Issues we Address
Harmful Traditional Practices (HTPs)
Widowhood and Wife Inheritance
In 2002, the Washington DC based Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH) initiated a continent wide “Culture and Health Africa Program” (CHAP), designed to discourage harmful cultural practices and promote positives ones with funding from the New York office of the Ford Foundation. PATH’s project was a pilot implemented in strategically selected African countries including Nigeria, Egypt and Kenya. In Nigeria, the Foundation worked on “Widowhood and Wife Inheritance” and the project field was Okon community in northern Akwa Ibom State, Niger-Delta region of Nigeria. As usual with the Foundation’s programs approach, an extensive baseline research was conducted for a comprehensive identification of developmental problematics in the region. Findings identified high prevalence rate of child trafficking and slave labor, problems related to widowhood and wife inheritance as well as property inheritance, stigmatization/ rejection of twin births, sexuality behaviors of migrant oil workers resulting in high rates of teenage pregnancies and HIV/AIDS, linkage between gender based poverty and the vulnerability of women to harmful traditional practices in response to pressure for survival, high rates of Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC), increasing number of school drop outs and street children etc. On the basis of these findings, extensive consultations were carried out with organizations such as UNDP, UNICEF, Pathfinder International, State project offices of the National Action Committee on AIDS working with funding from the World Bank’s National response fund, the Federal Government of Nigeria/European Union Micro Projects Program (MPP6) for Niger Delta, Ministries of Women Affairs, oil corporations etc.The aim of these consultations was to enable these strategic stakeholders share in the research data, encourage them to partner in the project and facilitate a multisectoral and coordinated interventions for maximum impact and sustainability. This paid off. The UNDP initiated agricultural development project with the Widows Network that emerged from the project, UNICEF initiated WES (Water and Environmental Sanitation) project, Pathfinder International Nigeria, sourced funding for organizational development from Ford foundation to train community volunteers (22 in number, men and women) for the project, FGN/EU MPP6 initiated community construction program and in the course of it renovated a market and trained youth on construction work, the World bank funded HIV/AIDS impact mitigation project through micro credit scheme implemented by the community volunteers with technical assistance from the Foundation.
The PATH supported, Ford Foundation funded project on Widowhood and Wife inheritance enabled MPF to mobilize almost 1000 widows into an organization called Okon Widows Network (OWN) as well as registered over 2000 orphans with the Network. It also provided an opportunity for the building of capacity of traditional rulers to deal with culture related issues in their community as well as capacity building training for community volunteers and youth. Apart from providing project deliverables to PATH regional office in Kenya, MPF documented the project activities and outcomes in a copyrighted publication and CD documentary for use by organizations opting to work on the sensitive issues of culture. This, most probably explains, why PATH’s regional coordinator for Africa, Mrs. RIKKA TRANSGRUD described MPF’s project outcomes as “the most fantastic and the best in the 3 pilot countries in Africa.”
Having gathered required experiences working on culture related issues, the Foundation provided technical assistance to Development Communication Center (DCC) a Community Based Organization in a neighboring area to the Foundation’s project field in northern Akwa Ibom State in 2003 to work on using folk media (through entertainment education) to address cultural issues related to stigmatization of twin or multiple births in Odoro Ikot community, northern Akwa Ibom State, supported by PATH with funding from the Ford Foundation.
In spite of extensive liberalization culminating from proliferating educational opportunities, expanding urbanization, Christianization and development, our research findings reveals that most part of Niger Delta are still locked in the dark corner of Nigeria history.
Among some groups in the Niger Delta, twin mothers and children are still viewed as re-incarnation of evil spirits, punishment from the gods to unholy couples etc which has a bad omen for the community with negative implications for farming, harvest, war etc.
Consequently, twin fathers are compelled to offer costly sacrifices to appease the gods for purification and re-absorption into the mainstream community life. Unfortunately, twin mothers do not have similar privilege; hence they live in perpetual stigmatization till death. This discovery has triggered fresh culture and gender programming to address harmful cultural practices in the area
