Helping Indigent Women Embrace Digital Innovation – USAID Urges Stakeholders

USAID Momentum Country and Global Leadership (USAID - MOMENTUM) expressed the need for governments and relevant stakeholders to help women embrace digital innovation.

MCGL State Team Leader, Mrs. Nneka Chijioke-Dikeocha, launched the call on International Women's Day, celebrated every March 8, to mark achievements so far and raise awareness with the theme "DigitALL: Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality".

MCGL-USAID organized the program in collaboration with the Ebonyi Ministry of Women's Affairs and Social Development to commemorate the day.

Chijioke-Dikeocha said the theme of the day was a call for more action to all stakeholders and partners to usher in financial inclusion with technology for rural women to close the digital gap between the sexes.

He also said the commemoration aims to build support for women to embrace digital innovation and integrate into the cashless political system. She added that women would make incalculable contributions to the digital world and increase business opportunities if they were inclusive and fair. in the system.

“It is time to encourage and empower our women to embrace change to promote equality.

"We need governments and stakeholders to support women in this area. They must also continue their efforts to make the digital world safer, more inclusive and fair for women.

"They should be concerned and committed to improving, educating women and girls to make it work," Chijioke-Dikeocha said.

Mr. Stephen Onyekwelu, Spotlight Project Manager, UNESCO, advocated for sustainability in government, civil society organizations and international partner projects on digital technology and other programs so far to pilot the invention.

Onyekwelu urged the civil society group to take responsibility to enlighten and guide people, especially women and girls in communities, to adapt to the current reality of cashless policy.

“You and I have a role to play here. Women need to be aware of the need to go digital for financial inclusion,” Onyekwelu said.

He further encouraged women to seize the opportunity to embrace innovation, adding that the system was strongly in favor of gender equality.

Mrs. Deborah Chinwe Okah, Commissioner for Women's Affairs and Social Development, said the year's commemoration theme, "embracing equity", underscored the need to create an inclusive world for women.< /p>

Okah added that he also embraces equity, which should be understood and accepted that women and men contribute equally to the betterment of the home and society.

"To embrace equity, we must cultivate the mindsets and practices necessary to create affirmation, inclusiveness, diversity, unity, and success for all," Okah said.

She however said that the state government has shown commitment and dedication in women's issues by taking the right steps to empower and improve the status of women and girls.

Ms. Faithvin Nwanchor, State Coordinator, Gender Equality Task Force, pledged that the group is ready to enlighten rural communities on financial inclusion, especially women and girls.

“The theme of the event is relevant, and we will address this aspect of technology to bridge the gap,” Nwanchor said.

Mrs. Goodness Mgbaja, Civil Resources Development and Documentation Center (CIRDDOC) State Program Manager, suggested collaboration with financial institutions, information and communication technology experts to establish ways to help rural women access technology.