Nigeria

We have been tracking national and international funding to women’s economic empowerment (WEE), unpaid care work, women’s financial inclusion (WFI), and women’s empowerment collectives (WECs) in Nigeria, as well as assessing which funders have a gender-integrated approach.

International funding: The objective of our research was to provide greater insight into the international funding landscape for WEE, unpaid care, WFI and WECs in Nigeria between 2015 –2019 and to pilot a replicable country-based approach to tracking international funding to WEE, WFI and WECs that can be used in other country contexts.

We tracked grant and non-grant funding from bilateral, multilateral, development finance institutions and philanthropic organisations between 2015 –2019. Full details of our approach are given in our methodology.

Our reports offer insights into international funding trends for WEE, WFI and WECs including top funders, the types of projects being funded, and the groups of women the funding is intended to support. We provide recommendations for how funders can better report and publish information that allows us to track funding and monitor progress against WEE, WFI and WECs objectives more sustainably.

National funding: We also commissioned research to assess national funding to WEE, WFI, and WECs in Nigeria and offer recommendations for the government of Nigeria to ensure transparency of the policies and budgets supporting WEE, WFI and WECs.

In July 2022 we published the following report series which documents our findings and recommendations:

Tracking International Funding to Women’s Economic Empowerment in Nigeria: Full report and summary
Tracking International Funding to Women’s Financial Inclusion in Nigeria: Full report and summary
Tracking International Funding to Women’s Empowerment Collectives in Nigeria: Full report and summary
Assessing National Funding for Women’s Economic Empowerment in Nigeria: Full reportand summary

In November 2022, we produced the following briefs on national and international funding for a roundtable with policymakers:

Findings for Bangladesh and Kenya are also available. Our complete report series can be accessed here.

Analysis

Country report

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Budget analysis

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Advisory Committee Members

Our multi-stakeholder advisory committee is made up of WEE experts and advocates, feminist economists and policy makers. We aim to work with our advisory committee to ensure our work is appropriately contextualised and aligned with advocacy efforts in Nigeria to move the women’s economic empowerment agenda forward.

Modupe Ladipo is a financial inclusion expert and financial sector development specialist. She has 30 years’ diverse experience in financial services, consulting, strategy, and corporate development. She is the Managing Partner of Prosperar Consulting and currently focuses on providing comprehensive advisory & capital solutions to women-owned SMEs in Nigeria. Prior to joining EFInA, Modupe worked in the UK, predominantly in investment banking. Her experience includes mergers & acquisitions, retail and institutional brokerage, capital markets, developing & implementing corporate strategies and product development. She worked for Tata Consultancy Services, Merrill Lynch, ABN AMRO, the London Stock Exchange and Credit Suisse Financial Products. Modupe has extensive experience of providing strategic, fiscal, operational and thought leadership in complex and challenging environments. She has worked on assignments in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe and the US. Modupe holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Manchester Business School, UK and a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Chemical Engineering from University College London, UK. She is an Independent Non-executive Director of AB Microfinance Bank, Nigeria; Senior Adviser to the Board of the Islamic Finance Council, UK; and Fellow of the Legatum Institute, UK

Saudatu is a 1978 graduate of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria, and a postgraduate diploma from the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON) graduating with distinction. She is the Secretary-General of the Women’s Rights Advancement and Protection Alternative, (WRAPA) a rights-based national non-profit advocating for equity and equality of opportunities for women and girls in Nigeria. Under her leadership, WRAPA has offered legal aid and counselling support to over 15,000 women across Nigeria, positively impacting the lives of abused women and girls. WRAPA activities include sensitization, dialogue, education support, economic empowerment and shelter for abused women.

In 2011 she was awarded the National Honour of MFR by the Federal Government of Nigeria in recognition of her contributions to the promotion and defence of women’s rights. She has served on the Council of Nigeria’s National Human Rights Commission. Saudatu has also served as Deputy Secretary of the Northern States Governors’ Forum Committee on Reconciliation; Healing & Security, an intervention on the crisis in North-East Nigeria. At the international level, she has served as Nigeria’s Advisor for the United Nations CEDAW Committee. She is also a founding member of the citizen-driven Bring Back Our Girls campaign advocating the rescue and return of Nigeria’s 219 Chibok Girls.

Saudatu has contributed to Nigeria’s national dialogue on the subject of identity and diversity in papers and presentations. She promotes a position on the legitimacy of diversity in negotiations for peaceful co-existence; and as a positive trigger for national development. From 2018 -2020 she has contributed to the Voice financial inclusion for women narrative. Through varied forms of media, she has highlighted the nexus between women’s access to resources, their inclusion in the formal economy as well as the benefits of their empowerment on their families, communities and the wider economy.

Hansatu is a social sector professional and is currently the Executive Director of Women in Management, Business and Public Service (WIMBIZ) in Lagos.

She is a graduate of Business Administration from the University of Abuja with an Action Learning Masters in Business Administration from Business School Netherlands. An alumnus of the Harvard Business School, Boston USA in Strategic Perspectives in Non-profit Management and in Entrepreneurial Management of the Enterprise Development Centre in Abuja and Lagos, Nigeria.

She is also a United Nations Women Private Sector Facilitator on Gender Concepts / Political Leadership and Candidate training. A certified International Finance Corporation / Learning Performance Institute UK Trainer, a Small & Medium Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) certified Business Development Service Provider and a UK certified Life Coach.

Hansatu is the Chairperson for Governance & Constitution of the Association of Nigerian Business Women’s Network, A member of the Governing Council of Business School Netherlands International Alumni in Nigeria and a Life Member of the Enterprise Development Center.

She was the First Female President of the Nigerian Universities Association of Management and Business Students (NUAMBS) University of Abuja chapter.

She is a self-motivated energetic leader who is very passionate about volunteering, women’s economic empowerment, nation-building and motivational speaking.

Jonathan Eigege is an Analyst in ASG’s Africa practice, where he supports clients through strategy development and project coordination and oversees the firm’s Nigeria and Kenya portfolios. Prior to joining ASG full-time, Mr. Eigege was a consultant for the firm. In this role, he analyzed political and economic developments across sub-Saharan Africa for clients. He also served as a Graduate Research Assistant at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University, with a focus on economic policymaking across Africa. Mr. Eigege also worked with the Africa Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Mr. Eigege received an M.A. in African Studies and International Economics from Johns Hopkins SAIS and a B.A. in International Relations and Affairs, with a minor in Business from Calvin University. Mr. Eigege was born and raised in Jos, Nigeria and is based in Washington, D.C.

Lois Sankey is an experienced MSME and AgriFinance specialist with over 20 years of exposure in commercial banking, Pension, and non-profit development finance. As a senior banker over the last 10years with Diamond Bank Plc, she focused on the development of Agricultural finance systems, financial inclusion for smallholder farmers and MSME finance in Nigeria. Currently as the Program Lead, agriculture with Mastercard Foundation Nigeria, she is responsible for the delivery of the foundation’s charitable objectives in the agric sector aimed at creating 7million dignified, fulfilling jobs and entrepreneurship for youth and women in agriculture over the next 10years. Previously in 2019, as Director of Finance and Investment for the Nigeria Agribusiness Investment Activity, (A USAID funded project), She had responsibility for the facilitation of increased finance and investment from partner financial institutions to partner Agribusinesses. Earlier, as Head, AgriFinance and MSME in Diamond bank plc, Lois was responsible for setting up the special business unit and participated in many government AgriFinance committees and regularly discussing on CNBC Africa TV Closing Bells as a subject matter expert. As a consultant, Lois trained financial institution staff on Agricultural value chain Finance, policy and product developments across some West African and East African countries.