A pan Niger Delta women Non-Governmental Organisation has called on oil-bearing communities in Akwa Ibom State to engage Multinational Oil Companies operating in their communities on needs assessment, community development plan and social inclusion, if their communities must be developed.
The Program Officer of Kebetkache Women Development and Resource Centre, Rivers State, Mrs Idongesit Alexander, made the call recently in her presentation during a one-day training programme organised by the centre with support from Ford Foundation held at Villa Hilton Hotels & Apartment, Ewet Housing Estate, Uyo.
Mrs Alexander who presented a paper entitled: Capacity Building Training On Gender, Social Inclusion and Community Needs Assessment, explained that sex is the biological difference between male and female, which is universal and unchangeable.
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She noted that in the cause of her interactions with participants at the event, some of them did not know the difference between sex and gender, hence the mistake of using sex in place of gender.
According to her, gender has to do with those constructed behaviors and norms in the community or society that have suddenly been changed to become part of the culture of the people in such communities, maintaining that what men can do, same can also be done by the women in the society.
Mrs Alexander used the occasion to encourage some village councils’ representatives at the training programme to see the need to conduct community needs assessment for the men, women and youths in order to bring about development, when oil companies come in to ask them of project(s) needed, as part of their Corporate Social Responsibilities to the host communities.
The resource person listed that needs assessment which includes citizens engagement and participation in governance processes is critical for sustaining development of any community, ensures that the voice of the people is heard through the budget; communities are able to take part in decision and issues on service delivery that affect them, and enhances sustainable development, among others.
On his part, the Monitoring/Evaluation Officer of Kebetkache, Mr Emeka Uneanya, said he had also observed that most of the participants at the training were unable to distinguish between sex and gender, saying that looking at some constructed roles for males and females in some communities, different from the biological differences.
Uneanya said the word ‘gender’ goes beyond mere differences between man and woman, while social inclusion has to do with everyone in the society, including those people leaving with disabilities, which according to him, should be carried along in the scheme of things even in leadership positions in the society.
The evaluation/monitoring officer, however, advocated women to be allowed to handle certain leadership positions, because they may perform more than the men, stressing that what God has deposited in women were more than that of the men.
Participants at the event shared their experiences about practices and norms, as well as roles played by men and women in their communities.
