to move the bill from one desk to another. GTU was invaluable for that, particularly towards the end of the latter phase of getting the bill passed into law”.

The GTU, in collaboration with CSOs, sensitized members of the NASS. They organised several meetings with female members of the House on modalities to get them to support gender equality related bills, they produced flyers and campaigned vigorously for these bills (IDI 12). They also organised a series of consultative meetings with key members of the legislature, especially the female legislators, staff of NASS and with other allies on how they could strategise and organise to push for the passage of VAPP and GEO Bills. Together with its partner CSOs, GTU led high powered delegations to visit specific leaders in the NASS (law makers and senior staff of the NASS) to solicit support for passage of the Bill. GTU also identified allies and opponents of the VAPP Bill in the NASS and adopted appropriate strategies in working with them towards the passage of the Bill. GTU and CSOs then mobilised and sensitised members of the public to participate in public hearings and to follow proceedings of the house from the gallery during the process of passing the VAPP Act. (IDI 16, NASS staff).

In addition to these activities, they also organised capacity building programmes for legislators and their aides on gender issues and the importance of the VAPP and GEO bills. The GTU Facilitator called this ‘capacity-based engagement’, and said it is a significant

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change in approach to legislative advocacy. He explained that initially, GTU was interacting with five committees (three in the House of Representatives and two in the Senate). When he joined the GTU, it increased it to 15 Committees in the House of Representatives and 10 Committees in the Senate. They also started working with other structures like the Office of the Management of the House of Representatives and Senate, the Bills Offices and the Offices of the Clerks. In his view, this broader set of relationships increased the visibility of the GTU. It also began to engage with staff of the National Assembly who were working in strategic positions as experts in those fields.

Such staff were called upon to offer their expertise, as and when necessary. For example, a former Clerk of Committee on Rules and Business was engaged as a resource person on legislative procedure for the capacity building meeting that was held in Kaduna in December 12-13, 2015. In the process, he was also educated on gender issues during the meeting. The GTU Facilitator further explained that anytime the GTU has engagements with the staff of NASS, they (GTU) are not just doing legislative work; what they want to achieve is gender awareness, but they start with legislative process, which is more familiar ground for them.

Staff of the NASS are people who can help the GTU in any other activity that they choose to pursue, and because GTU staff have identified their strategic points and identified the strategic personnel that work in those offices they can always engage them thereafter. In the two and half years of working with the GTU, the NASS staff have become aware of its purpose and thus the need for gender sensitive laws to be passed. The GTU Facilitator explained further that,

“As an advocating agent, you need to build yourself and be knowledgeable about the institution you want to engage and also build their capacity to understand you”.

He was of the view that civil society organisations also modified their approach and style, from agitation to working in partnership with the legislators.

“The moment they began to understand each other’s opinions, things began to change.”

These observations by the GTU Facilitator were affirmed by both NASS staff and legislators:

“When I was on that desk (Committee on Women Affairs), the GTU selected some members in strategic committees relating to gender, and trained them. They were encouraged to go through everything that passes through their committees and send alerts to the GTU so that nothing relating to gender would pass through the House daily without the knowledge of GTU”. (IDI 15, NASS staff)

GTU organised workshops to build the capacity of politicians, and where the politicians could not attend such meetings, their aides were invited to attend.

“Often times people think that everything is done by the politicians. If you don’t prepare them at the background, they might not really know what to say on the floor. Some bills get killed on the floor, not because they are not good but because the presenter is not well informed”. (IDI 17, NASS staff)

Another legislator (IDI 12) said that the GTU has: sensitised members of the legislature on gender, given them data that they ordinarily do not have access to strengthen their arguments, organised several meetings with female members of the House on modalities to get them to support gender equality related bills, engaged those legislators who were

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against the bills in constructive discussion so they can understand the importance of the bills, produced flyers, and campaigned vigorously for bills to be passed.

To conclude, for the VAPP Act to be enacted and to make progress with the GEO Bill, the GTU positioned itself as a facilitator and a bridge for CSOs, NASS and development partners to access and relate with each other. In addition, it has undertaken several capacity building initiatives, which the GTU Facilitator has termed ‘capacity-based engagement’, designed to get the CSOs and the National Assembly to understand each other and to work in partnership.

iii) An ‘insider’ is considered to be more effective than an ‘outsider’ in working with the legislature to get a bill passed.

As mentioned above, in the view of most interviewees, the key reason why the revived GTU was able to influence the passage of the VAPP Act and the progress of the GEO Bill so effectively was because the person recruited to head the unit had intimate knowledge of the workings of the legislature. The current GTU Facilitator, is a staff member of the National Assembly (NASS) who has been seconded without pay to the GTU. His salary is paid by Voices for Change (V4C). Being an NASS ‘insider’ is said to be a major reason for GTU’s contribution to the legislative process. In the GTU Facilitator’s own words:

“I have worked as a legislative officer in the Rules and Business Department, as such I understand the procedure. At any point in time if anything happens in the chamber, or any pronouncement is made, I know exactly what they have said. If there is a resolution in the House of Reps for instance, you may not understand what they have said or the implication of the ruling, but because I have worked in the chamber, I know the implication of what was said. I know exactly where the resolution would go e.g. I would know I need to go to the secretariat if the committee for education, to get this information. Also, having had the background as a civil society person, I also understand the workings of the civil society”.

This knowledge and insight was affirmed by other stakeholders. According to NASS staff (IDI 15, 16), the current GTU Facilitator is very familiar with the internal operations of the National Assembly and he has applied his knowledge and experience as a NASS staff member to his work at the GTU. He has also publicized the unit within NASS. For this reason, although most of the legislators that were trained and with whom he had contact previously have left the Assembly, many legislators know him and can therefore easily relate with him. Having worked with the Rules and Business Committee is also an advantage because he knows who to call and the staff to be invited to participate in specific meetings and to work harmoniously with them. In their view, he is an insider with a link to the outside. This point is further illustrated by these extracts from the interviews:

“… The insider knowledge is a great help and it should not be changed, no matter what happens to the GTU, staff of the national assembly should be engaged to run the place”. (IDI 7, donor)

“In the GTU, the current GTU Facilitator is the one who is really invaluable. He is on secondment, in the national assembly, he knows all the desk officers, he knows the legislative process, he knows what needs to happen. Even after the bill had been passed, there was quite a critical process of organising a conference where they deliberate and write a report which goes through a lot of processes before it is taken to the President for signing. All these happened in a short space of time, just before the end of the dispensation”. (IDI 3, CSO).

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Apart from being an NASS insider, as already mentioned, the two GTU staff have lived up to their roles of facilitators. In addition, the current GTU Facilitator’s affable character and commitment to gender equality is also cited as a contributory factor. He is said to relate well with everybody within the NASS and civil society, irrespective of one’s position or status.

“The current GTU Facilitator has a good relationship with a lot of them (Special Advisors), he reaches out to those in Rules and Business, he even knows most of the people (other Special Advisers) in my office. He knows Senator X…. He knows virtually everyone in her office, so also everyone in Senator Y’s office. I have seen him with these people and I know the kind of relationship he has with them. I am sure he has a good network there”. (IDI 14, NASS staff)

“The current GTU Facilitator made a big difference. He came with a sufficient level of buy-in, insight and institutional knowledge. His knowledge of people, using the goodwill and relationships he built while serving as a clerk of the Rules & Business Committee, has been of immense value to the work of GTU. His personal commitment also contributed a lot to the success of GTU”. (IDI 5, CSO & member of GTU Steering Committee).

In conclusion, in addition to being a staff member of NASS on secondment to the GTU with intimate knowledge of the workings of the legislature, the current GTU Facilitator’s extensive network and good interpersonal skills are regarded as key contributory factors in the success of the GTU.

iv) The GTU is valued and appreciated by all stakeholders, although each has a different perspective of what it is.

Prior to V4C’s support, the GTU was said to be operating on a part-time basis, but V4C funding enabled it to open full-time. Previously, it was known to just a small number of stakeholders (IDI 7, donor & IDI 8, funding agency), but now it is widely known and valued by all the key stakeholders involved in the passage of laws, including the staff of the national assembly, legislators, especially the women, civil society organisations (CSOs), and donors or funding agencies.

“Before, it was like the GTU was operating as external machinery that was not well recognized and integrated into the national assembly itself, and many times GTU stood the risk of being side-lined, or ignored, or not fully integrated into legislative processes. But with the coming of [the current GTU Facilitator] as a seconded member of staff, the GTU was now being recognised as an institutional mechanism of the national assembly itself. It was like civil society injection into the process” (IDI 7, donor).

Staff of the National Assembly (NASS), notably legislative aides and clerks from both the House of Representatives and the Senate, said that they value the GTU for a number of reasons (IDI 14,15,16). It keeps them informed of all relevant proceedings in the NASS. It links legislative aides with the large network of people (CSOs, House members) that it relates with, which enables them to reach out to this pool of contacts whenever the need arises. It engages them in advocacy efforts around the passage of gender equality-related bills. They also referred to the capacity building programmes it organised for legislators and staff of NASS, in particular the one in Kaduna on gender. Such programmes enhance their understanding of gender issues and the nitty-gritty of legislative processes. For some staff, it has even enlightened them on how to organise such meetings. The GTU mini library has

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also become a resource centre that the staff go to, to do research on gender issues, which has made them more aware of GTU’s existence.

The combined view of the three legislators that the case study team interviewed is that GTU (IDI 11,12,13):

o is very skilled at advocacy and lobbying, which it goes about in a number of ways. For instance, it connects the legislators with parliamentarians from the UK and other countries so they can learn from each other.

o provides a research centre or data warehouse that provides technical support and information to legislators so that they do not have to go to the main non-specialist libraries. The materials that it produces and shares with the law makers are always very useful. Each member gets a copy of the materials. In addition, the technical people that they bring to talk at meetings with legislators are always well-informed. Some legislators, especially the women, also use the GTU room (office) to meet and to plan their actions.

o helps with finding ways forward through its problem-solving skills, and by giving information on bills and helping to mobilise support.

“I have chaired the House Committee on Women Affairs and the Committee on Human Rights. I have found the GTU to be a very useful resource because it provides Legislators with information about what the issues are, what has been done, and what has not been done, as well as what is happening around the world especially in relation to gender”. (IDI 13, Legislator)

The GTU works under the House Committee on Women Affairs. It is therefore not surprising that it is perceived by some women legislators as an organisation that creates synergy among women legislators, and particularly facilitates the work of female members of the house of assembly, such as assisting them in preparing bills and coordinating their work (IDI 12, 13). In the view of one legislator and one outsider who works closely with the NASS, (IDI 8, 13), the GTU serves as a platform for strengthening the NASS institutional memory, which particularly benefits the new members of the legislature. When members do not retain their seats, new members are able to access information from the GTU on what has happened in the past on different bills. It therefore helps to develop a sense of belonging for new legislators.

GTU has also become a mechanism that brings NASS closer to CSOs, thereby enabling the former to reach to more CSOs (IDI 9). In the view of another observer (IDI 10), GTU facilitates a wider participation of stakeholders in public hearings at the NASS than happened previously. For instance, when budgets are ready for public hearings, people travel down from other parts of the country and they might not have been included if not for the GTU. The GTU’s engagement with development partners has also led to the engagement of consultants who reviewed the GEO Bill. The NASS might not have gained all that support, if not for the GTU.

From the perspective of civil society organisations interviewed (IDI 10, 3, 8, 9), the GTU: o was set up to facilitate legislative advocacy in relation to gender-related bills that are

before the National Assembly; and getting things moving.o gives timely information to CSOs (and Development Partners) about what is going on

with gender-related bills in the NASS on a regular basis. Information is critical for proactive engagement and so the flow of information to and from the GTU is therefore of immense strategic value.

o serves as a rallying point for all groups and constituencies working on gender in relation to legislative issues. In this regard, it facilitates cohesive actions instead of each CSO working individually to push through bills, as was previously the case. It,

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therefore, provided a coordinated approach to legal advocacy. “GTU brought us together to outline what needs to be done and we picked different items so that we could have collective glory” (IDI 10).

o made gaining access to the national assembly (both the NASS complex and the staff and legislators) easier. It also exposed CSOs to how the NASS works as a system.

o provided technical support for CSO interventions within NASS - Stakeholders meet in the GTU office to hold inner caucus meetings and take decisions.

The development partners (donors/funding agencies) view of the GTU is largely the same as that of the CSOs (IDI 8 a CSO/funding agency). In addition, however, they say it provides a coordinated approach to funding CSO interventions so that donors do not have to give different CSOs separate funds for advocacy work around the same gender-related bills. They also observe that it brings different agencies together, and so minimises duplication of effort and therefore makes it easy for development partners to realise their objectives. Development partners are also able to work with CSOs through one platform through the GTU. This is particularly so for donors or projects such as Justice for All (J4A) whose operational strategies are flexible and allow them to respond rapidly to information that comes through from GTU. (IDI 9).

In conclusion, the stakeholders in the legislative advocacy process are gaining a lot from their partnership with the GTU. It is providing valuable services to them and for this reason they value its work in the National Assembly.

v) Stakeholders see the GTU as a reliable partner and want it to become a permanent institutional mechanism within the National

Assembly (NASS). The passage of the VAPP Act within eight months of the current GTU Facilitator being at post, the progress made with the GEO Bill, and the benefit all stakeholders (NASS staff, legislators, CSOs and donors) have derived from GTU, have all culminated in the collective desire for the unit to become a permanent feature of the NASS. Other reasons given for its continuation apart from the above are that it would:

o Provide information and build the capacity of legislators. Legislators (especially the female legislators), NASS staff, CSOs and even donors often need information on the stage that a bill has reached in the House of Representatives or the Senate. As a resource centre, it can sensitize the legislators, especially the new members, on gender issues (IDI 17, NASS staff) and since the work of a resource centre is continuous, GTU’s work should not come to an end. A common view is that it should continue to be adequately resourced both in terms of personnel and equipment to serve this purpose.

o Enable legal advocacy. CSOs are of the view that the original idea of the GTU was not just to ensure the passage of VAPP and GEO Bills. It was intended to be an institution within the National Assembly to enable CSOs and their funding partners to have more access within the NASS to do legal advocacy (IDI 6, 4, CSO). Already, partners have approached the GTU to work together on some bills. For instance, the GTU has supported The Right to Food Coalition (with funding from OXFAM) to move the Right to Food Bill through the first reading within a period of 3 months (IDI 1, V4C staff, IDI 8, funding agency). UNAIDS signed an MOU with the GTU to do an analysis of HIV and gender-related laws in the National Assembly. The GTU is also supporting the group, Education as a Vaccine. This is still work in progress and it wants to conduct an audit of legislators, with the aim of knowing and categorising

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their interests. Such data will aid targeted advocacy. For instance, if an organization comes forward with the aim of working with the legislators on a specific issue, GTU can easily generate a list of legislators who are interested in the particular field, instead of asking everyone (IDI 1, V4C staff).

o Support the process of developing gender-sensitive laws and governance processes. Some stakeholders see the VAPP and GEO Bills as the beginning of GTU’s interventions in legislative advocacy and for as long as there is the need for gender sensitive laws, GTU will remain relevant (IDI 11, 12, 13, legislators; IDI 15, 16, NASS staff; IDI 7, donor; IDI 1, V4C staff). Gender is central to the achievement of any development or humanitarian objective. As such, even if two overarching laws like VAPP and GEO are passed, there are still laws being debated in the national assembly that should be interrogated from a gender perspective and the GTU is there to ensure that the rights of girls and women are not side-lined. (IDI 7, donor). An example of this is how the GTU worked on and monitored the National Health Bill before it was passed. It is doing same with the HIV/AIDS Anti-stigma and Discrimination Bill (IDI 2, GTU staff; IDI 5, CSO; IDI 9, donor).

“GTU is very relevant. If it was set up just to pursue the passage of two bills, then I can say they have finished their job. But if it is to assist NASS in making laws relating to women and children, then they should continue to work, as there is a lot to do”. (IDI 12, Legislator)

“When I moved the Bill on Child Protection and Enforcement Agency, it was GTU that helped me to develop the technical paper that I presented on the floor during the second reading. The GTU do assist members who request for support in developing position papers and talking points on gender-related issues”. (IDI 13, Legislator)

Democracy is still at its early stages of growth in Nigeria, as such the attrition rate of NASS members is still very high. About 60% of the members of each Assembly are new. In essence, most of the gains made trying to expose members to gender issues, are lost to the NASS each time a new Assembly is inaugurated.

“As you start a Bill afresh, you also must cultivate new partners, new friendships. You have to build their understanding again. This means if a funder puts down funds and in four years the Bill does not go through the House of Representative and Senate, that funder has to put down the same funds or perhaps even more to facilitate the process in subsequent Assembly” (IDI 1, V4C staff).

“My understanding of the GTU is that it is an institutional mechanism that was put in place to support a gender responsive legislative process in Nigeria. The fact that it is located in the national assembly, is key. A key role of the GTU is to provide technical support to the legislative processes in the national assembly, if we have it at state level, it will be even better” (IDI 7, donor).

The passage of a law is not enough. There is also the need for its implementation and, in some cases, review or amendment. Already, the VAPP Act is said to contain some sections that need to be reviewed. Though the process of law amendment is not as rigorous at it is when making a new law, there is still a role for the GTU in, for example, securing amendment to VAPP. (IDI 17, NASS staff).

“The LACVAW secretariat is making preparations for the implementation of the VAPP Act. For this reason, it is moving to the GTU and ensuring that there are funds in their

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next budget for the implementation of the VAPP Act. This is because to implement it will require capacity building”. (IDI 3, CSO)

Some think that the GTU also has a role to play in constitutional review as the current Nigerian Constitution is not gender sensitive in many ways, including the language (IDI 17, NASS staff)

The organisational positioning, governance and financing of the GTUAs amply illustrated above, there is the desire by a cross-section of stakeholders for the GTU to become a permanent feature of the National Assembly. This raises two questions. The first is: how would it fit into the NASS structure, i.e. which body would it account to? The second is: how would it be financed? The first, it seems, has already been addressed. The GTU currently operates as an independent body under the House Committee on Women Affairs. As such anything the unit wants from the National Assembly has to pass through this Committee. The GTU is governed by a steering committee, which has the Chair of House Committee and Senate Committee on Women Affairs as members. Other members include the Ministry of Women Affairs (representing the executive arm of government), and civil society coalitions like Women’s Rights Advancement and Protection Alternative (WRAPA). There is a clear desire among all stakeholders for the GTU to remain located within the National Assembly, but at the same time independent of it, as illustrated by these sentiments:

“We don’t want a situation where the NASS controls the GTU. We want access, but we also want some level of independence and that has been attained by the fact that they are independent” (IDI 3, CSO).

“It should remain independent, but it can have a more productive relationship with NASS. NASS can designate a department to relate with GTU on its behalf. So that there can be institutional memory of Committee activities” (IDI 13, Legislator)

“It should be based on collaboration with the National Assembly, so that they (the National Assembly) will be more involved. It should be a joint effort”. (IDI 16, NASS staff)

So, while stakeholders want the GTU to continue to be located at NASS so that it is not rendered irrelevant, they also want it to retain its independence so that its influence is not restricted.

“Independence is important. If ownership goes to NASS, there will be interference. They may not be able to play the role they are playing now. What we are able to do now we might not be able to do again”. (IDI 8, funding agency)

“That is the fear that some members of the steering committee have expressed, that if the GTU becomes a unit under the National Assembly, bureaucracy and some poor work ethics and behaviour may come in, and it may not deliver in the way it is functioning now” (IDI 2, GTU staff).

The second question, which is related to finance, is more challenging. The current office space that the GTU occupies was granted by the leadership of the House of Representatives in 2010. It does not pay rent, or for power and security services like other business premises that operate there do (IDI 2, GTU staff). The NASS bears these costs. However, V4C bears the core cost of staff salaries, while WRAPA bears the cost of stationery and communication. When GTU staff attend a function, the expectation is that the organisers will fund their transportation.

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Since January 2014, V4C has funded about four different areas of project activity, including workshops to the tune of approximately 9 million Naira (IDI 1, V4C staff). During the processes leading to the passage of the VAPP Act, other organisations like UN WOMEN, Justice for All (JFA), United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and National Stability and Reconciliation Programme (NSRP have provided support to GTU in the form of workshop materials, transport, hotel accommodation, paying for the cost of writing and disseminating the ‘status of bill’ reports, and for technical assistance from experts (IDI 2, GTU staff). Given the nature of legislative advocacy, how the GTU will sustain core and activity funding is the question on the minds of all the stakeholders. This is how one interviewee (IDI 3, CSO) expressed the matter:

“GTU cannot be lurching from one grant to another; it needs to have some core funding, so that it can be sustained. The thing about legislative advocacy, specifically around the VAPP Act and the GEO Bill is that, even if it seems like the process is taking a very long time to be concluded, there is a lot of sensitization that goes on outside the NASS. You need to have groups in the society who are aware that there is such a Bill and who also understand its value. When they understand that, and start building up support for it, they can also put pressure on the National Assembly for its passage”.

Most stakeholders wish that what currently pertains could continue. This was expressed by the GTU Senior Facilitator, as follows:

“There should be an understanding with management. The structure should be in such a way that it will not be a full National Assembly structure, but a marriage of development partnership e.g. development partners can pay for the staff while the National Assembly can pay for the running of the office or they can have a supervisor that will oversee the GTU.”

A number of options are being considered by the GTU Steering Committee. With regards to the above suggestion by the GTU Facilitator, there is the view that since the National Assembly has the responsibility for budgeting and appropriation, to secure a sustained funding, the respective Committees on Women Affairs at the House of Representatives and Senate can create budget lines within theirs for the GTU. Those who hold this view believe:

“The ultimate is for Nigeria to own and drive its own processes. We should not be dependent on other countries who bring their tax payers’ money to support systems here. Ownership is important. Nigeria should support it and own the mechanism.” (IDI 9, donor funded project)

There are others who believe dependence on funding from the NASS could compromise the independence of the GTU, and the quality of its work.

“If it becomes a part of the National Assembly, the independence will be lost and it might also be rendered irrelevant and the influence may be limited”. (IDI 7, donor)

With GTU’s success in facilitating the passage of the VAPP Act and the progress made to date with the GEO Bill, the level of interest in what GTU is doing is high among CSOs and development partners. This is translating into partnerships and support. The LACVAW Secretariat is moving to the GTU office in the National Assembly partly to strengthen the human resource capacity of the unit (IDI 3, CSO). The GTU has also signed a number of memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with several CSOs and donors to work with them on various bills in the NASS, as well as on other gender related activities.

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As previously indicated, GTU partnered a number of organisations to pursue specific bills. All these come with financial and technical benefits to GTU (IDI 1 & 2, V4C & GTU staff). Other suggestions for sustaining funding to GTU have included the idea that CSO partners involved in legislative advocacy make provision in their annual budgets to support its core costs and activity funding, and GTU raising its own funds through the sale of publications and providing consultancy services (IDI 8, funding agency). Going forward, there are some aspects of GTU that some stakeholders think need improving. One is staffing:

“I think they (GTU) can do much more than they are doing now. I really don’t know what their constraints are, but I observed that I only see 1 or 2 people working in the office… Two people cannot do so much. They can use volunteers from time to time e.g. youth corps” (IDI 11, Legislator).

The staffing issue is, to some extent, already being addressed. As already noted, one of the reasons for LACVAW moving into GTU is to boost the staff numbers.

The second area for improvement is the capacity of the staff of GTU. Several respondents mentioned that since the GTU facilitates the passage of gender equality related bills, as well as building the capacity of legislators for gender responsive legislations, its staff must be well trained:

“They have to be properly trained on gender and gender mainstreaming so that they can do more” (IDI 4, CSO).

In conclusion, all stakeholders in the legislative process felt there is the need for the GTU as permanent institutional mechanism within NASS, and that it should remain independent of it. Its functions would include: facilitating the access of CSOs and donors to NASS and vice versa; providing capacity to NASS staff, legislators, CSOs and donors; facilitating the passage of gender-related legislatures and mainstreaming gender into other laws; following up on the implementation of laws that have been enacted; etc. The stakeholders have already thought about potential sources of sustainable funding for GTU to ensure that it does not lurch from one grant to another.

There are indications that the GTU staff and WRAPA have taken the funding challenge seriously. They have already started various initiatives and partnerships to achieve long-term and sustainable funding for the unit.

Analysis of outcome: GTU facilitated the passage of the VAPP Act and the progression of the GEO Bill and has gained recognition as a facilitator of gender responsible legislative process at the National Assembly


o After 13 years’ advocacy by CSO coalitions, the VAPP Act was enacted and progress made with the GEO Bill. GTU is widely recognised as being instrumental in these achievements.

o A modified approach to legislative advocacy by GTU has led to improved relationships among, and between, CSOs, legislators, NASS staff and donors

o An ‘insider’ is considered more effective than an ‘outsider’ in working with the legislature as they understand how the whole system works and thus where to focus effort.

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o The understanding, personal qualities and networks of the GTU Coordinator who is a former NASS staff member have had a particularly big impact.

o Through the success of the VAPP Act, GTU has gained recognition and respect among the various stakeholders.

o Stakeholders see GTU as a reliable partner and want it to become a permanent institutional mechanism in the National Assembly

Types of ChangePolicies/Legislation:The VAPP Act seeks to prohibit all forms of violence against persons, both in private and public life. It also provides maximum protection and effective remedies for victims and punishment of offenders. The enactment of the VAPP Act will to contribute to V4C’s goal of an enabling environment for adolescent girls and women. However, there is the need to work further for its implementation and adoption at the State level.

Relationships:Interviewees testify to improved relationships among, and between, CSOs, legislators, NASS staff and donors as a result of the joint activity on the VAPP and GEO bills. The GTU served and still serves as a rallying point for all groups and constituencies working on legislative issues. This is particularly so with CSOs who, before GTU, were working individually for the enactment of bills. Now there is a coordinated approach to legal advocacy. Legislative staff are valued for their expertise and are used as experts during capacity building activities as well as in reviewing VAPP and GEO bills.

PracticesThere is now a collective and coordinated approach to legal advocacy among CSOs and easier access to the National Assembly by CSOs, citizens and donors. GTU and CSOs are also now providing technical support to legislators in research, preparation of presentations and position papers.


V4C revamped the GTU by recruiting two full-time staff (one of whom is a seconded staff of NASS), and has provided for their salaries since January 2014. V4C has also provided funding for the training of Committee Clerks and Legislative Aides of partner committees, CSOs and for public hearings. This has included funding for hiring additional resource persons (technical assistance) to handle the training and, in some cases, to make presentations. V4C staff have also provided technical support with such things as recruitment processes and workshop design.

The recruitment of a seconded NASS staff who knows how the legislative system works and who brought on board his networks of colleagues within the legislature enabled the passage of the VAPP Bill. By this, V4C has contributed to its goal of creating an enabling environment for adolescent girls and women to fulfil their potential.

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The VAPP Act is national in character and with time, could be adapted by each State in Nigeria.

The role GTU played in the enactment of the VAPP Act and the role it is playing with the GEO Bill has won it recognition and support from all the stakeholders. It has already received requests and funding from CSOs, donors and donor-funded projects to facilitate the passage of other bills or to do a gender-analysis of existing Acts. The stakeholders are exploring various sources from which they can mobilise human and financial resources to make GTU become a permanent structure within the NASS.

Though it is operating as an independent body, it is also embedded within the NASS structure. It works under the Committee on Women’s Affairs and is governed by a steering committee which has the Chair of House Committee and Senate Committee on Women Affairs as members. Other members include the Ministry of Women Affairs (representing the executive arm of government), and civil society coalitions like WRAPA. These factors make it likely that GTU will be sustained when V4C project comes to an end.

If there is the need for gender-responsive laws, GTU will continue to be relevant. What is needed is sustainable funding and for it to continue to operate within the NASS, but as an independent body.

The unique personal experience and qualities brought by the current GTU Coordinator to the task of leading the GTU could be difficult to replicate. This could pose a challenge to GTU’s future success. However, this case study provides some insight into the person specifications required to play this role successfully.

5.1 Conclusion

Barely eight months after the GTF Coordinator had commenced work, the VAPP Bill was enacted into law by the National Assembly, following 13 years of civil society advocacy. All those interviewed for this case study give credit to GTU, and to the GTU Facilitator in particular, for the role it played in this remarkable achievement, while also acknowledging the role that other institutions and actors like CSOs have played over the years. The GTU has also significantly advanced the passage of the GEO Bill. The general view gathered from this research was that being located within the NASS, being headed by an ‘insider’, and having consistent funding for core costs, were the key factors that led to this success. Clearly this change will help to create an enabling environment for women and girls in Nigeria in terms of providing a supportive legislative framework.

In the process of its work, the GTU has increasingly come to play the role of facilitator and knowledge broker more generally, and to a serve as a bridge to enable various stakeholders involved in legislative change processes to reach out to each other. In particular, it has connected CSOs and donors with the National Assembly staff and legislators, and generally fostered collaborative partnerships between different parties in support of the passage of gender sensitive laws, and the processes designed to support them. It has also provided capacity building support on gender for NASS staff and legislators, and in the process

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helped them to understand CSOs and vice versa. Through its strategic and facilitative approach, the GTU has modified the prevailing approach to legal advocacy.

Following V4C’s investment of funding and technical support, the GTU has proven its value and has become well known and highly regarded by all the key stakeholders involved in the passage of laws concerning gender equality. A sense of ownership of the GTU among the primary actors in the legislative system has been created, and it is now regarded as a mechanism that needs to be institutionalised in order to continue its work. The overall view of those interviewed is that it needs to continue to be located within the NASS, while at the same time maintaining its independence.

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Annex 1: List of referencesGender Technical Unit http://www.gendertechnicalunitnig.org/

Meeting Report of the GTU Donor Round Table, 24th November, 2015

The Error of African Men – by Pastor Paul Osanyede (Lagos Based Pastor)

V4C Media and Communication Strategy, September 2014.

V4C - Report of Review Meeting with RLs in Enugu and Lagos States on July 20th and Sept 14th, 2015

V4C – Workshop report - Enugu Traditional Leaders Training on Gender and Masculinity, September 2015

V4C workshop report - Men’s Network Training on Gender and Masculinity, Lagos, 18-20 May 2015

V4C workshop report - Gender and Masculinity Training for Religious Leaders, Enugu, February 2015

V4C workshop report - Gender and Masculinity Training for Religious Leaders, Kaduna, May 2015

V4C workshop report - Training on Gender and Masculinity for Religious Leaders, Kaduna, April 2016

V4C Strategy on Working with Religious and Traditional Institutions and Leaders, September 2014

V4C Strategy for Engaging Boys and Men, September 2014

V4C’s Approach to Changing Discriminatory Social Norms, 2014

V4C’s Approach to Political Governance Processes Legal Framework http://www.v4c-nigeria.com/v4cs-approach/political-governance-processes/legal-framework/

Violence against Persons (Prohibition) Act, 2015 (http://www.safehaven-foundation.org/uploads/violence_against_persons_prohibition_act%202015.pdf)

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http://www.safehaven-foundation.org/uploads/violence_against_persons_prohibition_act%202015.pdf

http://www.safehaven-foundation.org/uploads/violence_against_persons_prohibition_act%202015.pdf

http://www.v4c-nigeria.com/v4cs-approach/political-governance-processes/legal-framework/

http://www.v4c-nigeria.com/v4cs-approach/political-governance-processes/legal-framework/

http://www.gendertechnicalunitnig.org/

Annex 2: List of interviews – Radio Stations Case StudyFGD/IDI State Respondent typeIDI Enugu General Manager, Dream FMIDI Presenter, Dream FMIDI Presenter, Dream FMIDI Presenter, Dream FMIDI Presenter, Solid FMIDI Presenter, Solid FMIDI Presenter, Solid FMIDI Programme Manager, Solid FMFGD 7 Female radio listenersFGD 7 Male radio listenersIDI Kaduna Head Marketing, Karama Radio StationIDI Head of Presentation, Karama Radio StationIDI Presenter, Karama Radio StationIDI Presenter, Karama Radio StationIDI GM (English), Liberty Radio/ TVIDI Chief Marketing Officer, Liberty Radio/ TVIDI Sub-Editor, Liberty Radio/ TVIDI Producer/Presenter, Liberty Radio/ TVIDI Head of Post Production, Liberty Radio/ TVFGD 7 Male radio listenersFGD 7 Female radio listenersFGD 7 mixed radio listeners

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Annex 3: List of interviews – Religious Leaders Case StudyFGD/IDI State Respondent typeFGD Enugu 7 CMO MembersFGD 8 Muslim Female Corps (NYSC) MembersIDI CMO memberFGD 3 Muslim Men, Islamic Centre, Uwani, Enugu stateIDI Christian religious leader, adult middle aged manIDI Christian religious leaderFGD Women beneficiaries from CMO member’ action (2 widows

from Okija Town, Anambra)IDI Kaduna Male undergraduate at Kaduna State University, KadunaIDI Female medical student executive member of Nigeria

Medical Student’s AssociationFGD Christian Women’s Fellowship, 10 members age range (29-

55years);FGD NASFAT Muslim Women’s Fellowship, 11 members age

range (23-50years)IDI CMO President, Kaduna Arch DioceseIDI Muslim religious leader, Interfaith Mediation CentreIDI Christian religious leaderIDI CMO Secretary, Focal person for safe spaces in tertiary

institutionsIDI Branch Imam for NASFAT, Missionary Imam for the StateIDI V4C Denis Onoise – V4C Key Influencers Output 3 Lead (May

2016, Part 1)IDI Denis Onoise – V4C Key Influencers Output 3 Lead

(September 2016 Part 2)(Please note: *8a & 8b were linked follow-up interviews. The main interview was 8b, hence 8a has not been included in the overall data summary.)

15 primary interviews (6 focus group discussions and 9 in-depth interviews) took place. Of these, 5 were with Muslims and 10 with Christians, 10 with men and 5 with women, 10 with people at the centre of the change and 5 observers of the change.

An in-depth interview with the V4C Team Leader for Output 3 also took place in Phase 1 and 2 of the case study process.

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Annex 4: List of interviews – Traditional Leaders Case StudyCommunity/LGA Sex/Age FGD/IDI Respondent typeOkpanku, Aninri M&F FGD 9 cabinet chiefs 6 men, 3 womenOkpanku, Aninri M IDI Traditional leader (HRH)Neke-Uno-Nike, Enugu East M FGD 8 young menNeke-Uno-Nike, Enugu East F FGD 6 women cabinet chiefsNeke-Uno-Nike, Enugu East F FGD 7 community members (women and

girls)Neke-Uno-Nike, Enugu East M IDI Traditional leader (Eze Ambassador)Udi Kingdom, Udi M IDI Traditional leader (HRM)Udi Kingdom, Udi F IDI Traditional rulerIhe n’ Owerri, Nsukka M IDI Traditional leader (HRH)V4C staff member M IDI Output 3 Lead9 interviews (4 focus group discussions and 6 in-depth interviews). Of these, 4 were with female TLs, 4 with male TLs and 1 with a mixed group of TLs and 2 groups of community members. 8 were with people at the centre of the change and 1 with a group of observers of the change. An in-depth interview with the V4C Team Leader for Output 3 also took place.

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Annex 5: List of interviews – Gender Technical Unit Case StudyInformation type Interviewee M/FV4C project team V4C Project Officer - Wumi Asubiaro FGTU Coordinator and colleague staff

GTU Facilitator - Tordue Nyitse M

Selected CSOs National Chairperson of LACVAW, Charmaine Pereira FNational Coordinator of NCAA, Oby Nwankwo FSaudatu Mahdi, Secretary General, Women’s Rights Advancement Protection Alternative (WRAPA)

F

Hauwa Shekarau – FIDA (Former National President) – FIDA served as secretariat for LACVAW

F

Development partners Adekemi Ndieli – National Program Officer, UNWOMEN FDoris Ikpeze - Program Officer – OXFAM FEleanor Nwadinobi – Manager Women and Girls, NSRP (out of the country Telephone Interview)

F

Godwin Odo - Justice for All (J4A) MMembers of the National Assembly

Hon. Nkem Uzoma (Telephone interview) MHon. Mulikat Akande (Telephone interview) FHon. Beni Lar (Telephone interview) FSpoke with NASS STAFFBar. Zakaria Gaku – Directorate of Legal Services, National Assembly Principal Legislative officer House Committee on JudiciaryFatimah Kakuri, Special Assistant to the Senate President on Gender Advocacy and Social Development

M

F

Margaret Asim - Deputy Director, Committee Division (Former Clerk – House Committee on Women Affair)

F

Adebayo Charles Abiodun, Director & Deputy Head Management Services, House of Rep.(Former Clerk House Committee on Rules and Business)

M

Paul Adiwu - Assistant Clerk, Office of the Clerk House of Representatives – Processes Bills for publication

M

National government organisations – Federal Ministry of Women Affairs

Visited the office of the Director Women Affairs (Mrs. Esther Ehobamien), Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development and the Ministry’s Focal person on National Assembly Matters. Both of said they are not really engaged with the GTU and so no interview was conducted. They said they related with the office of the Senate President directly, although they aware that the GTU exists.

(Total interviews: 6 male,12 female)

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Annex 6: Summary of V4C database on RTL activitiesThe following tables are extracted from a V4C database developed to track the actions of the religious leaders and other key influencers. It is updated at the end of every quarter. The tables below were up to date as at 28th September 2016, with the exception of actions taken in Enugu in the 4th quarter.

Sex Lagos Enugu Kaduna Kano Total %1 Man 53 82 45 39 219 79%2 Woman 10 14 18 15 57 21%

Total 63 96 63 54 276 100%

Religion of RTLs Lagos Enugu Kaduna Kano Total %1 Christian 24 86 33 13 156 57%2 Muslim 39 10 30 41 120 43%3 Other 0 0 0 0 0 0%

Total 63 96 63 54 276 100%

Type of RTLs Lagos Enugu Kaduna Kano Total %1 Imam 16 24 23 24 87 32%2 Catholic Priest 2 27 10 1 40 14%3 Protestant pastor 6 4 11 10 31 11%4 Lay leader 19 11 14 17 61 22%5 Traditional Leader 20 26 0 0 46 17%6 Catholic Nun 0 3 0 0 3 1%7 Women Pastor 0 0 3 2 5 2%8 Ameera 0 1 2 0 3 1%9 Other 0 0 0 0 0 0%

Total 63 96 63 54 276 100%

Number and Type of activity Lagos Enugu Kaduna Kano Total %1 Sermon in place of worship 12 10 16 38 76 40%2 Talk (elsewhere) 10 8 13 31 62 33%3 Workshop 0 6 4 8 18 10%4 Conference 3 14 3 5 25 13%5 Sermon/talk using social media 0 3 0 0 3 2%6 Sermon/talk on radio 1 0 1 2 4 2%7 Sermon/talk on TV 0 0 1 0 1 1%8 Other 0 0 0 0 0 0%9 Other 0 0 0 0 0 0%

10 Other 0 0 0 0 0 0%Total 26 41 38 84 189 100%

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The following tables show V4C’s final data for religious and traditional leaders combined as at the end of Year 3.

State Cumulative # of RTLs engaged by end of Year 3Total Men Women

Lagos 64 18.4% 54 22.7% 10 16.4%Enugu 98 28.2% 82 34.5% 16 26.2%Kaduna 100 28.8% 53 22.3% 21 34.4%Kano 85 24.5% 49 20.6% 14 23.0%

Total 347 100.0%

238 100.0% 61 100.0%

State # Unique RTLs that took action in Year 3Total Men Women


Total 138 100.0%

93 100.0% 17 100.0%

State # Unique RTLs that didn’t take action in Year 3Total Men Women


Total 209 100.0% 145 100.0%

44 100.0%

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Estimates of number of people reached by the RTLs ActivitiesLagos Enugu Kaduna Kano Total Total# ♂ # ♀ # ♂ # ♀ # ♂ # ♀ # ♂ # ♀ # ♂ # ♀

Activity 1 8664 470 16517 0 13683 0 68610 0 107474 470 107944Activity 2 1795 101 5102 0 4700 0 11243 0 22840 101 22941Activity 3 29 33 7101 0 684 0 5700 0 13514 33 13547Activity 4 0 0 5000 0 734 0 2071 0 7805 0 7805Activity 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 1000 0 1000 0 1000Activity 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 600 0 600 0 600Activity 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Activity 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Activity 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Activity 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Activity 11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Activity 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Activity 13 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Total 10488 33720 19801 89224 153233 0 153233

Draft V4C case study report

Annex 7: List and profile of V4C activities with Religious LeadersList and profile of V4C Activities with Religious LeadersKaduna StateFull name of event Date Duratio

nLocation (state/catchment)

Details of who particpants were religion , age, sex

No. attend

ed

How selected Facilitators Documentation

TRAINING EVENTSSensitization of Religious leaders on Gender based violence

Sep-14 4 days Kaduna, Kaduna State

Clergy and religious leaders from the Muslim and Christian faiths from Kaduna including Rev Fathers, Imams, Sheiks, women pastors, Ameera's, women leaders, leaders of congregations and other highly revered clergymen who hold PhDs. 'Diverse ages'

40 1.Religious Leaders who are influential with large followership and able to spread new ideas. 2. RTLs must be from V4C communities where other V4C implementation is going on for saturation. 3. power mapping (level of influence).

Prof Shittu, Anas Shettima, muhammed Kabara

1. Facilitators End of Training Assessment Report. Sensitization of RLs Report

Training on Gender and Masculinity - Religious Leaders

May-15 4 days Kaduna, Kaduna State



1. Denis Onoise 2. Rodney furtuin 3. Desmond

1. Facilitators End of Training Assessment Report. 2. pre and post test analysis of trained RLs 3. Monitoring database for RLs taking action

Training on Gender and Masculinity - Religious Leaders

Jul-16 4 days Kaduna, Kaduna State



1. Denis Onoise. 2. Abdulhamid Bagara


Training on Gender and Masculinity -Women Religious Leaders

Aug-16 4 days Kaduna, Kaduna State



1. Denis Onoise 2. Maryam Idris. 3. Sarah Didi


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Enugu State

Training on Gender and Masculinity for Religious Leaders

2nd-5th February, 2015

4 days Enugu, Enugu State

35% old and 65% young men 24 1. Power mapping of level of influence. 2. Religious Leaders who are influential with large followership and able to spread new ideas. 2. RTLs must be from V4C communities where other V4C implementation is going on for saturation 3. power and influence mapping

Sheik Sani Muhammad, Rodney Fortuin, Denis Onoise

1. Gender and masculinity report. 2. pre and post test analysis. 3. 1st case study on RLs

Training on Gender and Masculinity for Religious Leaders

Mar-16 4 days Enugu, Enugu State


1. Denis Onoise 2. Abdulhamid Bagara


Training on Gender and Masculinity for Women Religious Leaders

Jun-16 4 days Enugu, Enugu State


1. Bunmi Shonde. 2. Denis Onoise


REVIEW MEETINGSReview meeting held with RLs in Enugu State - conducted to monitor activities between July and Sept

Mar-16 1/2 day Enugu State

Trained religious leaders on gender and masculinity

11 trained religious leaders Denis Onoise. 2. Usman Abba

Monitoring tool updated with action taken by religious leaders

Review meeting for RLs in Lagos State

Sep-16 1 day Enugu Trained religious leaders on gender and masculinity

30 trained religious leaders Osita and Kobi IkpoMonitoring tool updated with action taken by religious leaders

Review meeting held with RLs in Kduna

Jun-16 1day Kaduna, Kaduna State


15 trained religious leaders Usman Abba and Sara DidiMonitoring tool updated with action taken by religious leaders

Review meeting held with RLs in Kaduna State - conducted to monitor activities between July and Sept

Sep-16 1day Kaduna, Kaduna State


35 trained religious leaders Micheal and Sarah Didimonitoring tool updated with action taken by religious leaders

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Annex 8: Examples of actions by Religious Leaders cited during the in-depth interviews and focus groups for this studyThe following are a selection of excerpts from the interviews from this case study. (As such, they are written as notes from the conversations with the data collectors).

Action/Change Source1 At Laity Council last election in his parish, he reserved 6 slots for women

and 5 for men. At the town union level, he appointed 2 women to be part of executive. He also facilitated the appointment of women in the traditional ruling council (Igwe Council) in his community (Umunofia in Eziagu LGA)

FGD1

2 He organised a seminar for women and men in his diocese on the Role of Women in Good Governance. He started pushing in his parish for 30% female representation in leadership positions.

FGD1

3 CMO members have a plan to work with the Bishop to organise a meeting for all catholic traditional rulers for them to start incorporating women in their cabinet, and to meet with Town Unions (TU) to create space for enlightened women to attend TU meetings and be part of the executives.

FGD1

4 They developed an action plan to step down the training to other members of the organisation including the all the priests in the diocese at their meetings. Individually they have carried out sensitisation programmes with CMO members in their various parishes, with the Town Unions and Traditional Ruling Councils in their various communities and even with the Catholic Youth Organisation of Nigeria (CYON).

FGD1

5 Using his office as the CMO chairman in his parish, he ensured that 3 women were given awards during CMO celebrations of Father’s Day for the recognition of their services to the church. An event that has never happened in the history of the CMO and the church. In his words….’’ It has never happened that a woman’s picture will appear in the Father’s Day Award magazine which is used to celebrate those who have worked hard or led successfully…’’.

FGD1

6 He helped a divorcee recover her money (six hundred thousand Naira) from her former husband.

FGD1

7 He wrote a letter to the traditional council and town union executive to settle a land dispute in favour of an old woman who has been farming on a particular piece of land for over fifty years.

FGD1

8 He has sensitized the men and youth at his church on conflict management and also presented a paper on it at the last Fathers’ Day celebration. He has a Facebook account where he posts messages on gender equality and conflict management.

IDI3

9 He made sure a woman says either the opening or the closing prayer at all parish zonal meetings, and appointed three women to be part of the executive. “It is now a norm in our zonal meetings that women must contribute during the meeting.’

IDI3

10 He has known that VAWG is bad since his childhood, but he now reaches out with messages to his fellow men in CMO and in church to help others to realise that communication and dialogue can reduce or even put a stop to VAWG.

IDI 3

11 As Muslim leaders they use their existing Muslim forums, such as the periodic visit to the NYSC Orientation Camp during the NYSC camping

IDI 4

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exercise as well as Muslim festive periods to promote GEWE messages.12 They ensure that the female corps members, just like the male ones in the

Islamic Centre, take on Hadith learning and then reach out and step down the knowledge acquired. They also organise lectures in various LGAs in the State with the help of the Corps members and others affiliated to the Centre.

IDI4

13 They incorporate GEWE sensitisation messages into their talks on radio programmes and on National Television Authority (NTA), in seminars, Sunday evening classes, during school assemblies and during Islamic and Arabic Studies, as well as during activities for young Muslims and in talks given during Ramadan.

IDI4

14 He challenged the disinheritance of three widows and the arrest of their children for protesting against it. He worked with barristers who were church members to take legal action against the kinsmen of the widows who had seized their land, until the family opted for settlement out of court. (There were threats to his life, see Spotlight Story below)

IDI 5

15 He appointed a female to head the youth wing of the church to help demonstrate the need to support women in leadership and decision making roles, and formed a committee for marriage counselling in his church.

IDI 5

16 He trained the men, women and youth fellowship leaders in his church so that in his absence they can teach others about gender justice.

IDI 5

17 He helped to settle a case of a man physically abusing his wife because she was not attending the same church with him.

IDI 5

18 He conducts motivational talks and ‘step down’ training sessions to NYSC members, youth, men, women and various religious groups to address gender inequality issues – in particular on healthy relationships and appreciating the girl child. He advocates against the enslavement of women and girls or females being “made to just exist and not to be heard”.

IDI 6

19 “One clergyman from the Good Sheppard Anglican Communion who was part of the religious leaders training spoke on a radio programme on gender justice and equality. This is a rare approach as most preaching will speak more of submissiveness and less on gender justice and equality.”

IDI 6

20 “Bar Ifedi is part of the people of the social media trained by V4C. This fellow is active and uses the social media to promote and sensitize others on gender justice. He backs his critical discourse with spiritual texts and also works closely with the religious leader.”

IDI 6

21 He mentioned his own efforts with the NYSC persons and the on-going process to ensure an integrated scheme to reach young graduates go through the NYSC programme in Nigeria every year.

IDI 6

22 He used to relate to his daughters as a “father” in the stereo-typed patriarchal cultural way which does not permit his girls to get close to him, and even when they want to come close to him, he would strive to distance himself from them to conform to societal norms. After the V4C programme, he realised the importance of getting closer to his daughters and became a friend to them, which encouraged them to come closer to him and share their challenges, and allowing him to get inspiration and filial affection from them as well.

IDI 13

23 He organised a step-down programme for the youth, because he sees them as the future leaders, and as especially important for young girls whose future could be enhanced if they are allowed to make decisions about their lives, including education. He believes that it is through an empowered youth that the community and society will be enlightened about the rights of girls to make their own decisions.

IDI 13

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24 He has allowed women to preach in the church on several occasions and believes members have been equally blessed by the teaching and preaching of these women.

IDI13

25 He intervened in a case where a young lady was about to be forced into marriage with a man chosen by her parents, not her. The young woman reported the issue to him and he helped to resolve it by talking with the parents about the danger of their actions for their daughter and sought their support for her choice of partner.

IDI 13

26 He has used the opportunity of the youth holding their meetings in his house to interact with them on a regular basis and introduce GEWE messages.

IDI 13

27 He brought together a group of men from the church and explained the messages of V4C and the need to have equal rights in the family. The men were shocked by the transformation of their Pastor and questioned what he was asking them to do. He explained that the Gbagyi tribe form the majority of his church members, and they do not normally support equality with women. They were disturbed and surprised that he preached about gender equality. Some said; “….Me ne ne an je an koyama Pastor namu ne?” (what have the V4C done to (taught) our pastor?)

He shared that eventually these groups began to share his stance and started putting it into practice and doing things which differ from the norm. They soon brought back testimonies of change. One member told him that he swept the sitting room and his wife could not believe what she saw, as it was the first time he had done it, but he maintained the practice and told his wife that the change was for real and had come to stay. Another member recounted that he had put into practice what was taught, and now his wife submits to him without issue (implying he was no longer using force or traditional patriarchal ways to demand sexual and other needs from his wife). He quoted the man who said that: “I didn’t know that these are the little things I can do to win my wife’s love”. The man has also adopted the habit of asking his wife if there were things she would like him to assist her with, though he said that even when he really intends to help, she refuses the help as she used to doing everything in the home all by herself.

IDI 13

28 Participants observed that the Imam now provides more information on women’s roles and responsibilities to their families and communities and gives clarity on issues like how women should be treated in the community. He refers to the Qur’an and mentions various quotes about the importance of women.

FGD 10

29 After the V4C training, there was a ‘step down’ of the messages to the congregation after which all issues regarding women and family, and how the family could live in harmony were channelled to the Imam. The Imam has been providing counselling services and support which have helped to address some of them. They feel this shows that V4C has imparted additional skills and knowledge to the Imam, because there is a noticeable difference in the way he handles family matters, both through his words and actions.

FGD 10

30 He invited the V4C Lead (Output 3) to come during last year’s parish retreat and Fathers’ Day to give a talk and share his thoughts and experiences on gender equity and fairness with about 300 of his parishioners. The presentation was highly commended by congregation members and some believed that such presentations would resolve family disputes and stabilize families.

IDI 11

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31 Young women who participated in the Purple Academy have since vied for leadership positions within Catholic Students’ Organizations and to become presidents in those organizations. The following institutions have female presidents of the Catholic Students’ Organisation: Kaduna Polytechnic, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria, Nuhu Bamali Campus in Zaria and Kaduna State.

IDI 11

32 He used WhatsApp to share the findings of some research that was carried out that disproved the idea that the Prophet married Aisha at the age of nine. He emphasises the need to protect a woman’s right to reach the age of marriage before giving them out for marriage. He explains that the Qur’an has shown that girls should be taken care of until they are of marriageable age, which is 18 years (Quran 4:6), and even the Prophet (PBUH) gave his daughter’s hand in marriage at the age of 19. He has also used this WhatsApp platform to address issues of girl’s rights and the subjugation of females as inherent in early girl child marriage and child abuse. “In Islam there is a need to always consult women for their opinion, rather than isolating them when taking important decisions. Women must be involved in what is being done in community, be it peace building, conflict prevention, empowerment poverty alleviation, health issues, or education.” He makes reference to chapters in the Qur’an where the prophet consults his wives for their opinion.

IDI 12

33 He explains during his sermons why men should stop beating their wives, and inflicting violence or turning their wives into servants at home. He urges men to love their wives, take care of them and appreciate their work.

IDI 12

34 He has applied the messages of V4C in all aspects of his work, and his own wives have benefited too.

IDI 12

35 During one of his Tafsir, he emphasized the importance of girl child education in Islam and the need to support the girl child in her quest for knowledge and education.

IDI 12

36 His preaching of gender and masculinity messages on TV, radio and other media, including during Ramadan, has not resulted in accusing fingers being pointed at him which indicates that some change is taking place.

IDI 12

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Annex 9: Spotlight: Engagement between the youth and their traditional leaders (a story of change extracted from the notes of a focus group discussion with 8 young men in a community in Enugu State, August 2016)

Sensitisation programmeUntil two years ago, the women of the community were largely excluded from its political life and governance in every sphere. Women were traditionally not allowed to speak in the gathering of community where men were present. Women were also not allowed to participate in royal cabinet meetings or to present their concerns directly to community leaders. When women had any concerns, it was customary for these to be presented through a male family member. Community plans were not discussed with women because of a commonly held belief that women lacked the control of their tongues and could not keep confidential matters to themselves, and so women were not allowed into the executive of the town development union. Women rather had their own separate group and relied on the instructions of the men in the community, who decided their roles and responsibilities in communal affairs. The situation was similar for young women and adolescent girls. The youth group did not include young girls, who were forbidden to participate in youth meetings. Young girls and women, like their adult counterparts were only informed about decisions taken and what roles or responsibilities to play.

In 2014, the young people were approached by an organisation that organized a sensitization activity in the community. The sensitization was designed for the young men and provided information about issues of gender inequality and their implications and impact on community development. The messages on inclusion of women in the political and decision-making affairs of community resonated strongly, buttressed with case stories of women who had successfully participated and made tremendous achievements in national and state level politics. The knowledge gained from the sensitization was overwhelming for the young people. Realizing the gravity of gender inequality in the community, they resolved to tackle the issues head-on.

“The one-day seminar which lasted for 5 hours in our community. In this seminar, they taught us a lot about the importance of women empowerment and gender equality. The seminar made us realise that we have been cheating women in our community” – male youth

“That day was a “terrible” day because we felt bad when we were told about all the wrong things we were doing to women and girls in the community. We never included women in our affairs, women were not allowed to talk where men are talking. After the enlightenment program, we convened a youth meeting and discussed the issues again and we took a unanimous decision to go to the Igwe and his cabinet to sensitize them and demand for a change in the status-quo of women and girls in the community, including the active involvement of women in the royal cabinet.” - Youth president

What happened next?

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The young people of the community thought it wise to start the change from within and lead by example. They convened meetings on how to first engender the youth union before going out to sensitize and influence the Igwe, his all male cabinet and the community at large to change the status quo of women and girls. The local church is one of the platforms that hitherto aggregated young men and women under one umbrella. Through this platform, the young men invited the young women and girls to attend an emergency meeting. In the meeting, they shared about their experiences in the sensitization meeting and their collective decision to henceforth include girls in the youth town union meetings and executive. Positions were created for girls in the executive and an election was held in which girls for the first time in the history of the community vied for elective position of their choice without any restrictions or discrimination.

“We went to church and requested for the women to join us in a meeting and that was how we included women in our meetings. Several girls amongst the people that came for the meeting asked about the various posts in the group. We told the girls that they can contest for any post. The election was tough because although a male emerged the youth chairman, the contender who was a girl in the village conceded by only a narrow margin of two votes. Today we have a stronger youth union where girls and boys are free to contribute as they deem fit.” – young man

Engaging the Igwe and cabinet council on women’s inclusion in leadership and decision-making in the communityFollowing the first unified male and female youth meeting and the election of girls into the executive, the town youth union nominated some male youths pay a visit to the Igwe, to appeal for a change in the status of women and girls, but specifically for the inclusion of women in governance and decision making in the community. At that time, it was still forbidden for women to present their issues on the cabinet floor. At the palace, the youth informed the Igwe about the sensitization and the issues that were discussed. They further informed him of their conviction that the inclusion of women was the right thing to do for accelerated progress of the community, and presented their request for a change in the practice of excluding women in all the spheres of leadership in the community. They informed him about their election and inclusion of girls in the executive council of the youth union. The Igwe was initially opposed to the idea because it was against the norms of the community, but requested for some time to consider the issues and deliberate further with his cabinet.

The youths did not rest on their oars. After the meeting with the Igwe, they had further meetings with key elders, the women and other key opinion leaders in the community including the cabinet chiefs to mobilize support. This process took over 2 months and thereafter the youths paid another visit to the Igwe and cabinet.

“It took us 2 months to mobilize and sensitize people especially, the key figures in the community so as to help us influence the king’s decision” - male youth

The changesDuring the period of “solidarity building”, and while the Igwe and cabinet were deliberating on the issues raised by the youths, the Igwe was invited for a seminar by V4C. They realised that after the seminar the Igwe had had a change of mind. The youths paid him another visit when he returned from the seminar and the Igwe and cabinet accepted to change the norms and create opportunities for women to be included in the royal cabinet, as well as other key governance and decision making institutions in the community. The Igwe and cabinet asked for one year to incrementally implement these changes. Since then 5 women have been installed as fully titled chiefs into the royal cabinet. These women have also been given key positions such as deputy Prime Minister and secretary in the royal cabinet. The youths believe that several changes that have occurred since women were included in the royal

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cabinet, including the increased value placed on women’s voices and concerns, increased peace and harmony in the community, abolition of restrictions on women with regards to movement in the night, and greater participation of younger women, and girls in community development.

“Before the inclusion of women in the cabinet, women were not allowed to speak in the presence of the king and there was no fairness in judgement but now, there is fairness and equity in justice. In the issue of decision making, the women have influenced the laws of the land and there is equality in the land” (Young man)

“Now, there is stronger women advocacy. The women now voice their wants without fear of persecution”

“Now, a female is the king announcer which is a very important position in the cabinet. Before, women did not partake in the sharing of lands but now they get their own share of the land although once she gets married, the land seizes to be hers and becomes either her father’s own or her relatives own although she can decide to sell the land.”

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Annex 10: VAPP Act progression chartDate Activity/Milestone Partners Remarks4th National Assembly (1999-2003)Feb 2001 Legislative Advocacy Coalition on

Violence Against Women (LACVAW) was formed

International Human Rights Law Group and over 52 CSOs

the International Human Rights Law Group supported LACVAW

May 2002 LACVAW submitted to the National Assembly the “Violence Against Women (Prohibition) Bill”

LACVAW, WRAPA, FIDA

The Bill was sponsored by the then Chair of the House Committee on Women Affairs, Hon. Florence Aya.

May 2003 The VAW Bill was Gazetted Bill LACVAW, NASS The Bill could not pass First Reading before the end of that Assembly. This means the Bill was never introduced on the floor of the Nass

5th National Assembly (2003-2007)Sept 2003 The Bill was reintroduced in the

House of RepsLACVAW, House of reps

Hon. Saudatu Sani co-sponsored the Bill with 15 female and 12 male members

08 March 2004

Legislative advocacy and consultation on the Bill was held at the National Assembly

LACVAW, NASS The then Speaker, Hon. Aminu Bello Masari and over 45 other members became co-sponsors of the Bill

May 2005 A Technical Committee was constituted to deliberate on the modalities for the passage of the Bill

LACVAW, Chair of House Committee on Women Affairs, Nass Staff

Technical Committee recommended that the Bill needed to be harmonized with other related Bills on Gender Based Violence, modification of some provisions in order to avoid major obstacles to the passage of the Bill

2006/2007 The process was however again NASS the crisis of tenure

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stalled elongation then known as the “3rd Term Agenda” affected all legislative activities up to the point of the 2007 elections

6th National Assembly (2007-2011)19 June 2008

A consultative meeting was held with the various sponsors of the Bills on GBV to harmonize all the bills into one

LACVAW, WRAPA, FIDA

a gender neutral title for the harmonized Bill, was adopted as the “Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Bill”

July 2008 The “Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Bill 2008” was presented to the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters during a Public Hearing on Sexual Offences (Prohibition) Bill and Public Nudity Bill

LACVAW Working Group

Sept 2009 LACVAW was supported by DFID as a legislative advocacy core group

DFID,LACVAW Legislative Advocacy core Group on Justice Sector Reform was initiated by the Justice Component of DFID

9 Dec 2009

The Bill was sponsored in the House by the then Chair of the House Committee on Women Affairs Hon. Binta Masi Garba

NASS

30 June 2010

The Bill passed First Reading in the House of Reps

NASS

Feb 2011 The Bill passed Second Reading and was referred to the Committees of Women Affairs, Human Rights and Justice

NASS

11 Feb 2011

A Public Hearing was held on the Bill LACVAW, GTU, C4C, CSO, Dev. Partners, NASS

But again the Bill was not passed before the expiration of that Assembly as the report was awaiting consideration in the Committee of the Whole House

7th National Assembly (2011-2015)June 2011 The Bill was re-introduced by Hon.

Abike Dabiri-Erewa and given accelerated consideration

GTU, LACVAW, NASS

pursuant to Order XII, Rule 96 of the Standing Orders of the House of Representatives (Business Continued from Assembly to Assembly)

21 June 2012

The House adopted a motion brought by Hon. Abike Dabiri and the Bill was committed to the Committee of Whole for reconsideration

NASS, GTU

5 March 2013

Clause by Clause consideration of the Report of the Committee of Whole

NASS, GTU

14 March The Bill was cleaned, read the Third NASS, GTU

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2013 Time and Passed19 April 2013

the Bill was transmitted to the Senate for concurrence

NASS, GTU

18 March, 2014

The Bill passed First Reading in the Senate

It was Sponsored by Sen. Victor Ndoma Egba, Senate Leader

16 Oct, 2014

The Bill Passed Second Reading in the Senate

It was referred to the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Justice and Human Rights for further legislative action

2 March 2015

Public Hearing was conducted on the Bill

LACVAW, GTU, CSOs, V4C, OXFAM, UNWOMEN, Ipas Nigeria and other partners

More than 100 CSOs attended the Public Hearing

12 May 2015

Report of the Conference Committee was laid in both Chambers of Nass

14 May 2015

Report of the Conference Report was adopted in both Chambers of Nass

18 May 2015

the Bill was forwarded to the Directorate of Legal Services for Authentication

The Bill was eventually transmitted to the Presidency by the Clerk to the National Assembly

25 May 2015

President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan signed the VAPP Bill into Law

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Annex 11: V4C’s ObjectivesGoal: Adolescent Girls and Women (AGW) get improved access to health, education, economic, political opportunities and justice

Outcome: The enabling environment for AGWs’ empowerment in Nigeria strengthened

OutputsOutput 1: Adolescent girls and women with improved life skills

Output 2: Community of people with improved knowledge and attitudes that challenges gender discrimination

Output 3: Key influencers, including boys and men, with improved attitudes to girls and women

Output 4: Greater inclusion of girls and women issues in political and governance processes

Output 5: Evidence base for GEWE accessible to Nigeria to encourage learning and debates about the issues

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Annex 12: V4C Theory of ChangeRefresh, March 2016

Components and role of the Theory of ChangeThe Theory of Change for V4C articulates the expected causal process for change – what changes are expected to arise from the intervention, and why. The visual depiction of the ToC (Figure 1) is one part of this articulation; this narrative description is a second part. These are both closely connected to the Intervention Logic (see separate document), which translates the ToC into programmatic terms, setting the causal logic out in linear fashion, in line with programme activities and outputs.

The Theory of Change describes and reflects current thinking about cause and effect, and the programme strategy response. In this sense, it is a work in progress, since learning and understanding of how the programme works in this context is expected to accumulate and evolve. As this continues to happen, the ToC is expected to develop and be further elaborated. At the same time it is intended to represent ‘state of the art’ understanding of the programme at a given point in the programme’s lifecycle, and therefore is a key tool for planning future phases.

Main changes to the original Theory of ChangeBoth the visual depiction and the narrative of the causal process have been elaborated and re-visioned to some extent. The main changes are as follows:o The overall change sought – in general terms – is placed at the centre of the

model. This is stated as ‘a more enabling environment for girls and women’. Thus the three domains of intervention - ‘Self’ ‘Society’ and ‘Institutions’ – can be more clearly seen as domains in which steps towards this overall change are expected through programme activities. Previously concentric rings, these are now placed as equal segments of a single ring around the overall change sought.

o Placing the domains around the outside of the central ‘change sought’ also allows focus on the sites at which these domains connect: the sites at which synergies are possible and necessary in order to maximise the change in the enabling environment.

o Re-conceptualising the overall change sought also means that activities taking place in the domain of ‘Self’ can be envisaged more broadly than in the previous articulation of the ToC. Previously, the ‘Self’ was conceived as specifically denoting young women. In this new formulation, activities in the domain of ‘Self’ involve young women, but also young men, religious and traditional leaders and other actors. These are all actors to whom the programme offers direct intervention aimed at self-transformation as a basis for taking forward a gender justice agenda leading to a more enabling environment for girls and women.

o Linking the three domains to the overall change sought are a number of core strategies specific to each domain. These represent the main intervention approach in that domain, as expressed through programme activities and outputs.

o The role of V4Cs communications work is expressed in this model as twofold: communications operates both as a ‘pillar’ or output in targeting social norms in the domain of Society. At the same time it operates as a cross cutting strategy, linking and enhancing the work taking place in the other domains of Self and Institutions.

o The role of evidence is also clearly depicted in this model as cutting across the work in all three domains and supporting and enhancing progress towards the overall change sought. The aim is to draw on available evidence and generate new evidence from programme implementation and use both of these to inform and adapt implementation approaches.

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o The synergy interfaces are maximised by core strategies and interventions which link the synergy interface to the overall change sought in the centre of the ToC.

The causal logicThe programme engages in each of the three domains of Self, Society, and Formal Institutions. Changes in each of these domains in combination are expected to lead to the overall change. It is understood that interventions in all three dimensions are necessary in order to achieve the overall change. While specific types of changes are expected to take place in each domain, these changes are also expected to impact on and reinforce changes in the other domains in synergistic ways. Working simultaneously in all three domains is thus expected to achieve more than the sum of their parts, or to maximise the change in the enabling environment.

Broadly speaking, the causal logic is as follows: o In the domain of Self, young women and young men will acquire knowledge and skills

about gender equality through programme activities – both virtual and physical - which use transformational methodologies. These use participatory learning styles, bringing groups of young men or women together to identify harmful social norms related to gender that they have personal experience of, and to reflect on these. They aim to increase individuals’ understanding and awareness of gender inequality and how this limits the fulfilment of their own potential. The approach includes analysis of steps to change behaviour and attitude and aims to develop individuals’ consciousness and skills to bring about positive change in their own relationships and aspirations. For young women, raising self esteem is another dimension of the personal transformation process. Self-transformation achieved by these methods will empower/drive women and men to challenge discriminatory norms in the domain of Society.

o Religious and traditional leaders (RTLs), men’s networks and other key influencers such as celebrities will also experience the programme’s transformative methodologies and undergo personal transformation in attitudes and behaviour and increased commitment to supporting gender justice.

o Synergy: All these actors - young women and men, RTLs, key influencers and men in the male networks engaged by the programme – will contribute to change in the domain of Society by interacting with and influencing individuals in their reference groups – families, religious groups, media followers etc. – as well as by acting as role models demonstrating new social norms to these and others. These contributions are expected to take place immediately as well as over the long term. For young women and young men in particular, the contribution is expected to increase in the future, as they get older and become more influential in society.

o Synergy: These actors will be strengthened in their self-transformation by awareness of legal change which promotes gender equality and penalties associated with transgressing the law, and through increasing support to women’s leadership in institutions.

o Synergy: Young women and men experiencing transformational methodologies will be strengthened in their self-transformation by interacting with RTLs, celebrities, and men in male networks who have experience the transformational approach of direct programme intervention. For example, young women might belong to the congregation of a transformed RTL.

o Synergy: All these actors will also be strengthened in their transformed attitudes and behaviour through the production, dissemination and use of evidence that challenges stereotypes and myths, providing evidence and role models of new ways of doing things.

In the domain of Society a ‘rising tide’ population of general members of society not ‘directly’ targeted by the programme is expected to undergo change in knowledge, attitudes

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and practices in areas key to gender equality (women’s leadership, women’s decision making and VAWG). o This change is expected to take place through social norms change which will change

the attitudes and behaviour of individuals both through peer pressure (producing changed behaviour before changed attitude) and directly through changing attitudes, leading to changed behaviour. Social norm change will be driven by a combination of:

Exposure to new norms, discussion and debate via mass media communications, behaviour change communications, campaigns (radio, TV, internet, social media, and terrestrial campaigns).

Exposure to key influencers addressed by the programme with transformative methodologies.

Increasingly in the future, exposure to the young people addressed by the programme with transformative methodologies who will gain social influence as they become adults.

o Synergy: Citizens become aware of legal changes and increasing women’s leadership in institutions and this strengthens their change in attitudes and practices, and thereby new social norms.

o Synergy: Enforcement of new laws will reinforce behaviour and attitude changes by example.

o Synergy: Citizens are aware of better evidence on men and women that challenges stereotypes, and this strengthens the social norms change that they are part of.

o In the domain of Institutions, a combination of direct advocacy and capacity building in governance institutions by partner organisations will bring about legal change and increased women’s leadership.

o New evidence on women, men and gender equality will be available to policy makers who will move towards planning and budgets supportive to GEWE.

o New modalities of work and new and more widespread skills will be available in policy making circles to move towards planning and budgets supportive to GEWE.

o Greater women’s leadership and more women in the governance sphere will also lead to better representation of women’s concerns in policy making;

o Synergy: Key Influencers driven by self-transformation will contribute to advocacy for legal and policy change. These will be among the citizens’ networks / organisations which will form a vibrant voice supporting GEWE issues.

o Synergy: Links between young women and women in formal institutions function both to inspire young women, giving them direct access to positive role models, as well as increasing opportunities for their (future) leadership

Cross-cutting strategies:The production of evidence and the design of communications tools and events will be underpinned by the changes taking place in the three domains. They will also contribute to supporting those changes, thereby involving a two-way, iterative process.

o New evidence which challenges negative social norms will be produced and publicised to show alternative ways of behaving;

o Evidence will be presented in ways which are useful and convincing to policy makers and advocacy groups;

o Gender experts will be identified and trained to meet the growing demand for expertise brought about by better evidence on gender relations and GEWE.

o Synergy: Project stakeholders/actors will be closely involved in the process of collecting and distributing evidence, so that understanding and ownership of the new evidence is strong. This is intended to increase its likelihood of being used.

o Synergy: Information and personal experience generated through direct intervention transformation processes will be integrated into communications products.

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As implied by the emphasis on synergies between domains, the change process is expected to be non-linear, and therefore not fully depicted by the programme steps outlined in the Intervention Logic.

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Celebrities

Individuals’ transformation,agency, and influence are strengthened by awareness of legal change and in women’s leadership;

Links between young women and women in formal institutions create role models and increase opportunities for their (future) leadership

• Citizens are aware of legal change and women’s leadership and this affects their attitudes and practices

• Citizens’ networks / organisations form a vibrant voice supporting GEWE issues

Transformed individuals also access media and key influencers

Citizens also interact with transformed individuals in their reference groups

Connections btw key influencers and

advocacy processSupport for young

women’s leadership

Support to key influencers

Transformed individuals supported to act in society

Social norms change through mass media and key influencers

Communicati

EvidenReflect Explore Learn

DebateMass media saturation

AdvocacyCapacity Building

(mentoring, training

Transformational methodologies

Planning and Budgets

Law and Policies

Families

Media

Religious Institutions

Networks of men and women

Direct Intervention for self-transformation

RTLs

Young women

Young men

A more enabling environment for girls and women

Institutions

SocietySelf

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