Stakeholders in Nasarawa State have called on the government to make deliberate efforts to include women, girls and persons with disabilities in its disaster response initiatives.
The call was made during the dissemination of the Gender Inclusive Disaster Preparedness and Response Report commissioned by Education As a Vaccine (EVA) as part of the African Activists for Climate Justice (AACJ) project in the State.
Speaking during the meeting, Senior Programme Officer, Education as Vaccine Sarah Otubusin, urged the government to include women, girls, and persons with disabilities in its disaster response in order to address their challenges.
Otubusin explained that her organization in collaboration with Beacon Youth Initiative ( BYI) was implementing the African Activists for Climate Justice (AACJ) project in the State aimed at empowering young women and girls to speak out and fight for their rights.
“We are giving young women and girls a voice to be able to speak out, know policies that exist and fight for their own rights,” she said.
According to her, the organisation is working on a gender preparedness report on climate justice, which aims to assess the existing policy documents in the State that address climate-related issues such as erosion and flooding.
Otubusin explained EVA has engaged a consultant to review the document and gather input from stakeholders.
“We are making it open so that everyone is able to identify gaps if there are any in the report and the final report will be shared with stakeholders after incorporating feedback from participants,” she added.
Also speaking, the Consultant for the Gender Inclusive Disaster Preparedness and Response in the State, Joseph Ibrahim said the report assessed the gender dimensions of the state’s disaster intervention strategies.
According to him, while the State has shown commendable efforts in responding to disasters, there were gaps in tailoring these responses to vulnerable groups.
“We saw that Nasarawa state is doing well in terms of its response to disaster, but there were gaps on how it will be tailored towards women, girls, and persons with disabilities,” he said.
He said that the report’s findings revealed that the state’s disaster response messages were re not tailored to specific genders.
“We found out that the messages are going out but not tailored to specific gender and many of the committees that the government set up to intervene in the State are not gender inclusive.
“The Government should be deliberate in ensuring that women and persons with Disabilities are represented in all the committees from the state to the local government levels,” Ibrahim said.
He said that the recommendations of the report if implemented would enhance the effectiveness of the State’s disaster response initiatives and promote inclusivity for all members of the community.
On his part, Executive Director of Beacon Youth Initiative, Emmanuel Okolo emphasised the importance of inclusive disaster response.
He called for an all-inclusive response where women, women with disabilities, and young girls are involved in programme design and implementation.
Participants at the engagement, including representatives from the Climate Justice Club and Tribal Association in Nasarawa State, shared their experiences and insights on the impact of climate change on their communities.
Jennifer Siya Ive, a representative of the Climate Justice Club, highlighted the importance of environmental education.
“We have learned about the negative effects of cutting down trees. As students, we are to correct people involved in the act of cutting down trees,” she said.
Regina Kusko, a representative of the Tribal Association, expressed gratitude to Education As a Vaccine for educating them on climate change and its impact on their farm activities.
She appealed to the State government to encourage crop yields by supporting climate justice initiatives.
The stakeholders’ engagement is part of the AACJ project being implemented in the state, to promote climate justice and inclusive disaster response.
