On Tuesday 30th March 2021, ElectHER in partnership with African Women on Board and AGS Tribe hosted a multi-organizational conference for women titled “Women for Women Conference; partnering for Parity” aimed at strengthening the ‘sister’s keeper’ narrative and amplifying women’s leadership across business, the private and public sector, through moderated sessions on politics, equality and equity across governance, financial inclusion, business and entrepreneurship, with support from Platform Capital Group, One Women by Sterling Bank, GAIA Africa and Auroe scents. 

A key highlight of the conference was the historical launch of a first of its kind collaborative fund The WomenforWomen Fund, a crowdfunding initiative led by a collective of three women’s organization – ElectHER, African Women on Board, and AGS Tribe, with a goal to raise $1 million from Nigerian women home and abroad, for fellow women seeking to run for elective office in 2023.

The fund is a sub-fund under ElectHER’s Agender35 campaign- which has an overarching goal to raise a $10 million fund to empower 1000 women to Decide to Run and directly fund 35 women to competitively run for elective office in the forthcoming Nigerian general elections.

According to Ibijoke Faborode; Co-founder & Executive Director of ElectHER- The WomenforWomen Fund matters! It is a collective pot to encourage multiple female stakeholders to get onboard and put their money where their mouth is! If we do not fight for ourselves, who will? As women become more empowered and take on leadership positions across the private sector and lead large business ventures, it is indeed time for the girl’s club to step it up, she says.

Abosede George-Ogan, Co-founder of ElectHER also stated, In the United states of America, organizations like Emily’s list have raised over $600 million to support thousands of pro-choice women to run for office. It is time to start building a similar funding base in Nigeria for women who will represent the interest of women and girls in political leadership positions.

With the unregulated growing costs of running elections in Nigeria, financial inclusion to de-risk the process of running and mobilize more for political leadership is more crucial than ever.

Reacting to this feat, Nkiru Balonwu, Chair, African Women on Board (AWB), reiterated that the lack of funding and campaign support are key factors that limit the political ambitions of women: “As we advocate for measures to increase the representation of women in governance, and as the general elections draw closer, there is no better time than now for frameworks to be put in place to ensure that female candidates in 2023 get the support they need”.

Ife Durosinmi-Etti, Founder AGS Tribe, also stated that ‘there’s a serious need for more women in elective office’ and if we really want to move the needle to get real change, we need to pull all our resources together to make this happen.

Fundraising for the fund, will be carried out through a dedicated digital platform which will enable both naira and dollar donations. The donations will be carried out as pledges, ranging from N5000 to N500,000 with flexibility for anonymous and higher donations. All donations will be recorded on the portal through a weekly report, for full transparency and proper tracking.

To find out more about the WomenforWomen Fund, visit https://agender35.elect-her.org/womenforwomenfund/

About ElectHER

ElectHER is a non-partisan progressive women’s political advancement organization bridging inequality gaps in African democracy, by advocating for and enabling women’s leadership across appointive and elective office. Our mission is fulfilled through behavioral change communications; skills development, human capital mobilization and campaign financing, with an end-goal to enable capable women competitively Decide, Run and Win elections. 

We are on a mission to empower 1000 women to run for office and directly back ’35’ women by 2023 

www.elect-her.org

About African Women on Board (AWB)

African Women on Board is an African woman led independent non-profit organisation dedicated to reshaping the future for African women and girls globally by mainstreaming their voices and fast tracking their trajectory into the leadership roles of the future. 

For more information, please visit: www.africanwomenonboard.org

About AGS Tribe

The AGS Tribe is a Pan African community built to inspire, connect and build the capacity of young entrepreneurs and professionals. The main purpose of the AGS Tribe is to build a community of strong leaders (Entrepreneurs or Professionals) who will create more job opportunities that will ultimately reduce unemployment in Africa.

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