An Evaluation of The Contributions of Women Organisations to Community Development in Nigeria and Factors Affecting Their Effective Participation in Community Development
Okoh Itebite Daniel
ABSTRACT
This paper evaluated some areas where women organisations have contributed immensely to community development in Nigeria and also interrogated some challenges faced by women organisations in community development. The radical feminist theory provided the theoretical underpinning of this study. The qualitative methodology was adopted for this study and non-numerical data obtained from articles, books and other online sources were analysed with content analysis. The study concluded that the challenges facing women organisations were multidimensional and subsumed under socio-cultural constraints; economic/financial constraint; political constraints and informational constraints. To address these challenges, the paper recommended that Nigeria’s literacy levels require improvement, and it is crucial that young girls in the North are encouraged to attend school. Also, adult literacy programmes should be driven by government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), community-based organisations, and the private sector; women entrepreneurs and organisations should have access to micro loans, grants, donations and other financial supports to aid them in carrying out their programmes, projects and activities within their communities and women should be more engaged in politics, as this would provide a veritable platform for them to channel their concerns and have their voices heard. Keywords: Women, Women Organisations, Community and Community Development
