Khadijah Aliyu
The Society for Women Development and Empowerment for Nigeria SWODEN, in collaboration with Nutrition International NI under its gender-responsive behavioural change intervention BCI strategy project, organized a one-day workshop with women organizations on gender mainstreaming to support BCI.
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According to the executive director of SWODEN, who doubles as co-chair of KanSLAM, Pharmacist Maimuna Yakubu Muhammad, the workshop was organized to create awareness towards increased male participation in women’s access to healthcare and to empower women to utilize MNCH services.
She noted that others are to equip motivators and service providers on how to increase knowledge among pregnant women and influencers on the benefits of attending at least four ANC clinics from early pregnancy and IFA uptake.
“To build the capacity of service providers towards providing a youth-friendly services to Al without stigma and discrimination”
Pharmacist Maimuna hinted that, inadequate skills and knowledge for women leads to increased nutrition and health issues in the households and community, saying that educating and empowering them their families have a better nutrition.
The executive director explained that, improving nutrition for women adolescent girls and children lays the foundation for their current and future education productivity and economic empowerment adding that men are also under represented in the gender equality discourse at large.
“Men can and should engage in the promotion and practice of health nutritional behaviors for their own sake and their families”
She emphasized on the importance of gender equality in nutrition health saying that, poor nutrition contributes to women’s diminished ability to gain access to other assets later in life and undermines attempts to eliminate gender inequalities.
She highlighted that gender equality and improved nutrition are mutually reinforcing
“A woman’s empowerment status is interconnected with her nutritional status and addressing underlying gendered barriers and constraints will improve nutritional outcomes in programming”
“Women in poor nutrition are caught in a vicious circle of poverty and undernutrition”
She described male motivators and service providers as change agents working in communities to promote awareness, challenge harmful gender norms and unequal socio cultural practices that adversely impact women and girls, and advocate for policies and programs that support gender equality.
“men can be very important change agents as they serve as educators to families and as mentors to other men”
Paradigm News reports that, the workshop is part of the gender mainstreaming through behavioral change intervention BCI implemented by SWODEN in collaboration with nutrition international NI.
They work by creating awareness and sensitization towards increasing male involvement in Women’s access to health care, decision making, use of zinc Lo-ORS hygiene and nutrition across Gaya, Kumbotso, Nasarawa, Warawa and Wudil LGAs Kano.
SWODEN is a nonprofit non governmental organization NGO dedicated to enhancing the well being of women children and youth particularly at the grassroots level.
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