The gender week in GIZ Nigeria was organized around a series of events all geared towards increasing the knowledge of GIZ Staff about gender.
The events kicked off on Monday the 5th of March with an online gender quiz (including attractive prizes). The general part of the quiz had to do with gender mainstreaming, followed by more specific questions about gender in GIZ Nigeria and finally with questions about pertinent gender-related themes in Nigeria e.g. domestic violence.
On the 7th a workshop was organized by the GIZ Equal Opportunity Officer Mrs. Sabine Gürtner on “sexual discrimination in the workplace”. This was followed by a brown bag lunch with a presentation by Mr. Gürtner on “Work Life Balance: The Role of Gender and the Family”. The lively discussions were followed by recommendations to GIZ Nigeria on how to better combine work and care commitments.
The progamme for the week continued on the 8th (International women’s day) with an exhibition of women enterpreneurs who have been supported by the GIZ programme on pro-poor growth and economic empowerment. This was not only an opportunity for the women entrepreneurs to showcase their goods but also an avenue to market them. At the same time, there was a walk through gallery with portraits of inspirational women in GIZ Nigeria. These women were nominated by their colleagues for their exemplary work ethics and their inspirational career paths and achievement.
The week closed on the 9th with a panel discussion facilitated by Mrs Gürtner on the mentorship programme for women leaders in GIZ Nigeria, which has been running since May 2017. Under this programme 4 GIZ Nigeria female staff with leadership potential are mentored by women from the business sector and academia for a 12-month period. The prizes for the gender quiz were also handed over by the country director, culminating and interesting week of knowledge sharing and awareness raising.
We are all eagerly looking forward to gender week 2019.