About us – IWEI

IWEI

Our Vision

Peaceful, healthy, empowered communities with social justice for women, youth and children to fully develop their potential in an equitable, just and sustainable world

Our Mission

IWEI seeks to transform the society by enabling women, youth and children escape the cycle of poverty, ignorance and social injustices, by attaining a state of social wellbeing, and having a voice through innovative, qualitative and sustainable empowerment programs.

About the Initiative

Peaceful, Healthy, Empowered communities with social justice for women, youth and children to fully develop their potential

Isa Wali Empowerment Initiative (IWEI) is a nongovernmental and non-profit organization that seeks to transform the society by enabling women, youth and children escape the cycle of poverty and ignorance mostly fostered by harmful traditional practices, by attaining a state of well being and having a voice through innovative, qualitative and sustainable empowerment programs. The Isa Wali Empowerment Initiative was established with the aim of transforming the lives of the most vulnerable groups (women and children), through the provision of access to improved healthcare, education, economic empowerment programmes channeled at boosting their confidence and self esteem, and enhancing capacity building in order to motivate them towards a life of economic self reliance and sufficiency. To keep alive the ideals of Alhaji Isa Wali, which are still relevant today, the Family has decided that the Initiative be named in his memory.

About the man

Ambassador Isa Wali

Isa Wali (1929-1967) was a Nigerian diplomat from Kano who served as the Nigerian Ambassador to Ghana during the independence period. During the pre-independence period, he was known in the Northern region as a critic of religious and political suppression. He became more known among the intellectual circles in the North for his modernist views on women’s rights, for minorities in the region, towards reforming the court system, reducing the emir’s salary and bringing the native authority under civil service regulations. Isa Wali was, however, best known as an advocate of women’s rights in Islam, drawn from his in-depth knowledge of the Qur’an. He wrote a series of articles, ‘The True Position of Women in Islam,’ published in the Nigerian Citizen in 1956, which publications set the tone of debate on women’s place in the polity.’ A few of the quotes in articles published in the Nigerian Citizen (1956) appear below:

Our Major Focus

Although the entire community is the ultimate beneficiary of IWEI’s programs and activities, the major focus is on women and young persons who are mostly the vulnerable and marginalized members of society. IWEI takes a participatory bottom up and rights based approach in our programmes which are designed to develop capacity of our beneficiaries and ultimately the community as a whole; though in varying degrees, and thus to contribute to the well-being of the
people at large.

Strategies used