Guardian

Amy Oyekunle is finally having her dream fulfilled at Kudirat Abiola Initiative For Democracy (KIND) where she is an executive director. The outfit, a non-governmental organisation aimed at creating awareness and support for women advancement in every facet of life, is providing a platform for her to express her yearning to add value and contribute to the progress of the society. She spoke to OLUWAKEMI AJANI on the impact of the Initiative and why women should aspire for leadership position and other related issues.

About KIND

Kudirat Initiative for Democracy (KIND) is a non-governmental organisation based in Lagos. Our mission is basically to strengthen the African woman to fully participate in social, economic and political development of her country particularly and the continent generally. We focus on strengthening organisations and creating initiatives dedicated to the advancement of women.

Hafsat Abiola-Costello founded KIND in 1997 in the US to honour her mother killed by soldiers during the military rule.  KIND works through democrats and other pro-democracy activists to fight for democracy in Nigeria. So when democracy was restored in 1999, KIND was simultaneously founded in Nigeria. One of the things we do is to create the next generation of women leaders because we realised that there were a few or no young women at the realm of leadership especially when  democracy was introduced.

Our focus is to build young women with the skills and resources they need to make them partake in leadership positions politically, economically and socially. One of our flagship programmes is called the Kudirat Leadership Programme; it was initially called the Young Women Leadership Programme.

The purpose of the programme is to create extra-curriculum activities for young women in the universities. We carried out a research on what young women lack to enable them become young leaders in their environment and we discovered that some of the things they lack are leadership skills and then funding. In Nigeria, there are different kinds of leadership, but the type we want at KIND is that of someone creating and transforming the society; so we started training young women on that.

Another thing we found out is that women lack financial management. A lot of young women in the universities don’t have money and many women have the skills but they don’t know how to channel them. As a result of this programme, we began entrepreneurial programmes to educate young women on what they can use their hands to do. It is a whole package and we give them different modules. After finishing, they can be on their own and some of them are able to identify their potentials and their self-esteem increases, as they start to realise that they can easily do certain things.

Again, many young women think politics is a dirty game but the point is: If you don’t go then who will? And the aim of KIND is to create an avenue  for  women to  get involved in political leadership. So we peg them on mentors who are women with political aspirations. It was a very successful programme.

Some of the students became union leaders in their schools. We also trained young women activists in the universities. Many women are afraid of going into political leadership because of fear of violence.

In 2006, KIND started a programmed tagged ‘Safe Women Campaign.’ We worked directly with women such as Joke Silva, Kate Henshaw and Rita Dominic to put up a play on domestic violence and the play was very real. Because of that many women came forward to share their experiences about domestic violence and many of them broke away from unhealthy relationships.

Also, we focus on youth unemployment and youth entrepreneurship because many young people are jobless although they have potentials. Last year, with a grant from some donor organisations and Africa Capacity Organisation, we started a programme called Youth Trade where we trained young people on product quality and rebranding and we look for market for them within and outside Nigeria.  Many of them are undertaking different ventures including Ankara, adire and juice making.

Journey so far

It has been encouraging in so many ways. Sometimes we are very happy, especially the youth trade when we see some of the trained youths doing great things. Sometimes it can be frustrating when there is no fund because many people’s thinking is that non-governmental organisations are about making money. But there should be professionalism and passion that come with the work. Ultimately, however, it has been very gratifying and KIND has grown from a small organisation to what it is today.

Challenges

One of these concerns inadequate funding to execute programmes. We advocate for law and policies that will protect and promote women, especially when we are doing women in politics programme and violence against women. We realised and recognised that we cannot do it alone; so we are looking for opportunities to partner with other organisations already doing great work.

We are also trying to see how we can source and generate income on our own. Currently, we are trying to build a property in Abuja, which is to be let out so as to generate income to fund our programmes. For instance, if somebody that has just been beaten steps in to our office, it won’t sound good for us to say we don’t have funds. We should be able to provide for such people and take care of them. There are women who believe in what we are doing and are donating.

Tackling violence against women

We train women on how to protect their rights. We also create awareness for them to recognise and understand that it is not acceptable to tolerate violence. On no account should violence be perpetrated on women. There should be in place a law and policies to support women going through violence.

Views on gender inequality

Women have their own innate potentials. My view on gender equality is that women have a lot they can do and offer; this is not contestable or negotiable. I think and I feel that any country wanting to grow and make meaningful progress should make policies that would reckon with women.

Gender equality is not only about the women alone but the men, too. Every individual has the potential and we should ensure that we value and promote it.

Assessment of women in leadership positions

We have come a long way since1999 and there are women who have done well in different areas of endeavour. I would say that women do not exist in a vacuum. Any woman that occupies a leadership position within a particular system that is fraught with complexities might be somehow hindered. There are women operating in a system that is already corrupt. They might not be corrupt but because of the system they find themselves in they become victims. There are, however, those who have done well such as Abike Dabiri, Ezekwesili and Okonjo Iweala to mention a few.

We need more women to occupy leadership positions and even go as far as aiming for the presidency.

Women in leadership positions and their families

Women play active role in reproduction and child rearing. Many women focus on their careers to the detriment of family life. It takes two to raise a family and the truth about it is that there is no manual on how things must be done or that a woman in leadership position cannot run a home.

There are some career women that have brought up good children and have a solid family because it takes the effort of the husband and wife and sometimes even the family members to care for the family. I think it is unfair to put so much pressure on women.

Both the husband and wife have a responsibility to play in the family and child upbringing.

So, it is about balancing your home and work even if it requires hiring house helps or taking the children everywhere you go or putting them in a boarding school.

Background

I was born in Warri. I attended Command Children School, Lagos. Later, I proceeded to Command Secondary School, Jos. I am the second of five children and went to Ahmadu Bello University where I studied sociology. After my first degree, I did my Masters in development and gender studies at the Leeds University in the UK. I also have a Masters degree in hospitality management because my father wanted me to work in an hotel but my heart has always been on women issues especially when people told me that as a woman I am not supposed to do this and that. I used to get angry without understanding why.

When I had the opportunity to study gender issues in the university, I knew I was going to achieve my dream. When I saw an advert in the paper for programme manager in KIND, I remembered long time ago when I watched Hafsat on CNN when her mother was killed and she spoke passionately and eloquently. She was actually talking about Nigeria and what could be done to move the country forward.

Growing up

I grew up in Zaria. I was a disciplinarian, as I always brought my siblings together to read. I actually thought I was going to be a teacher because I have always had a sense of uprightness. I can’t keep quiet in the face of any wrongdoing. When I was in Ahmadu Bellow University, I would gather people from different faculties and organise a debate.

I came from a family where I was loved and always encouraged to achieve desired goals. Although my daddy wanted me to study medicine but when it became clear that I wouldn’t read medicine, I was encouraged to do whatever I liked.

What I learnt from my upbringing is that everybody has the opportunity and potentials to be somebody. All we need is encouragement and that is how I have been living my life. I try to give my children support to be whatever they want to be and I always encourage them to be the best in everything they do; they should strive for excellence.

Leisure

I unwind by cooking and cleaning my environment. I read a lot of novels and I also love travelling.

Dress sense

A couple of years ago I decided to go ethnic and the reason is that I put on much weight after my second child. I went to a suits store and couldn’t find anyone that fitted me. So I decided to go ethnic by proudly wearing Ankara. I thank God for the designers we have in Nigeria today. They have a way of designing beautifully. My dress sense is proudly Nigerian, because at NGOs, we tend to dress down.