By Abbas Jimoh
The ActionAid Nigeria (AAN) has unveiled a new gender equality initiative worth N11 billion, aimed at empowering women and girls across the country.
The five-year scheme funded by Global Affairs Canada is known as the Renewed Women’s Voice and Leadership (RWVL) project was formally launched on Thursday in Abuja.
It seeks to strengthen women-led organisations, enhance political participation, and combat gender-based violence nationwide.
The ActionAid Nigeria Country Director, Andrew Mamedu, said the project would target more than 2.7 million women across Nigeria, including those living with disabilities, women in politics, and those facing discrimination or exclusion.
“The project will directly engage 188 women-led organisations.
We are committed to ensuring these groups reach communities at the grassroots, from local governments to state level,” Mamedu said.
He said that the initiative will cover eight states and the Federal Capital Territory.
He said, “It will also create emergency funding opportunities to address urgent women’s rights challenges such as political violence and sudden crises.
“This is about ensuring that when emergencies happen, women’s organisations have resources to respond quickly. The RWVL project, valued at 15 million Canadian dollars, is expected to impact women across all 36 states over time.”
He also said that the AAN would work closely with federal and state governments, civil society, and development partners to deliver on its targets.
Also speaking at the launch Canada’s High Commissioner to Nigeria, Pasquale Salvaggio, said the project is a demonstration of his country’s commitment to advancing gender equality.
“We are absolutely honoured to be part of this initiative. It supports locally-led women’s rights groups, helps tackle gender-based violence, promotes economic empowerment, and pushes for policies that protect women,” Salvaggio said.
He said that the project among others is to strengthen women’s rights and leadership roles in Nigeria.
Salvaggio said that the initiative builds on the success of the previous Women’s Voice and Leadership Project (2019–2024), which reached more than 752,000 women and girls directly, over 6.2 million people indirectly, and strengthened 182 women’s rights organisations across 24 states and the FCT.
He said, “By investing in the leadership and economic agency of women and girls, communities and markets thrive. This project will not only reduce poverty but also advance gender equality by providing core funding so organisations can set their own agendas, respond to local needs, and drive sustained change.”
He said that Canada remains one of the top global donors supporting women’s empowerment, with 95 per cent of its bilateral development assistance directly targeting or integrating gender equality.
The Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Imam-Suleiman Ibrahim, commended the initiative as critical to achieving Nigeria’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
She urged stakeholders to work together to remove barriers to inclusive development and ensure women are at the forefront of governance, entrepreneurship, and community transformation.
Also, the Deputy Country Director of ActionAid Nigeria, Hajiya Suwaiba Muhammad Dankabo, said that the five-year programme (2025–2030), to be implemented in Benue, Kwara, Enugu, Imo, Lagos, Kebbi, Bauchi, Cross River and the FCT, will support at least 188 local women’s rights organisations working with ultra-marginalised groups, including women and girls with disabilities, those living with HIV, sex workers, young feminists, domestic workers, internally displaced women, refugees, adolescent girls, elderly women, and women in politics.
