Our mobilisation on the ground in Nigeria | Nala Mission

[ld_fancy_heading tag=”p” alignment=”text-justified” use_custom_fonts_title=”true” fs=”text_small:17px” lh=”text_small:1.88em” color=”rgb(0, 0, 0)” margin=”bottom_small:2em”]We held roundtables with young women to unpack the multiple layers of exclusion they encounter in their feminist and activist work. We are grounded on the premise that we cannot move without the generation coming after. Our solidarity with them and their solidarity with us is the only way forward. We learnt, we laughed and questioned how we could hold governments accountable for their commitments at ending gender disparity and violence.[/ld_fancy_heading][ld_fancy_heading tag=”h2″ alignment=”text-left” padding=”top_small:7px|bottom_small:7px”]Nigeria Mobilization and Advocacy Mission[/ld_fancy_heading][ld_fancy_heading tag=”p” alignment=”text-justified” use_custom_fonts_title=”true” fs=”text_small:17px” lh=”text_small:1.88em” color=”rgb(0, 0, 0)” margin=”bottom_small:2em”]Shortly after the Nala Inaugural Summit, Nala Council Aya Chebbi and Oluwaseun Ayodeji Osowobi led a mission on the ground in Nigeria advocating for accountability on the GEF commitment which the Nigerian government has made at the Generation equality forum in Paris. In bilateral meetings with the EU commission in Nigeria, the French Ambassador to Nigeria, Malala Fund, the MacArthur Foundation, and multiple young women and youth led organizations.
This was also an opportunity to brief different stakeholders about the work of Nala and the progress made since the launch of Nala on July 1st of last year.  The council also leveraged these meeting to explore funding opportunities, and braintormed ways of dismantling funding schemes that fail to benefit young women working in grassroots movements.[/ld_fancy_heading][ld_fancy_heading tag=”p” alignment=”text-center” use_custom_fonts_title=”true” padding=”top_small:7px|bottom_small:7px” fs=”text_small:12px”]Nalafem panel discussion at the Youth pavilion © Nala[/ld_fancy_heading][ld_fancy_heading tag=”p” alignment=”text-justified” use_custom_fonts_title=”true” fs=”text_small:17px” lh=”text_small:1.88em” margin=”bottom_small:1em”]The session moderated by Siouar Douss – Nalafem Coordinator opened the floor for the young feminists to reflect on the unique circumstances African women live, the importance of investing in the socio-economic empowerment of African women to reach an effective climate action. They also discussed the role of African women in forming the continent’s plan for coping with the effects of climate change, from a continental vision to specific local practices, through stories from their own communities.[/ld_fancy_heading][ld_fancy_heading tag=”p” alignment=”text-justified” use_custom_fonts_title=”true” fs=”text_small:17px” lh=”text_small:1.88em” margin=”bottom_small:1em”]Cameroonian activist Nigimou Victorine Nchokunoshared young women and girls stories in Cameroon that are subjected to climate hazards, heat waves, floods and droughts, and how this affects the livelihood of women specifically. Nigimou explained how women are disproportionately experiencing the effects of climate change, while poverty exposes them to early marriage and gender-based violence in local and indigenous communities in Cameroon.[/ld_fancy_heading][ld_fancy_heading tag=”p” alignment=”text-justified”]Climate activist Mthembukazi Bavuma (South Africa) shared stories from local communities in her country, and how she engages communities on the social, economic, and environmental injustices they face. She explained how the electricity shortage in South Africa adds to the mental charge of women and requires them to manage limited resources in the household which confines them in a non-ending survival mode, and how being in this state of survival holds women from preventing gender-based violence against them. Additionally, Bavuma stressed on the significance of discerning between harmful and insightful African traditions, highlighting that it is the only way of retrieving the preserved knowledge that Africans carried out for centuries to benefit the world and protect the planet.[/ld_fancy_heading]