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The Kano workshop was our first and the entire team was really nervous. We soon discovered that we had little to worry about. The beauty of using the Participatory Action Research methodology was that all we had to do was listen, interact and record the information that came from the participants! (PICTURE 1: ABISOYE FACILITATES ONE OF THE BREAKOUT GROUPS)
The women and men that came to our Kano workshop arrived 1 1/2 hours late as they had to go to their offices before coming to the workshop. But once they arrived they stayed late because they were learning so much from each other. Their enthusiasm exuberance and flexibility boosted our confidence. Kano setus off to a wonderful start!
On our second day in Kano, we went on site visits - - visiting CBOs and NGOs to gain a better understanding of the projects they run and their infrastructural support.
Generally, we found that most people that worked for community-based organizations (CBOs) had one or several other jobs and that most CBOs have very little infrastructure — some are without offices, basing their operations out of people’s homes.
One of the few exceptions was AHIP, the Adolescent Health and Information Project. AHIP is an organization that takes young women and teaches them skills such as sewing, weaving and basic arithmetic for trading. (PICTURE 3-AHIP STUDENTSHARD AT WORK AT THEIR WEAVING MACHINES)
AHIP is one in a growing number of organizations that have been created to address issues of importance to women. Most of the young women in the AHIP center are between 13 and 18 years old and are already married. (PICTURE 4-YOUNG GIRLS AT THE AHIP TRAINING CENTER)
The center aims to help these young women toward a strong sense of self. Mairo Bello, the director, explained that a strong sense of identity empowers these young girls/women to contribute to and gain more from their community.
WOFAN is another organization with its own building. Like most NGOs with offices, it had a library with pamphlets from workshops the organization had either conducted or participated in as well as literature from other organizations. KIND’s brochure, which had been distributed to workshop participants the day before had already been assigned its own space on the shelves.
Members from Al-Mumin Women's Association (PICTURE 5) stopped in at the WOFAN office to share more information with us on their organization’s work. They also brought snacks and gifts for our tour members. A scarf for me, which I am wearing in the picture!
The women from Al-Mumin are migrant women who settled in Kano. They told us that before our workshop, they had not had a chance to meet other people who did similar work. We would hear this comment repeated throughout our tour, suggesting that much of Nigeria’s civil society could be better networked.
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contact Kind: info@kind.org