Start Businesses for 10 HIV/AIDS Widows in Nigeria

The empowerment of women is essential for effective development, both at a community level and in society as a whole. For almost 10 years DA has been working with women who are HIV positive in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. These women come from poor backgrounds with low levels of education and due to the virus, have become ostracized in their communities and struggle to provide for themselves and their families.

Little has been done in the areas of rehabilitation and creating income methods for these women. This has become a key target area for DA. Each support group has around 80 – 110 women that attend with almost 200 children coming for their own children’s support group. At each support group, the women involved in our ‘Women Empowerment’ scheme have a thirty minute workshop, updating them and training them on basic shop keeping management skills.

In collaboration with Centre for Child Health and Education, a local NGO, we have developed a programme that provides the women with small shops that sell a variety of products or services (food provisions, hair dressing, catering, etc.). DA provides the initial cost of setting up the business (rent, initial stock, etc.) and provides consistent educational training programmes and workshops on the development and management of their business.

Currrently there is a group of women who have been identified as potential business owners and are on the waiting list as funds become available to finance their start-up. They regularly attend the support groups with their children and are eagerly anticipating when it will be their turn to open a business.