Collaboration; an innovative action in today's digital age.

Since its first session in 1947 through its evolution, the Commission on the Status of Women, which is composed of Member States, has advocated for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, and today based on actions of many organizations and individuals widows matters are being included.?Our signature phrase at AHF is "Until widows and their issues become an integral part of all discussions and actions of gender equality, there will be no equity in the equality"; which I've constantly continued to advocate since the 1st writing to UN Women in 2018 that international day for the elimination of violence against women and girls should be renamed to include widows hence international day for the elimination of violence against widows, women, and girls….

I congratulate all women today and standing here as a woman though a widow will remind us that widowhood is in the life cycle of every Woman who said I do to "her him" hence every woman needs to pay attention and add her actions to very discussion and activities that will enhance and promote widows' protection and empowerment.

29 years ago, barely 28 years of age, as women were here today discussing the same issue of gender equality, I was in my remote village in Nigeria going through the process of burying my late husband. It has been indeed filled with horrendous experiences to which I'm grateful that we are today paying attention to provide sustainable actions for women even in widowhood.

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In this year's CSW 2023 theme: Innovation?and technological change,?and education?in the digital age?for achieving?gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls" my keywords which have been my mantra since the inception of Almanah Hope Foundation are:

Innovation; improving and changing actions and activities that have been in use.

Education; knowledge is key to reorientation and to forming a culture of gender equality; understanding the advantages of it to both sexes is key to forming the desired new culture; and while we are rehabilitating the formed minds of the adult; a nip at the bud action is important to the development of new culture in the next generation

Technological change; the ICT world of entertainment is a great tool that must be explored by all to expose and explain the financial and social benefits of widows and women's inclusion to development; and it is achievable through protection and inclusion.

The digital age: Generation Y and Z are exposed to a different social structure that requires well-shared ownership that will promote sustainable relationships between sexes.

Achievement: The achievement of any actions is measured not just in an individual or community but a global sustainable practices hence my topic, developing/ providing;

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Sustainability for widows; economic empowerment and development as SME business owners.

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There are many definitions of Sustainability but my most loved definition is one by Santander; which says it consists of fulfilling the needs of current generations without compromising the needs of future generations while ensuring a balance between economic growth, environmental care, and social well-being.

My presentation is defining it as the actions and activities that will address the needs of generation of widows today to which her daughters and granddaughters will naturally walk through the path with ease and humanity if life takes them that path.

Today across communities many NGOs, CBOs, and philanthropists are doing many things to tackle the problems associated with widowhood and gender-based violence; as new ones spring up to join. While we cannot but acknowledge the great progress of all the bodies but the continuity and universality of some of this progress are limited. The implications being that while a certain percentage of the population of widows and women have the opportunity to access appropriate support for rights and empowerment, a lot larger percentage are not because bodies are working separately. And the segmentation of these bodies and their actions is a threat to sustainability.

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According to a publication in July 2022, PwC Nigeria, Advisory Partner, and Chief Economist, Andrew Nevin, indicated that women account for 41 percent ownership of micro-businesses in Nigeria, with 23 million female entrepreneurs operating within this segment. And taking into account the African patriarchal culture with reference to Nigeria; without statistical information to back it up I will agree strongly that ? of this population are widows who either had been doing it as side work with the main work being to take care of the home or has to start or add it to her small income job in her bid to economic survival.

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In a society like mine where women are seen as 2nd class citizens with widows 3rd class; how many of them can sustain their business talk less growing it considering their financial needs on education, health, and housing?

These widows who are classified as poor people are often lost in the law of average; making its population neglected as generations continue to go through similar times even centuries apart. The current position of widows can be described as the sustainability of abuse and neglect if actions are not taken to build a universal solution.

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So in building sustainability for widows, actions, and activities must begin to synergize for universality. This means that innovative applications that synchronize the different bodies working for and with widows are required.

The international community as UN Women should include activities that address best these questions that my presentation attempts to portray;

How do we build sustainable actions for widows and women in our communities??Information expansion(Innovation)

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How do we build Economic empowerment and development for women and widows beyond the existing practices looking into the needs that are consuming them beyond their SME businesses? (Education) (social services such as education, health, and housing loan)

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How do we intensify actions through synergistic actions of NGOs & CBOs for replication and upgrade (Technology change)

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What innovative ways can we apply to existing practices using NGOs/CBOs that are necessary for sustainability? (Achievement)

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HOW DO WE COMBINE THE WORKS OF NGOS & THEIR RELEVANT GOVERNMENT?

An economically empowered woman is a less abused widow, hence the number one sustainability action is the equal protection and provision of rights and services for women across strata; starting from families. And the greatest inequalities in widowhood are rooted in the subtle perception of women who see widows as them forgetting that Widows' Rights are Women’s Rights and Women’s Rights that should be tied equally to human rights.

Promoting sustainability for widows is a key and noble action that should be included in women's agenda. There is a need to raise widows to the level where they can sustain themselves and their children without necessarily going to beg all the time. Some practices of NGos support, though noble, can be classified in today's world as abuse with some exploitation underneath.

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Just as owing an SME business has remained a convenient action for men to pacify their wives eager to work, Setting up as an SME business owner is an easy way, given the fact that there is often no time for her to start seeking skills, degrees or certificates to go back to the job market in the case of a widow who was not working before the sad occurrence or whose degree has not been used for a while possibly because she wasn’t working before her husband died; as she takes up responsibilities day one

However, it is key to note that capacity building is important for setting up a new SME owner or expanding an existing one for the enormous responsibility ahead but she has no liberty of such.

These widows have to be taken through a capacity-building process to be able to make a success of business and inculcating these into the activities of the NGOs?is important for sustainability.

While most widows lack the knowledge of being able to differentiate between cash and profit, expenses, etc. on the finance side; the fact is that even with that knowledge, she cannot implement it easily as the generated income needs to meet that are way above it. This is because these widows have no social service support to leverage on hence their business dwindles to most folding up.

As an organization willing to set up?windows, having an understanding of the widow's personal expenses; social services are key tools that require innovative practices that will take up huge expenses like children’s school fees and rent off the widow while the business is up and going, such as; loan facilities Grant facilities, Health insurance, and Education loan.

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Building sustainable actions for women and widows' economic empowerment and development is developing a module that will synergize?and categorize?all the bodies and their projects for standardization capturing all the communities.

Grant bodies need to invest in economic financing, health insurance, education loans, and housing;

The classification of NGO projects is an innovative method that will build universality of purpose and projects that grant bodies need to consider investing in. To classify NGO bodies into different actions;

Policy managers?(advocacy, media/films/entertainment, schools/education, community engagement)

Economic empowerment?(Loan facilities, Grant facilities,?

Social services; Health insurance, Education, housing loans

Welfare: Old people's packages

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As we at AHF participate in CSW67_WOMEN 2023 with the priority theme considered was

"Innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls". With the review theme “Challenges and opportunities in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls”

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While we continue to tackle the political challenges, our strengths in addressing the social challenges are tied to our foundation 2023 theme; "Building a Synergistic interaction of activities", one innovative action to explore in this digital age to achieve gender equality and empowerment of widows, women, and girls is to begin a synergy of NGOs and CBOs activities.

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To address the challenges and harness the opportunities available in achieving gender equality to include the rural widows, women, and girls in accessing the opportunities through provision. A universal action can only be possible through the classification of bodies associated with and responsible for all the activities.

To do that we need to map out organizations and institutions associated with women and widows' rights and empowerment across local, State, and national levels, to harmonize resources and development in a unified response to common issues.

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Develop and manage a database of NGOs/CBOs working with responsive policies, plans, and programs.

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Classify member organizations based on the ability and visibility of actions based on geopolitical, states, and communities.

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To build national and global partnerships, networks, and collaborative efforts, and to work in synergy and partnership with like-interest individuals, civil societies, corporate organizations, governmental and non-governmental organizations, and domestic international organizations, towards the attainment of the above objectives of this initiative.

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Providing sustainability for Gender equality is key;