By Ebele Orakpo

Empower a woman and you have empowered the nation,’ so goes a saying. In line with this saying, and to ensure a better society for Nigerians, the President/Chief Executive Officer of Morgan Smart Development Foundation, Dr. Evelyn Omawumi Urhobo has said that her foundation will do its best to continually empower women to enable them impact the society positively.

She said this during a four-day women community leaders training workshop held in Warri recently with the theme: Empowering Women to Empower their Communities.

Employing the Adult Learning Model and Appreciative Inquiry Model participatory training methodology of the Centre for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA), a US-based organisation, the participants were made to participate directly in the learning process.

Some of the topics handled include Proposal Writing, Fundraising, Financial Management, Banking and Banking Transactions, Book Keeping, Micro-credit, Communications, Advocacy, Wealth Creation, Group/Team development and Gender Mainstreaming within the context of the Millennium Development Goals.

Speaking at the event which featured high caliber facilitators, the Delta State Commissioner for Women Affairs, Mrs. Betty Efekodha noted that in the last 50 years, women have contributed significantly to the growth of the economy and the country at large.

The commissioner who was represented by a director in the ministry, Mrs. Onyekweli Fina, stated that the state government has been doing a lot to empower women via micro-credit, free healthcare for pregnant women, skills acquisition as well as adult education. She praised the efforts of Morgan Smart Development Foundation for their role in continually empowering women. She advised the participants to take the workshop very seriously.

One of the facilitators, the Senior Programmes Officer, Communications and Advocacy, Morgan Smart Development Foundation, Mr. Michael Chidozie, explained that effective communication is one that yields the desired result by the parties involved. According to him, “communication should involve listening, understanding, asking questions and giving feedbacks.”

In her lecture on Leadership Development, Dr. Urhobo defined leadership as an “ability to know the people, their needs, make the right decision, have the right contact and influence them for change.and local women NGOs.