Enlightens, empowers, and equips local women with the tools & knowledge to grow their businesses, improve their livelihoods, and secure their future.
The Ecumenical Commission For Womens Empowerment, Environmental And Community Development (ECOFWE) has been involved in empowering a substantial number of women and youth in the area and thus alleviating rural poverty in Ohafia and its environs. Since its inception in 1999, ECOFWE has provided Micro-credit facilities amounting to over Fourteen Million Naira (14,000,000.00) by 2006, to over 18 women groups drawn across Ohafia in Abia State and Uwana in Ebonyi State encompassing over 400 women.
ECOFWE is a women-led organization, operating in South-Eastern Nigeria, that aims to enlighten, empower, and equip local women with the tools & knowledge to grow their businesses, improve their livelihoods, and secure their future.
From Humble Beginnings to Remarkable Impact
ECOFWE was launched with the aid of a small grant from the Canadian Presbyterian Church that enabled a group of women to organise a three-day residential seminar for over 100 women from Ohafia in Abia State and Unwanna in Ebonyi State. The seminar covered several aspects relating to the lives of rural women ranging from family health, nutrition and gender issues, to politics, conservation, improved farming and empowerment. The seminar also discussed micro-credit and this led the women to ask the organisers for funding.
In April 2000, ECOFWE was registered as an NGO with the Corporate Affairs Commission. The aims and objectives were to bring help and economic empowerment to the women of Ohafia, particularly concentrating on the active poor through:
In 2000 ECOFWE began giving micro-credit loans to groups of women, with support and guidance of a Lagos-based NGO – Growing Businesses Foundation (GBF). ECOFWE got 90,000 from GBF, which was on-lent to three groups of women each group coming from a different Ohafia village. Apart from funding, the NGO also provided ‘know-how’ and guidance in the operation of micro-credit that was absolutely invaluable at that stage.
With additional support from Union Bank, ECOFWE grew to represent 17 groups and over 400 members with a portfolio of around 7,000,000, and for the first five years ECOFWE had a 100% repayment rate. In 2010 The Agricultural Manager of Union Bank approached ECOFWE to take an Agricultural Loan, albeit under pressure from Central Bank to participate in micro-credit programmes. The loan brought ECOFWE to the attention of Central Bank whose local staff took a very keen interest.
In 2015, ECOFWE was approved for a N9, 000,000.00 (Nine Million Naira) on-lending fund from Central Bank of Nigeria, under its Micro Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund (MSMEDF). It was expected that this facility will enable ECOFWE to continue and further retain the initiative it began 16 years earlier. It will also assist it to look at Ohafia (26 villages) holistically, by investing in a wider range of products and services which, if successful, can raise the living standard of the whole community
In 2002, ECOFWE received a gift of second-hand World Bank Computers and combined them with the newly arrived Bourdex Telephone service to open a small Business Centre. The main purpose behind this Centre was to make some money to sustain the micro-credit programme and other activities being undertaken by ECOFWE.
In 2003, ECOFWE was approached by USAID/IITA (Ibadan) to use this Business Centre as an Agricultural Resource Centre under a programme called RUSEP, which aimed to provide agricultural information to rural farmers through the Internet. Under RUSEP, ECOFWE got one year’s free bandwidth to use in the Business Centre by April 2004 and thus became the first and only Internet Centre in the area, outside Umuahia, introducing a more-or-less rural community to the use of the Internet and training so many young people in computer literacy.
The café proved itself as a social service helping keep Ohafia in touch with the outside world:
In 2008, the Cyber Café obtained sponsorship from the Universal Services Provisions Fund (USPF) of NCC to be a Community Communications Centre. This initially involved supervised loans from NCC with which our building was upgraded and new equipment installed. And in 2013 USPF assisted the project with the provision of free bandwidth.
ECOFWE also ran a Computer Training school and held its first Graduation ceremony with 30 students, many of whom have found employment in Business Centres in and around Ohafia.
Care in the Community
ECOFWE has been responsible for introducing Project Comfort - a project of the Methodist Church for the care of mentally and physically challenged children to Ohafia. This programme identifies such children in their homes, and then works with their parents and teachers in mainstream schools to support them.
Improved Farming Techniques, Inputs and Information
ECOFWE holds regular seminars addressing many issues from health: menopause, HIV/AIDS and medicated mosquito nets; to agriculture: snail & domestic okazi cultivation, grasscutter & bee farming, and helped in the distribution of fertiliser, chemicals and improved cassava.
ECOFWE also assisted women groups with cassava processing machines and a prototype rice processor developed by DFID in the North of Nigeria.
In addition to women members, ECOFWE has nurtured several groups of men, amongst which are an exceptional chicken farmer to whom ECOFWE provided beehives; a family growing grasscutters and several groups of cassava and rice farmers.
We believe in the power of women to drive change and make a difference.
We understand the unique challenges faced by women in South-Eastern Nigeria and tailor our programs to address their specific needs.
We provide training, mentorship, and resources to empower women with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed.
We work towards creating sustainable livelihoods for women, enabling them to support themselves and their families.
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