Globally, March 8 is commemorated as International Women’s Day (IWD). It is a day set aside to celebrate women’s achievements, advocate for more opportunities, and increase awareness of eliminating barriers that hinder women. However, PIND marked this year’s IWD on March 22 with a special one-day event tagged “Sensitization on Innovations and Technological Advancement for Women Empowerment” at the PIND Economic Development Center (EDC) in Warri, Delta State.
In line with PIND’s sub-theme “Embrace Equity through Technology and Innovation,” activities were geared at educating women, youth, and people with disabilities (PWDs) on the need to adopt innovative mechanisms and improved technology in their businesses for growth and empowerment. The participants included beneficiaries of PIND’s projects and programs from Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, and Ondo states.
The event started with a message from PIND’s Executive Director, Tunji Idowu. He noted that in the context of digital skills and access to technologies, women are left behind due to this digital gender divide.
Link: Goodwill Message by PIND Executive Director, Tunji Idowu
“Therefore, the goal is to explore the impact of the digital gender gap on widening economic and social inequalities,” he said. “At PIND, we are constantly exploring ways to introduce appropriate technology to enhance Niger Delta women’s ability to participate in, contribute to and benefit from technological-driven growth.”
Activities at the event include capacity-building sessions on social media usage, accessing online resources, marketing platforms, emerging trends in agriculture, financial literacy, conflict sensitivity, and other vocational areas.
One of PIND’s Youth Employment Pathways implementing partners, Cynthia Orife from Coriftech, gave a presentation on leveraging technological innovations in small businesses. She said digital tools could be incredibly valuable for small businesses as they help streamline operations, reach new customers, and increase efficiency. She added that women’s development and technology are interconnected as technology is critical in empowering women and promoting gender equality.
Another partner, Victory Ighelogbo from Life Edge Consulting, spoke on cashless economy. He also educated the participants on business readiness, highlighting the importance of business registration, getting a Tax Identification Number (TIN), opening a business account, using mobile bank apps to make and track payment transactions, etc.
Other speakers included PIND’s Market Systems Development (MSD) Senior Advisor, Faith Soya, who spoke on the best agricultural and poultry practices promoted by PIND.
There were also physical and virtual exhibitions of some technologies PIND has promoted in the past that are still relevant in the sectors we work in, such as the smoking kiln, chorkor oven, and MAH.
At the end of the event, participants gave feedback on what they learned and thanked PIND for the opportunity and learning.
In the closing remarks, PIND’s Operations Manager, Florence Agbejule, emphasized that PIND is a gender-sensitive organization that promotes the inclusion of women, youths, and people living with disabilities in all their programs and operations. She thanked participants for making the event colorful and encouraged them to multiply their income streams by investing, no matter how small.
The UN Women theme for 2023 was “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality.” It aligned with the international IWD theme “Embrace Equity,” which advocates for a gender-equal world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination.
