CBA Foundation: A Relentless Passion for Impacting Underprivileged Widows and Children

CBA Foundation: A Relentless Passion for Impacting Underprivileged Widows and Children

Israel O. Bolaji

The disturbing plight of the underprivileged Nigerian children and widows remains a worrisome conundrum that deserves concerted efforts and sustainable action plans to urgently assuage the pains and assure a significant turnaround for good.

The statistics are appalling, the optics pitiful and the outlook indeed calls for urgent intervention. A recent survey conducted by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) indicates that the population of Out-of-School Children in Nigeria has risen from 10.5 million to 13.2 million, the highest in the world. Confirming the embarrassing reality, Nigeria’s Minister of State, Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, at a ceremony in Katsina last June agreed that Nigeria truly and sadly has the highest number of Out-of-School Children in sub-Sahara Africa, pegging the alarming figure at 10.2million. Expectedly, Boko Haram insurgency, infrastructure deficit and decay, as well as high illiteracy were reportedly responsible.

More, worrisome sights of school-age children involved in alms begging, street hawking, menial labour and other degrading ventures in Nigeria due to abject poverty are rampant and disheartening!

On the flip side of the coin are the sordid and harrowing tales of many widows in Nigeria – mostly unemployed or without any tangible source of livelihood following the usually sudden demise of their breadwinner spouses! No jobs or trade, no decent meals, no money for rent or school fees for kids, sometimes deserted by relatives and in-laws and the list goes on. For many Nigerian widows, they live not only with psychological challenges, financial constraints, and the burden of raising their children alone but also with the non-dignifying cultural demands of widowhood, including disinheritance, stigmatisation and denial of the right of dignity and equality. Though many have the will and desire to brave the odds and eke a living, they face near unsurmountable odds if left alone due to a lack of sustainable systemic support from society. Data shows that Nigeria has over eight million such disadvantaged widows.

On a broader level, the narrative is similarly gloomy! The United Nations estimated about 258 million widows around the world, with nearly one in ten living in extreme poverty. Apart from that, 2.7 billion women, according to the data, are denied access to the same choice of jobs as men due to certain unconfronted restrictions, while gender-based violence has remained on the rise. From all indications, widows are generally faced with a tough battle of survival. This informed why the United Nations formally adopt June 23 as International Widows Day (IWD). The IWD is recognised globally to address the poverty and injustice faced by millions of widows and their dependents, raise awareness on challenges of widowhood and rally stakeholders for intervention.

However, In spite of this already alarming situation, Covid-19 made things even worse, cutting off whatever paltry sum the hapless widows were getting while some were sadly forced to feed with their meagre capital for petty trading during the lockdown months. The post-COVID-19 era has been anything but better and government provisions are long overwhelmed for this vulnerable fraction of our society.

One charity organisation working assiduously to arrest the trend buoyed by a burning passion to provide succour to these vulnerable groups is the CBA Foundation, founded and spearheaded by the delectable Chinwe Bode-Akinwande, a passionate philanthropist and humanist in her 40s.

Chinwe confessed that though she’s lucky to still be blessed with a father and husband, the humanity in her got aroused when she listened to widows lament their plights in church sessions and other gatherings hence her strategic intervention through the CBA Foundation.

According to the President/Founder, “CBA Foundation has also been at the front burner calling on the Nigerian government to implement and enforce the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act (VAPP), which gives protection to widows in the country. The foundation believes that the government needs to create more awareness and enforcement of acts for widows to know their rights and for people to tread with caution.”

Chinwe explained further that the foundation was borne out of a genuine passion to reach out to underprivileged widows in the society, and children that are not privileged to partake in what an average child would ordinarily enjoy. CBA Foundation makes it a duty to consistently reach out to women who are disadvantaged and unempowered but have expressed the will, power, and passion to be resourceful.

Her stints with UNICEF, multinationals and other corporates including First Bank where she currently heads the digital team has facilitated many CSR initiatives and support for widows and children alike and she has brought the experience, empathy and personal convictions to bear at the CBA Foundation.

Findings revealed that from 2015 to date, CBA Foundation has consistently engaged in several outreaches under its 5-point agenda, and empowered about 8,700. The key areas include skills acquisition training, health intervention, business start-ups and provision of clothing, nutrition and tuition fees for the children.

While 8,700 widows were reached through women empowerment/ capacity building initiatives, 4,500 were supported with health Interventions, and 10,600 assisted through goods distribution. Similarly, 158 children were reinstated in schools to access quality basic education, 220 widows financially empowered through the self-employment scheme while palliatives were provided to over 250 widows during the COVID-19 pandemic lock-down.

Sharing more insights on how CBA Foundation works, Chinwe revealed that it’s not just about giving money but ensuring that it is put to good use and value is achieved. “We don’t just give money to widows, we go the next step to also pull in people with key skills and competencies to run skills acquisition programmes for these people. The biggest empowerment is not just money or finance but education and training for proper balancing and gradual self-reliance, which is the ultimate goal. We bring in professionals who help to train, equip them and thus empower these women in their preferred areas of interest. This is because it’s necessary that they get empowered. It’s not just about giving money but helping to harness their interests and skills and making them self-reliant through entrepreneurship. We discovered that some love to bake, do food businesses while others prefer tie and dye and so forth. We help them achieve their goals,” she enthused.

“After training, we also ensure that we engage them by providing funding for them to start a business that can help them sustain themselves. We don’t want the funds diverted because of poverty. We also provide monitoring and ensure that they actually buy their startup raw materials and kits and start off on their own,” she noted.

On interventions in education, Chinwe said “For early education like primary education especially for widows, we help return trading kids to schools and ensure proper reporting to donor agencies. That’s for those interested. We have restored about 158 kids back to school from hawking. We pay directly to schools. Frankly, we can’t fix all the education gaps, but for those whose goal is to return kids to school, we make it happen.”

Asked about her propelling force and she said: “These great people seem invisible and unheard. And we want to support them and help them get heard and seen by society. They are very dear to us at CBA Foundation.”

“Voice is critical in sustaining the efforts. Our efforts at telling the stories directly help us get support and funding as they come. Our aim is to continue to support the voice and position of the underprivileged widows and kids in society more through partnerships, empowerment and capacity building. We remain committed to this vision and we encourage everyone to support this force for good, “she remarked.

Some of the beneficiaries of the CBA Foundation narrated their experience.

A widow, Ezubuike Chidinma Maryam, said: “I hail from Anambra State. I am a hairstylist. I lost my husband in January 2016. It has not been easy for me and my two children.

Few months after my husband died, the family began to fight me to leave the house I built. I resisted them. They intruded into my husband’s landed property and I reported the matter to our king. The case is ongoing. My husband’s family said I’m not known in the family and that I should leave.

It has not been easy at all but all thanks to the CBA Foundation which came to my rescue. Today, I have my own shop where I do my business. I want the government to support widows in the country because we are suffering.”

According to Mrs Esther Fashina, it has been a hellish experience for her and her children.

“My husband died about 22 years ago. I have been managing since then with petty trade until last year when my firstborn died. My children and I left my husband’s house because of incessant battles from my husband’s family.

My husband’s family doesn’t care about the children. I have been the only one struggling for my children. “I thank the CBA Foundation. They have been so supportive. The foundation bought a kerosene tank for me which I use to sell kerosene.”

For Mrs Nnodu, a mother of three, she and her kids hawk fruits on the streets. To boost her income, she used to borrow money from the women’s group to sell plastics but was unable to meet up interests and timelines. She became a lucky beneficiary of CBA Foundation seed capital for the plastic business and packaging of the fruits. As a foundation that frowns against child labour of any kind, the support by the CBA Foundation is instrumental to ensuring the kids stop hawking and are able to go back to school.