By Alisha Johnson
As part of her effort to encourage and foster an inclusive governance, the Women in Politics Forum (WIPF) has trained and inducted young women in Cross River State into the young women in politics academy.
With support from UN Women and Global Affairs Canada, the 3-day training held at Adsuit hotel, Calabar from Wednesday 20 to Friday 22 November, 2024, the academy aims to raise a critical mass of young women who are intentional about changing the political narrative.
Speaking about academy, the President of WIPF, Barrister Ebere Ifendu explained that it was birthed out of a concern that women especially the young ones were not fully represented in politics “The idea behind this is that we discovered in the course of the work we do that young girls are marginalized in politics and those who are interested do not know how and where to start, so we decided to set up this academy to guide them, teach and build their capacity to be part of politics.
Admonishing the participants she said “the narrative is that we have a low percentage of women in politics so we expect that this young women will take the political community by surprise by contesting and winning at a time people are not is giving them an opportunity. They should be able to create that space for themselves and participate generally in other aspect of politics”. She also seized the opportunity to call on the government at all levels and legislative bodies to respect the gender policies and pass the gender bills (respectively) to enable the women contest and win election, emphasizing the readiness of women to take up leadership positions.
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One of the facilitators, Ijeoma Udensi expressed optimism that the new generation young girls will do better to bring about the desired change, this is even as she applauded the mentorship initiative by the Women in Politics Forum which she believes will go a long way to promote inclusivity and give the young girls the opportunity to soar on the the shoulders of the elders.
Also speaking, the state coordinator, Women in Politics Forum, Glory Ndem, while appreciating the forum for coming to the state, said the training is a foundation that will strengthen the young women and build self confidence amongst them to make a difference “we encourage our young girls to go out there and make a difference and take the lessons as a foundation to build upon”
Some of the participants expressed their gratitude to the Forum for giving them an opportunity to participate in such an insightful workshop while pledging to effectively utilise all they have been taught to effect a positive change in the leadership position both on campus and the circular world.
Other dignitaries and facilitators in attendance were; Hon Rita, Mr Austin Aigbe, Pst Victoria Emah-Emah, Anthony Onomwem (UN Women representative) etc.
The training also featured an election of members into vacant offices in the Young Women in Politics Forum, Cross River Chapter.