One of 14 short case study summaries which were written by Orlanda Siow of UCL. They focus on development programs that aim to be both politically informed and gender aware. See From Silos to Synergy for a synthesis of the lessons that emerge.
Voices for Change (V4C) has operated across Nigeria since 2012. Its mission is to “inspire a generation of new voices to ‘speak up and speak out’, empowering adolescent girls and young women to achieve their real and full potential”. Its activities include providing communications and messaging at scale, allied with targeted transformational gender leadership and gender awareness at post-secondary institutions. It provides virtual and physical safe spaces and events, and engages young people through its Purple social media platform and brand. The program has been working with influential religious and traditional leaders and the media to increase their awareness of gender inequality and to challenge harmful gender norms. At the federal level, the program has revived the Gender Technical Unit in the National Assembly, and has worked with several ministries to secure gender aware budgeting and legislation.
