This awareness-building and advocacy project focused on spurring the knowledge, participation, and action of Nigerian women in support of their fundamental human rights, including their right to participate in civic life at local, state, and national levels. Core communication strategies included:

• Networking and coalition building among both established and nascent D&G NGO community and women’s community mobilisation organisations;
• Strengthening advocacy, communication, and lobbying skills of D&G NGOs and women’s community mobilisation organisations;
• Strengthening organisational leadership, internal governance and accountability of D&G NGOs, with special attention to democratic processes;
• Capacity building of the selected D&G NGOs, women’s groups and community mobilisation organizations;
• Increasing community involvement in decision making in the civil, political, and governance process;
• Creating awareness among, and educating women about, political issues;
• Empowering women through gender sensitisation; and
• Documenting and disseminating information on democratic participation and fundamental human rights.

To support these strategies, the following media and materials were produced and NGO information, education and communication (IEC) activities were created to inform and mobilise their membership:

• Standardised IEC resource kits were developed and distributed to the NGOs. The kits contained information booklets about democracy, a how-to booklet on communication and advocacy, and a trainer’s guide on empowering women. These materials were used to educate the NGO members in democratic principles and to train them in advocacy and consciousness-raising skills.
• Other resource and support materials such as posters, leaflets and pamphlets and promotional materials (including stickers, scarves, cups, T-shirts and other novelty items) were produced by Nigerian women’s groups.
• NGO-specific activities were held, and included cultural activities with D&G themes, radio and television broadcasts, live drama performances, capacity-building seminars and workshops, advocacy visits to sensitise community leaders to gender issues, and community mobilisation activities such as rallies, meetings, and carnivals.

The media strategy behind JHU/PCS’s effort was based on a partnership with the Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ). JHU/PCS worked with NAWOJ in 6 states (Enugu, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Lagos and Oyo) to promote women’s democratic activities and to advocate on behalf of women. Working with NAWOJ, JHU/PCS trained NGO leaders and female politicians to work with the media to ensure adequate coverage and visibility. NAWOJ served as a link and outlet among the D&G NGOs by writing articles about their activities. The purpose of this media advocacy component of the project was to encourage media support for women’s political participation, to increase the coverage of women’s empowerment issues, to improve the portrayal of women’s issues in the media, and to provide greater visibility for women taking up political roles.

Women, Human Rights, Civic Responsibility, Democratic Participation.

This work was first phase of a multiphase project which included an evaluation design that sought to quantify project impact at 3 different levels: NGO membership level, NGO institution level, and community level. Impact was assessed through a quasi-experimental design involving the measurement of indicators such as knowledge, perception, and action towards the issues before and after the intervention.