The International Women’s Society (IWS) has vowed to keep empowering the nation’s underprivileged citizens, especially women and children.
Izabella Abia-Okon, the president of IWS, made this statement on Tuesday in Lagos during the association’s April meeting and cultural exchange programme in partnership with the Nigerian-Hungarian Chamber of Commerce.
Abia-Okon claims that IWS opened a skills development centre in Lagos State in 1999 with the goal of improving the socioeconomic standing of women in the region and across the nation.
She claimed that the centre, which provides vocational training in areas like makeup, adult literacy, computer-related courses, fashion design, sewing, and event management, graduates 100 students on average each year.
According to Abia-Okon, the exercise encouraged the growth of more microbusinesses, thereby addressing the national crisis of unemployment, particularly among women.
She mentioned that the skills centre had earned NABTEB certification, allowing graduates to find employment anywhere in the world.
But she urged well-meaning Nigerians to help the association continue its work of empowering the weaker members of society.
“As an NGO project, we face significant financial challenges in sustaining our operations and providing quality hands on training, scholarships, and start-up support for our graduates.
“We rely on the support of generous donors, and together we can make a difference in lives of the less privileged in our society,” she said.
IWS was established in 1957 in Lagos by a group of civic-minded women who wanted to support women’s courses through its well-defined programmes, which typically concentrate on helping the less fortunate, financially supporting widowed women, and offering opportunities for the acquisition of skills that will lead to financial independence and the development of their respective communities.
The networking opportunities and knowledge of potential collaboration opportunities between Nigeria and Hungary were the meeting’s high points.
