By Uangbaoje Alex, Kaduna

The Empowering Women for Excellence Initiative (EWEI) says its Together We Can project has reached 276 women and girls, mobilised 581 community members and engaged 102 government representatives and institutional actors in efforts to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls in conflict-affected communities in Kaduna State.

The project, supported by the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women, combined mental health and psychosocial support, economic empowerment, community mobilisation and institutional capacity strengthening in Kasuwan Magani, Kajuru Local Government Area, and Kujama, Chikun Local Government Area.

Speaking at the project’s dissemination and closing ceremony in Kaduna on Tuesday, EWEI Programme Director, Safiya Ibn Garba, said the intervention was designed to help women and girls move beyond the trauma of conflict towards recovery, economic independence and safer communities.

She said the project engaged women and girls affected by conflict while working with men, boys, traditional rulers, religious leaders and service providers to challenge harmful practices that perpetuate gender-based violence.

“When conflict sweeps through a community, it is women and girls who carry the invisible, enduring weight. They carry the grief, the broken livelihoods, and the constant, lingering threat of violence against women and girls,” she said.

Ibn Garba explained that the initiative provided counselling, psychosocial support, capacity building and economic empowerment, alongside referral pathways connecting survivors to medical, legal and police services.

She said the project also strengthened community participation in preventing violence and supporting survivors, adding that traditional and religious leaders and male champions were mobilised to promote safer communities and encourage bystander intervention.

According to her, the project’s digital advocacy, public awareness campaigns and online outreach reached more than 1.6 million people with messages promoting peace and zero tolerance for gender-based violence.

“These are not just statistics on a page; they represent renewed homes, safer streets, active bystander intervention, and an elevated quality of living across Kasuwan Magani and Kujama,” she said.

The project’s impact fact sheet, presented by its Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning focal person, Mendie Jeremiah, highlighted gains in mental health support, business survival and women’s financial independence.

It reported a 46.43 per cent reduction in mental health symptoms among women who received support, with 58 women accessing counselling and 83.3 per cent rating the service very highly.

The initiative also provided loans to 80 women, recording a reported business survival rate of 89.43 per cent and income increases ranging from 40 to 60 per cent. The fact sheet put the full loan repayment rate at 71.67 per cent.

It further reported that 74.77 per cent of beneficiaries felt more valued and supported, while 31 women achieved full financial independence and enhanced personal agency.

The project established or supported eight women’s cooperatives and mobilised 60 male champions as part of its community-based prevention strategy.

The fact sheet identified insecurity and operational delays as challenges affecting implementation, prompting adaptive measures such as flexible loan repayment schedules, safe access plans and peer learning.

For sustainability, it recommended using cooperative safe spaces to bring counselling and specialist services closer to women, strengthening local counselling capacity, and institutionalising survivor-sensitive documentation, refresher training and staff handover procedures in health and justice systems.

It also called for continued support for survivor-led peer networks, women’s cooperatives and male champion groups, alongside stronger coordination with Sexual Assault Referral Centres, the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, justice institutions and financial service providers.

Representing the Kaduna State Commissioner for Education, Hajiya Khadija Ado commended EWEI for its interventions, describing the ministry as a direct beneficiary of efforts to prevent violence and establish safe community mechanisms.

She said the initiative provided psychological support, empowered girls and engaged men and boys to help keep girls in school.

Ado added that the project’s support had strengthened second-chance re-entry guidelines and AGYLE programmes.

She said the ministry wanted to institutionalise key interventions, including community mobilisation, capacity building for relevant actors and survivor-centred referral pathways, within its safe school framework.

The education ministry representative pledged continued collaboration with EWEI and the UN Trust Fund to sustain the gains beyond the project’s target communities.

Also speaking, Hadiza Nasir, who represented the Kaduna State Commissioner for Health, said protecting women and girls was both a human rights obligation and a public health priority.

She commended the project partners for their commitment to empowering women and girls and preventing gender-based violence.

Nasir urged stakeholders to sustain the achievements and continue working together to build safer and healthier communities.

Kuwot Waje, a director in the Kaduna State Ministry of Justice who represented the state Attorney-General, congratulated the organisers on reaching the project milestone.

He said a society could not thrive when women were subjected to high levels of violence.

Waje said the Kaduna State Government supported initiatives aimed at addressing gender-based violence and had implemented policies, legislation and operational systems intended to reduce such violence and related crimes against women.

He called for Kaduna State to continue benefiting from similar programmes and urged that successful interventions be replicated across communities throughout the state.

The Sarki of Tudun-Wada, Yamma, Kujama, Mr Amos Yakubu, said traditional rulers and community leaders had witnessed the benefits of the initiative over the period of implementation.

He expressed appreciation to the organisers and the state government for supporting communities affected by the programme.

Yakubu appealed to the organisers to enrol more people if similar opportunities became available, particularly those who had yet to benefit, to ensure that the gains reached more communities.

He also urged residents to cooperate with the organisers and avoid resentment over the distribution of project benefits.

Ibn Garba said the project’s achievements demonstrated the importance of collaboration between communities, government institutions and development partners in addressing violence against women and girls.

She thanked the UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women, project partners, traditional and religious leaders, institutional actors and the EWEI team for their contributions.

She also acknowledged women, girls, men and boys in Kasuwan Magani and Kujama for participating in the intervention.

The project’s recommendations for sustaining its gains include strengthening community leadership, maintaining referral pathways, preserving institutional knowledge and improving access to mental health and livelihood support despite insecurity and other operational challenges.