"Yes. When we initially launched out it was quite challenging to get people to understand what we were actually trying to do. Particularly because Nigeria is culturally speaking very much patriarchal. When I launched out, I got challenged by some men who felt like: “what are you doing, you’re just a women, you should not be doing this, you won’t find a husband, etc”. Also, it was strange to find a woman who was working with a major government agency that works around the issues of environment. I actually thought for a women to find someone like me doing what I was doing, that she was going to be very supportive but rather I got challenged by her asking me if I was going to take over the assignment, the task of the government agency. And I said no I was only working toward complementing their effort across the communities that they also covered. But over time, we have been able to penetrate communities and also get a lot of men to endorse the work that we were doing not just by exploring gender responsive approaches to our work but also preaching the message of gender equality and women’s empowerment in the light that it is not a competition or contest between men and women but rather a collaboration, a partnership to make life better for men, women, children, households, communities. And with that approach, we’ve been able to get a lot of men supporting our work and also helping us carry the message to their wives, their mothers and their daughters."
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Olanike Olugboji-Daramola
Olanike Olugboji-Daramola (born 1 July 1974) is a Nigerian conservationist, environmental rights advocate, social entrepreneur, and writer. She is the founder and program director of the Women Initiative for Sustainable Environment (WISE), a non-profit organization that promotes environmental sustainability and empowers women to become environmental stewards, climate actors, and peace builders. In 2006, she was one of the founding members of WEA, the Women's Earth Alliance.
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