WE LEAD NIGERIA STATEMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

This year’s International Women’s Day centers on sustainability and building a greener society. Achieving a greener society cuts across various parts and most especially the lives of women and girls. To celebrate today is to recognize the interconnectedness between gender equality, sexual and reproductive health and rights and climate change. Evidently, Nigeria’s climate has been changing: increases in temperature; variable rainfall; rise in sea level and flooding; drought and desertification; land degradation; more frequent extreme weather events; affected fresh water resources and loss of biodiversity.

Climate change issues have negative impacts on maternal health and create conditions that result in increases in gender-based violence, including harmful practices such as child marriage especially in displaced  communities. In particular, adolescents; sex workers; people living with disabilities; and those of underrepresented sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC) face significant barriers in accessing SRHR information and services, including in climate change ecosystem.

Today, We Lead Community of Action in Nigeria recognizes the need for an establised dedicated network of actors focusing on SRHR and climate change for improved dialogue, collaboration, approaches, and processes. 
March 8 every year has been set aside by the United Nations as International Women’s Day. A day set aside to reflect and commemorate the cultural, political, and socioeconomic achievements of women. It is also a focus point for the women’s right movements in Nigeria and all over the world to address some of the challenges women face such as gender inequality, lack of reproductive justice, economic inequality, political exclusion, education parity, violence against women and girls amongst others.

The IWD  2022 with the theme for this year as “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow” tends to focus on highlighting the contributions of women and girls around the globe and their participation in their communities towards promoting climate change adaptation, mitigation, and response, as a means of building a more sustainable future for all. 

About We Lead Nigeria
We Lead is a new, inspiring, innovative and far-reaching program aiming to improve the sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRH-R) of young women. It focuses on four specific groups of young women: those who live with HIV, who have a disability, who identify as lesbian, bisexual, trans, or intersex, and who are affected by displacement. The program puts young women rightsholders in the driving seat while supporting them to impactful and sustainably advocate for their SRH-R. The We Lead consortium consists of six civil society organizations (Positive Vibes, Restless Development, Marsa, FEMNET, the Central American Women’s Fund, Hivos).

The We Lead is currently being implemented in Nigeria by a Community of Action (COA) of 11 organizations. The COA will support in developing and implementing strategies to shift social and gender norms – starting with their direct environment and gradually reaching the general public. We Lead Nigeria will help rightsholders influence SRH-R service providers to improve their access to SRH-R information and services and support them in lobbying duty bearers to change laws and policies in favor of rightsholders’ SRH-R.