Nigerian Women’s Trust Fund

The Nigerian Women’s Trust Fund (WF) was created in 2011 to increase the representation of women in Nigerian governance at all levels and address the growing concerns about the gender imbalance in elective and appointive positions. Nigeria currently falls short of the National Gender Policy be… read morenchmark of 35% minimum gender representation and other global and regional benchmarks to which the country is signatory. For instance, with the return to democratic governance in 1999, the number of women being elected in Nigeria steadily increased but since 2007 it has remained stagnant between 7-9% representation in the National Assembly, less than the average rate of female parliamentarians globally and in Sub-Saharan Africa which is 19% and 20% respectively.
The goal of the Fund is to institutionalize access to resources for women in politics in Nigeria. Its objectives are to:
– Transparently provide aspiring women with financial and other forms of resources towards their political campaigns irrespective of political inclinations
– Identify and build a database of aspiring women politicians and those in appointive positions to enhance their leadership capacity.
– Fundraise, invest and manage resources for women’s political participation
– Provide national and international networking opportunities for women politicians in elective and appointive positions to build strategic alliances and raise resources
– Engage in research and advocacy to further expand women’s political space