“Lockdown has impacted on the livelihoods of everyone, particularly women. Most African economies are informal, and this is where the majority of women work to provide for their families. It is in the formal economy that women are represented in very small and medium enterprises. Here they have also felt the shocks of the pandemic with some of these businesses closing and others struggling to survive. It quickly became clear to me that the impact of covid-19 weighs very heavily on women. So, if you want to have any kind of redesigning or reconstruction of the system as a response to COVID-19, you need to bring the voices of women to the centre and listen to their aspirations.”-Graça Machel UNGA journal, Lessons from Leaders September 25, 2020.
Mrs Graça Machel’s words speak to the reality of vulnerable women in marginalized communities in Katsina, Kaduna and Kano State Nigeria. The women were part of a study by Ilizwi-Initiative which was conducted in partnership with New Faces New Voices Nigeria as part of the Graça Machel’s response to COVID-19.The study focused on the effects of the pandemic on the livelihood of women, their health and children’s education. These are some of their shared experience.
NFNV-NIGERIA Field Assistant in Kano with one of the beneficiaries.
55-year-old Zainab Yusuf is married with 9 children and works in the coconut and sesame oil industry in BabbanGiji area of Tarauni LGA in Kano State. “Before COVID-19, my business was doing well and from the little I made, I was able to provide for my children. But after the lockdown, I had to stop doing the business because the price of the raw materials has gone too high”.
Rabi Suleiman is a 53-year-old mother of 7 from Charanchi local government area of Kano state. Rabi is a confectionaries trader and her biggest hurdle with Covid-19 was it affected her children’s education because she couldn’t afford private lessons. Her business depends hugely on social events such as weddings and the lockdown and restrictions have led to a drop in business.
32-year-old Karimatu Ma’aruf is a widow with 7 children and a fashion designer from Kwanar Diso Area, Gwale LGA of Kano state. “Before the lockdown, I was a fashion designer but due to restriction on movement, it became very hard to make money so I went into the business of making local treats (milk candy) with my children helping me with the production. We manage to push our products to some shops within the community so we can make some money to feed on”.
Zainab Saidu has a similar tale, the 40-year-old widow and mother of 7 has struggled with food, children education has stopped. “It has gotten to a point where we spend almost a day without eating. Our only hope was on God Almighty. There are a lot of health challenges but we couldn’t afford to buy medicine for ourselves. Sometimes we take local herbals,” she shared. Before COVID-19 she used to fry and sell awara (soya beans cake).
56-year-old Binta Hassan is a single mother of 6 was running a poultry business before the pandemic. “The pandemic hasn’t been easy, buyers are not coming out. We have gone through a lot of losses. My biggest challenge now is buying feed for the birds to keep them alive and healthy and to avoid more loss,” she said.
Zainab Abdulkadir Hassan is a 52-year-old widow with 8 children. She had a fish and animal rearing business. However, the savings that she had before the lockdown were spent on food for her family. She pointed out that the buyers had decreased and fish and animal prices have gone high which makes it very high for businesses to survive during this trying period.
The Trust supports and mobilises civil society networks on issues of ending child marriage, ending violence against children, ending female genital mutilation and promoting children’s rights, to carry out advocacy and action across Africa. Special focus is placed on Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia where child marriage continues to be a problem largely driven by poverty, gender inequality, harmful traditional practices, conflict, low levels of literacy, limited opportunities for girls and weak or non-existent protective and preventive legal frameworks.
Education is a fundamental right for all children, which is also a vehicle for social, economic and political transformation in communities, countries and the African continent at large. Recent studies indicate a lack of progress in some of the critical commitments aimed at improving education quality, access, retention and achievement, particularly for girls. In most African countries, girls may face barriers to learning, especially when they reach post-primary levels of education. By implementing multi-dimensional approaches to education which includes core education, personal development, life skills and economic competencies, the Trust partners with funding partners, governments, civil societies and the private sector to improve education access.
The Nutrition and Reproductive, Maternal, New-born, Child and Adolescent Health and Nutrition, (RMNCAH+N) of the Children’s Rights and Development Programme aims at promoting the Global Strategy for women, children and adolescents’ health within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda. The strategy emphasises on the importance of effective country leadership as a common factor across countries making progress in improving the health of women, children and adolescents.
Through its Early Childhood Development (ECD) plan, The Trust will seek to put into action the new science and evidence Report that was presented by Lancet Series on Good and early development – the right of every child. This will be achieved by mobilising like-minded partners to contribute in the new science and evidence to reach all young children with ECD. The Trust’s goal is to be a catalyst for doing things differently, in particular, to rid fragmentation and lack of coordination across ECD sectors. In response to evidence showing the importance of political will in turning the tide against the current poor access and quality of ECD. Even before conception, starting with a mother’s health and social economic conditions, the early years of a child’s life form a fundamental foundation that determines whether a child will survive and thrive optimally.