CELEBRATING 25 YEARS OF IMPACT

From 2:30pm on Friday, 15^th July 2022, different dignitaries trooped into the conference hall of K-Class Hotel, Wuse Zone 5, Abuja. These dignitaries represented Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Nigerian Government, civil society organizations and groups, international development organizations, social and religious groups, donor agencies, partners, media, friends and family members. Earlier, staff of Women Environmental Programme (WEP) in Nigeria (Abuja, Benue, Taraba and Katsina offices) had walked into the same venue, clad in black, green and grey colored anniversary t-shirts. This was the venue of the 25^th Anniversary Celebration of WEP as well as the celebration of the Albert Balin Award for Global Action conferred on the Founder and Global President of WEP, Dr. Priscilla Achapka in Hamburg, Germany, in May 2022. Aside this physical venue, members of the WEP family, partners and friends within and outside Nigeria who could not come physically, joined the event virtually via the Zoom video conferencing application.

The occasion of the 25^th Anniversary was a time to reflect on the organization’s achievements and appreciate all who supported the organization in its 25 years of existence.

The event kicked off with a welcome address from WEP’s Board Chair, Barr Winifred Lichuma who spoke virtually from Kenya. She expressed WEP’s commitment to continue to improve the lives of women and youths globally through her programmes and projects in Environment, Governance, Climate Change, Peace and Security. In her words, “WEP will continue to challenge the status quo by bridging inequality gaps, promoting good governance, addressing climate change and insecurity and paving the way for development to reach hard-to-reach rural communities.”

In order to let people know where WEP was coming from, the history of WEP was briefly presented by WEP’s Programme Manager, Mr. Cliff Gai, who shared how WEP started in Kaduna state due to environmental pollution by textile industries which affected the health of women and children. This moved the Founder, Dr Priscilla Achakpa who mobilized women to advocate to an end to the environmental pollution by textile industries. This birthed an environmental organization known as Save Environment Action whose name would later be changed to Women Environmental Programme. Overtime, WEP expanded her scope of work beyond Environment to other areas like Governance, Climate Change, Peace and Security.

In the 25 years of her work, WEP has impacted over 20 million people globally through her interventions in environment, climate change, governance, peace, and security. This was corroborated by some of the dignitaries who spoke at the event. “It is to the credit of WEP that Nigeria now has the National Action Plan on Gender and Climate Change,” said Dr. Peter Tarfa, Former Director, Department of Climate Change, Federal Ministry of Environment, Nigeria; and former Permanent Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Nigeria. WEP supported the Federal Ministry of Environment to develop the National Action Plan on Gender and Climate Change which was approved by the Federal Executive Council in year 2020. The former Hon Minister of State, Federal Ministry of Environment Nigeria who is now the Minister of State, Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, Nigeria, Chief Sharon Ikeazor (Esq) also confirmed how WEP had supported her to deliver on her role when she was the Minister of State at the Federal Ministry of Environment. Satisfied with the work that WEP has done, including the demonstrated expertise of WEP’s Founder and Global President, Dr Priscilla Achakpa who once supported the then Minister of State for Environment as her Technical Assistant, Chief Sharon Ekeazor (Esq) pledged that “at my retirement, I want to be an honorary member of WEP. I want to go into conservation after my retirement and would want to work with organizations like WEP.”  For Yetunde Adegoke of Global Community Engagement and Resilient Fund (GCERF), “WEP’s projects on peace and security has contributed to tackle violent extremism in Benue and Katsina states. WEP’s peace and security program has enabled stakeholders to participate in peace agreements and effective peacebuilding.”

The impacts made by work done by WEP span across communities, individuals, public and private organizations across different parts of the world. The work of WEP prevented pollution of the environment from textiles industries in Kaduna Nigeria, saving the lives of thousand of people. WEP’s intervention in the demolition exercise embarked upon by the Federal Capital Territory Administration, Abuja, Nigeria prevented demolition of houses that would have rendered many people homeless. The peace works of WEP was able to resolve an age-long intra-community conflict and return peace to Agila community in Benue State, Nigeria. WEP has strengthened skills of organizations, individuals, communities and governments on different issues in Nigeria, Togo, Burkina Faso, Tunisia and Niger where she has offices and in other countries where she has worked. WEP has contributed to the development of laws and policies relevant to her areas of work such as the National Action Plan on Gender and Climate Change for Nigeria, The Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act in Benue State Nigeria, The National Development Plan of Togo among other policies and laws in different countries. WEP is a strong voice on gender and climate change at the global level and was instrumental to the development of the Gender Action Plan of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The consistent achievements of WEP over the years, inspired by the Global President, Dr Priscilla Achakpa, led to the conferment of the Albert Balin Award for Global Action on her. This award was presented to the audience at the 25^th Anniversary celebration of WEP. “Dr Priscilla Achakpa is a trail blazer. She has led many impactful interventions at the local, national and global levels. She is an example of putting women in power,” were the words of Tracy Dzungwe as she unveiled the Albert Balin Award for Global Action conferred on Dr Priscilla to the audience at WEP’s 25^th Anniversary celebration. The emotional Dr Achakpa narrated how the award process started several years ago without her notice, how the awarding organization said it took time to investigate and validate WEP’s activities before arriving at a decision to confer on her the award. While encouraging the civil society organizations present to be consistent, diligent and transparent in their work as they never can tell who is watching, she revealed how “my passion for the environment was inspired by my grandmother I grew up with, who cared so much for the environment,” an inspiration that pushed her into the development sector.

Dr Achakpa went on to recognize and appreciate past and present staff of WEP for contributing to the growth of the organization. At this point, she revealed the decision of the board to present awards to some staff as a way of appreciating their various contributions to the organization.

The following staff were presented with awards:

1. John Baaki – Award of appreciation for outstanding performance
2. Cliff Gai – Award of appreciation for outstanding performance
3. Mercy Awazi – Award of appreciation for outstanding performance
4. Juliana Agema – Award of appreciation for 15 years of meritorious service
5. Kenneth Ajioh – Award of appreciation for creativity and commitment to work
6. Anne-Marie Abaagu – Award of appreciation for inspirational leadership

If there was one thing the awards to staff signified, it was a reminder to contribute more to take WEP to greater heights.

The event was concluded by cutting of the anniversary cake and the launch of appeal for fund for solar dryer project to reduce food waste in rural communities of Nigeria.

 

WEP 25th ANNIVERSARY GOODWILL MESSAGES

 

WEP@25: SUPPORT A COMMUNITY PROJECT