Legal Aid & Pro Bono Services

WACOL is considered as the number one legal aid service provider for women and girls in Nigeria providing assistance to about 2,000 on an annual basis with over 4,000 drop-ins yearly. We register an average of 20 cases daily at our legal clinic. This is evidence based and well documented. From 1998 to date approximately 62,000 women and girls have accessed free legal aid and assistance services. We provide free legal services for women and young people in our offices across the country. We also ran community law centers in Katsina, Ebonyi and Anambra States, including Mobile Legal Clinics in Bayelsa, Benue, Enugu and Rivers States. The services available under the legal aid scheme include court representation, crisis intervention and counselling, information about victims’ rights, shelter, home visits and other psycho-social support for victims, and referrals for other needs. These cases are on different human rights abuses, including denial of inheritance, assault/battery, child abuse/neglect, harassment/intimidation, sexual assault/rape, family maintenance and other forms of violence against women and young people. In a bid to extend its successful women’s rights programme to the northern parts of Nigeria, WACOL embarked on legal aid and access to justice project in Northern Nigeria to ensure an Islamic legal environment that takes into account the human rights of women. The project has so far covered thirteen northern states of Nigeria including Abuja. An important aspect of this project was the establishment of a rapid response mobile legal clinic and the training of community paralegals, which contributed to the extensive reach of the project activities.

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Empower young people in all across of Africa

Today, more than 80% of African migration is internal to the African continent and involves nearly 19 million people, including 6.7 million in West Africa and 3.5 million in Central Africa. Women represent 47.1% and young people between 15 and 24 years of age 16% of migrants. Unfortunately, media capacities to cover migration are relatively weak; media content often provide inaccurate description of migration factors and scarce migrant stories or focus on migration risks, thus often misrepresenting migrants. This project will involve eight countries: Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea-Conakry, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal. Young women from the media and communication sectors of the target countries will be involved, and particular attention will be paid to the production of editorial content on young migrant women, who are among the least represented groups of migrant populations.

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Shelter & Protection Services

Our Tamar Sexual Assault Referral Centre provides emergency shelter, medical care, psychological counseling, and rehabilitation for survivors. Survivors receive temporary accommodation, food, therapy, skills training, and reintegration support to rebuild their lives in safety. WACOL started running a safe house in 1998 and in 2002, it built its own ultra-modern shelter that continues to provide safe spaces for women and girls in need, especially victims of VAWG/SGBV/HP, including survivors of human trafficking.

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WEEP NOT FUND

This Women Economic Empowerment Project- WEEP not funds was started about a decade ago by the founder of WACOL Prof. Joy Ngozi Ezeilo (OON) to focus on mitigating economic hardship suffered by widows and bring succour to widows and other rural women living in extreme poverty by supporting income-generating projects, including as a cooperative that will provide livelihood sustainability.

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WACOL Zonal Women Political Empowerment

The offices were established in conjunction with the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, then MDGs Office at the President and the Imo State Government through the Ministry of Women Affairs that donated office space. The zonal office functions as a political information clearinghouse for women in the southeast geo-political zone. It serves as a political resource Centre and has been providing much-needed support for women to seek elective positions and other information on political participation.

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Fifty-Fifty (50/50) Women Advocacy Group

This programme seeks to strengthen women’s capacity and equip selected beneficiaries with appropriate knowledge and skills to champion their cause at community and state levels, especially advancing women’s transformational leadership to collectively fight and prevent violence against women and girls(VAWG), including harmful practices, end discrimination and promote gender equality in all spheres of life. Women have been known to be great organizers and mobilizers, including agents of change, playing key roles in community development, especially in Africa. However, their skills and commitments demonstrated in many rural communities have not been harnessed and transformed towards the realization of women’s rights. This project hopes to change this and sharpen women’s leadership role to champion the change they want to see by driving the process and engaging with policymakers at the state level and traditional and religious institutions at the community level. The fifty-fifty Women Group members would be trained on Women’s Rights, Leadership and Advocacy and supported to embark on the necessary action to raise women’s voices and demand gender accountability.

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GIRL’s Will

This is an initiative of WACOL that was launched during the celebration of the 2020 International Day of Girl Child amidst COVID- 19 pandemic. GIRL’s Will is a programme designed to promote girls’ right to protection and participation. It aims at amplifying the voices and rights of girls everywhere in Nigeria. Importantly, the initiative through targeted actions will work to equip girls with the right skills and knowledge to defend their human rights. It will target the greater role and participation of girls in decisions affecting their survival and development, advancing their inclusion in science education and technological advancement. Follow us on #GIRLSWILL

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Equality and inclusion activities.

The first area of work manifests itself across development sectors and also has a strong role in our equality and inclusion activities such as our work with people with disabilities and counter discrimination in access to public services. For example, in a country that guarantees the right to education to all but where girls are often excluded or denied access to school, USAID human rights programming might support organizations that advocate for girls’ education programs, while partnering with the Ministry of Education to ensure that schools have the resources in place to support and ensure girls’ education.

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Protecting Children's Rights in a Digital World

A great first step is for parents to discuss with their children and teens age-appropriate ways of engaging with others online; to encourage exploration and creativity and opportunities to advocate on issues that affect or inspire them. Protecting their privacy while enabling this self-expression is key to keeping them safe. Whether you prefer to consider yourself “childless” or “child-free,” the term is not one to take literally. Most childless couples do want children in their lives, even if they aren’t parents themselves. Finding ways to be a part of a child’s life isn’t always obvious.

Now Is the Time to Act!

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Helping protect water, wetlands and forests

The Nature Conservancy is focused on innovative solutions that match the urgency of this crisis. We are protecting & restoring forests, improving working lands, helping communities build resilience & working to ensure a clean energy future. Together with supporters like you, we can halt the catastrophic march of climate change so that our communities can thrive & natural places that renew our spirits can endure. The science is clear: climate change is the most serious threat facing our planet today. Be a part of the solution—join our efforts to demand action from U.S. leaders, and determine your own carbon footprint and commit to lowering your impact.

Now Is the Time to Act!

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The volunteers' work impacts all our lives

New payment technologies are now allowing charity to be ingrained at a grassroots level by enabling people to make small donations in a convenient way through micro-donations. An emblematic example of this scheme is Pennies, a “digital charity box”, created with a purpose to raise funds for a variety of UK charities. Another potentially far-reaching innovation in charity is the use of virtual reality that allows people to experience, in a very tangible way, the lives of particular groups of people — be that the visually or hearing impaired, refugees, or those living in polluted environments. The organizations that have tested VR with a charitable purpose, including UNICEF and the UN, have reported a strong response from the public (expressed in monetary terms).

The campaign resulted in one in six people donating

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