NIG | ‘When you train a woman, you train the community’

‘When you train a woman, you train the community’

A woman (Eseosa Okuku) wearing a colourful dress smiles into the camera.

Eseosa Okuku is Programme Component Manager and gender expert at the Nigerian-German Centre for Migration and Development (NGC)

‘When you train a woman, you train the community’

The Nigerian-German Centre for Migration and Development (NGC) focuses on reaching women with its service offerings. Eseosa Okuku explains how the NGC does this and why it is so important.

Why do you place a special focus on women at the NGC?

In Nigeria, there is a saying that when you train a woman, you train the community or nation. Women share their knowledge, so their empowerment is important for achieving gender equality. It paves the way to greater equality in society. But women still face many barriers to economic inclusion in Nigeria. These include cultural and social norms, discrimination and limited access to education and financial services. We also focus on persons living with disabilities (PWDs) and internally displaced persons (IDPs).

Around 45% of your clients are women. How do you reach them?

It is important that we offer programmes that are tailored to the needs of women. We provide personal counselling and ask women about their goals. In addition to specialised training, we also offer psychosocial support, especially for women who have been victims of human trafficking or domestic violence.

In Nigeria, most of the time the responsibility of taking care of children falls on women. That is why we offer childcare so that mothers can take part in our training programmes. They are designed to suit women’s circumstances. For example, there are breaks so that mothers can do the school run.

Clients can also learn in the local language they understand. This is crucial in reaching people with very different levels of education.

What else is important for women to be able to take part in the training courses?

We also provide a travel stipend for the duration of the course so that they can attend, as most of these women do not have any income of their own. The travel stipend is intended to enable women to pay their fares to the training venue. It is paid into their bank account. From our experience, most of the women who participate in these courses do not have an account in their own name and use their husband’s account. What we do as a programme is support these women in opening an account in their own name through the training institution, which invites bank officials to help them do this during the training. This is the first step towards financial independence and having their own money, as they can continue using the account after the training.

How do women find out about your programmes?

Many women find out about us through friends, social media platforms or information events. They also get to know about our activities through our partner, the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, and other partners and networks we work with.

Are there also special programmes for women who are interested in regular migration to Europe?

Yes, because women are showing great interest in regular migration. In the past, women were seen as the spouses of migrating men. This has changed. Women want to migrate regularly to further their education or to work in European countries.

We saw this in March when we organised an information session about studying, working and doing vocational training in Germany. We then offered individual counselling sessions, and many women came. We prepare people for regular migration by providing special training sessions where they can expand their skills for the labour markets in Germany and other European Union countries.

Which training programmes are particularly popular among women?

We see more women on beauty and fashion courses. We also offer training for women in areas that tend to be dominated by men, such as the auto repair course with the first female mechanic in Nigeria, Sandra Aguebor. We train women in information and communication technology and artificial intelligence, with courses such as Women in Tech, and we see that more women are now interested in these fields.

What advice would you give to women who are thinking about a career change or migration?

The advice we would give to women thinking about a career change or migration is that the first step is to have the right information about the career they want or the migration process. The NGC offers free, non-binding consultations. Together with the women, we take a close look at their skills, interests and qualifications and support them in choosing the right path and the right contacts.

Women should always remember that they have the same rights and opportunities as men to access information and other support they need for their career or migration.

As of: 04/2024

Women at NGC

Personal counselling and support: Every woman receives support to achieve her goals.
Offerings in local languages: Courses and counselling are available in the languages spoken by the participants.
Travel stipend for training: We provide a stipend to help with the cost of travel to and from the training venue.
Help with opening a bank account: We support clients (both men and women) in opening their own bank account.
Childcare: We provide childcare for mothers while they are participating in our training programmes.
Break for the school run: Women with children at school are given a break each day during the training programme to pick up their children.

‘When you train a woman, you train the community’

‘When you train a woman, you train the community’

Women at NGC

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