Canada, ActionAid launch N11bn project to advance women’s rights

Global Affairs Canada, in collaboration with ActionAid Nigeria (AAN), has launched an N11 billion Renewed Women’s Voice and Leadership (RWVL) project to promote women’s rights and strengthen leadership roles across Nigeria.

The Canadian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr Pasquale Salvaggio, announced this at the project unveiling on Thursday in Abuja.

Salvaggio said the five-year initiative would strengthen frontline organisations, expand access to quality services, and build coalitions for reform from state assemblies to national ministries.

According to him, the RWVL project will provide core funding for women’s rights organisations to set their own agendas, respond to local needs, and drive sustained change.

“Investing in the leadership and economic agency of women and girls makes communities and markets thrive.

“RWVL will also advance gender equality by supporting groups to overcome barriers, respond to local realities, and end poverty in its tracks,” Salvaggio said.

9news Nigeria reports that the initiative, funded by the Global Affairs Canada, responds to global funding gaps for women’s rights groups, especially those in conflict-affected areas and working with marginalised women.

The project will be implemented by AAN in eight states including Benue, Kwara, Enugu, Imo, Lagos, Kebbi, Bauchi, Cross River and the FCT.

It is expected to strengthen at least 188 local women’s rights organisations working with ultra-marginalised groups.

They are women with disabilities, those living with HIV, sex workers, adolescent girls, domestic workers, internally displaced women, refugees, women in politics, and elderly women.

Salvaggio stressed that Canada had consistently ranked among the top donors to women’s rights initiatives, noting that 95 per cent of its bilateral international development assistance integrates gender equality.

He called on stakeholders to collaborate to ensure that the investment delivers lasting, measurable change.

“Our efforts will help Nigeria’s women and girls realise their full potential, for the good of every community and the nation at large,” he said.

Mr Andrew Mamedu, Country Director of AAN, said the project would run from 2025 to 2030 and impact no fewer than two million women.

He called the unveiling a defining moment in advancing women’s rights, deepening feminist organising, and building a gender-just Nigeria.

“This project is not limited to Nigeria. RWVL is a global initiative of Global Affairs Canada being implemented in 20 countries and supporting thousands of women’s rights organisations and movements.

“Through the first phase, we strengthened 182 women’s rights groups, reached 752,667 women and girls directly, and more than 6.2 million people indirectly in 24 states and the FCT,” Mamedu said.

The Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, described the project as a challenge to stakeholders to work together for a future where women were not sidelined.

She stressed the importance of ensuring women are at the forefront of governance, entrepreneurship, and community transformation.

“The RWVL project is not only relevant but critical to the Nigeria we envision under the Renewed Hope Agenda.

“Together, with strong partnerships, robust monitoring, and clear data systems, we will deliver transformational results that impact millions of Nigerian women and generations to come,” she said.