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Grants >> Spotlight: Women Advocates Research and Documentation Center (WARDC)

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Enjoying its longest period of civilian rule since independence in 1960, Nigeria has begun to distance itself from its checkered past of military dictatorships and coups. Its increasing regional and international importance is spurred by a growing oil industry, which provides 95 percent of the foreign exchange earnings for Africa's largest oil producer. However, a legacy of corruption, political patronage, and inter-communal violence has persisted, slowing the consolidation of democratic efforts. The Niger Delta region, the heart of the county's oil supply and production, faces the greatest challenge. A poverty of rights and rule of law persists, and vast oil revenues have been funneled toward local officials instead of social programs that could benefit the majority of the Delta population. Frustrated residents have resorted to armed conflict, carrying out attacks on oil companies, government officials, and neighboring ethnic groups. Women are often the worst affected, suffering from rape and abuses that force them to flee to protect themselves and their children. However, women's networks remain strong in this region, and could serve as the backbone for peace and social change.

Founded in 2000, Women Advocates Research and Documentation Center (WARDC) is a women-led nonprofit organization promoting social justice and legal rights for women and other disadvantaged groups. With NED support, WARDC investigates and documents all cases of violations against women in conflict zones, improves public awareness about these violations, and helps to develop community-based mechanisms to monitor and prevent further violence.

Focusing on women in the Niger Delta, WARDC used Endowment support in 2005 to conduct intensive field research to gather and document evidence of violence against non-combatant women of the region, and organized several two-day focus groups with women leaders to discuss the greatest injustices that women continually face in their communities. Protection from violence, increased medical attention, financial support, and honest efforts to bring violators to justice were chief concerns of the women surveyed. The results of these surveys were used to publish a groundbreaking report on violence against women, and 1,000 copies of the report were distributed to local authorities, activists, women's groups, and press agencies.

In addition to advocacy campaigns promoting respect for women's rights and the peace building process, WARDC held two three-day capacity-building workshops in 2005 in Warri and Port Harcourt to build consensus against violence and other human rights abuses against women. Over sixty participants from local women's groups, conflict resolution organizations, and traditional and religious leaders in conflict zones took part in the workshops. Participants came away with an increased capacity to mobilize community members and build organizations that can effectively monitor human rights abuses and resolve conflicts.

With support from NED, WARDC is working to develop programs that effectively address and combat the negative effects on Nigeria's women and girls resulting from incessant armed conflicts. By fostering a stable environment in which women do not have to fear for their safety on a day-to-day basis, WARDC's program will allow women to participate in democratic decision-making processes that will contribute toward efforts to establish lasting peace and the rule of law in the Niger Delta. * Indicates Department of State Funding Beyond NED's Annual Appropriation