ActionAid Nigeria has commenced training of 25 Gender Desk Officers from line-Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in Kogi state on gender mainstreaming.
Addressing participants at a two-day workshop on gender mainstreaming in Lokoja at the weekend, ActionAid Women Rights Manager, Mrs Nkechi Ilochi-Omekedo said the programme was part of activities marking the International Women’s Day.
According to her, the training was aimed at optimal performance as it would enable the officers to acquire requisite skills to analyze and design programmes based on the undeserved gender, male or female.
“We are looking at building their skills on gender mainstreaming so that when they are designing plans and programmes and looking at policies, they will look at them from gender perspectives”, she said.
She lamented that in spite of various conventions on enforcement of women’s rights, Nigerian women were underserved in both elective and appointive positions.
Also speaking, the Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social development, Hajia Barikisu Momoh, described gender mainstreaming as a development tool for achieving national development goals and objectives.
