UN, Zamani Foundation, Others, Captures, 7500 Women for Empowerment in Kaduna State 

By Alex Uangbaoje, Kaduna 

Nigeria – Following the “one woman one ID card” project launch, aimed at increasing the level of financial inclusion among Nigeria women, introduced by United Nations Women, powered by Mastercard and National Identity Management Cards (NIMC), in collaboration with Zamani Foundation, over 7500 women has been registered in Kaduna.

Founder/CEO Zamani Foundation, Talatu Zamani, disclosed this in an interview with NEWSWEB EXPRESS, at the end of the enrollment exercise that lasted for two weeks.

According to Talatu, the scheme was targeted at empowering 5000 women in Kaduna state to reduce the poverty level among women and the society in general, but that target was exceeded because of the high level of participation by women in the state.

She added that the idea was not just to give the women ID cards but “to financially empower them by training them in financial savingness, business trainings etc. The card will also give them access to everything you do with an ID card,  voting rights, travelling rights, even in banking by using it to register for an account.

“We are also adding a  financial component, it will make it easier for rural women who can not have direct access to banking services to have access through this card. You can as well get public and private support through this card.”

She commended the UNwomen and Mastercard for funding the registeration under the Goverment biometric ID card program and NIMC for their partnership, saying, “this would mark a turnaround in the lives of the women as UNwomen intends to increase women’s economic empowerment which perfectly aligns with Mastercard project efforts to expand financial inclusion in Nigeria.”

Talatu, therefore thanked her team members for their effort and commitment throughout the period of the programme, and gave award of commendation to the staff that had the highest number of enrollment.

At the launch of the project which was piloted in Kaduna, UN Women Representative, Ms Adjaratou Ndiaye, had said that “for UN Women this campaign is a critical phase To Help women who can sometimes be among the most vulnerable when it comes to enjoying their rights, have their citizenship formally recognised and claim their rights in a variety of domain. 

“In UN women, support to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment, the possession of a national ID card is a fundamental stage to women’s participation in political governance, access to financial resources, their protection as a full citizen of a Nation and a sub region to guarantee their well-being and safe mobility.”

Ndiaye,  explained that the project is targetted to reach 500.000 women across Nigeria to empower 70% of Nigeria women living under poverty line, a majority of which are women facing added gendered challenges of lower representation in decision making positions, informal employment, lower income, lower education and limited access to information and constraints on mobility. 

“The strategy directly addresses four initiatives to encourage financial inclusion: development of diverse financial products; enhancement of payment processes, development of a credit system and encourage a saving culture mentality. She said. 

Newsweb

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