Rise Up Together, a global nonprofit working across Africa, South Asia, and the United States, has reaffirmed its commitment to empowering emerging Nigerian advocacy leaders who are advancing gender justice for women and girls.
The organization, which has been operating in Nigeria since 2014, has now trained nearly 200 leaders working across the Federal Capital Territory, as well as in Nasarawa, Anambra, Rivers, and Kaduna states.
Speaking in Abuja on Saturday after training for its sixth cohort of 25 civil society leaders, Country Director Theresa Effa, said the initiative is designed to strengthen local advocacy aimed at improving policies, systems and social conditions for women and girls.
She said, “We identify those who are passionate about advancing issues and situations that enable women to live and thrive within their communities.
“We work mainly around advocacy because when you talk with political leaders and policymakers, you’re trying to change the system for many people to be impacted.”
She said participants would return to their states to champion improved access to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education for girls, stronger legislation against gender-based violence and more effective implementation of existing gender policies.
Effa noted that Rise Up selects its partner states using available national data to identify gaps in gender development and areas where targeted interventions can drive measurable change.
She cited earlier successes, including the development of a girl-child policy in Nasarawa State by a member of the fifth cohort.
The policy, she said, helped the state attract federal and World Bank funding to renovate schools and provide conditional cash transfers to caregivers, enabling more girls to enroll and remain in school.
She added that Rise Up supports its leaders through a structured “leader’s journey” that combines training, seed grants, technical assistance and ongoing engagement.
“We stay in touch. We provide resources and support,” she said.
Jennifer Broome, Director of Strategic Partnerships at the US headquarters, said the organisation was impressed by the quality and depth of commitment shown by the new cohort of 25 leaders.
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“They’re going to take this learning, this new knowledge and these new skills and go really far with advancing gender equity for girls and women in Nigeria.
“You can imagine what will happen down the line after these girls graduate, more literate girls who become women who are economically independent and contribute to the development of the state and the country,” she noted.
Broome said Rise Up will continue supporting the cohort with future funding opportunities, mentorship and technical guidance.
She confirmed that the organisation will return in 2026 to train a seventh cohort, as part of its long-term model of investing in leaders year after year to achieve sustained, evidence-driven change.
Participants of the 2025 Rise Up Leadership Accelerator described the programme as transformative, saying it has reshaped how Nigerian civil society organisations engage government and pursue gender justice.
Oluwatimilehin Onafeso, Executive Director of Working to Advance African Women (WAAW) Foundation, said the training redefined her understanding of advocacy and would directly reshape her organisation’s work for greater impact on the communities it serves.
She noted that many activities traditionally labelled as advocacy were merely courtesy visits, not strategic efforts to influence public policy.
“The biggest takeaway for me was realising that advocacy is about working with decision makers to change policies and systems. For years, we treated the effects of problems without tackling the root causes,” she said.
Onafeso said WAAW Foundation will now prioritise strengthening the implementation of the National Policy on Science and Technology Education.
She identified significant gaps in STEM infrastructure in girls-only public schools, especially in remote parts of the FCT, where ICT centres and science laboratories are lacking.
Strengthening these facilities, she said, would expand girls’ access to STEM careers and contribute to national development.
For Denis Tsakpa, Partnerships and Leadership Lead at Every Girl Initiative, the Accelerator has broadened his understanding of advocacy and its role in achieving systemic, long-term change.
“We used to call ourselves advocates, but we were not. Now we understand strategy, context and how to push for large-scale, sustainable change,” he noted
Tsakpa welcomed Rise Up’s planned one-on-one mentorship support and called for the programme to be expanded to reach more civil society groups, especially in conflict-affected regions transitioning from humanitarian response to development work.
He also urged corporate bodies to direct more of their social responsibility funding toward policy-focused initiatives, and encouraged government institutions to be more open to meaningful engagement with civil society, noting that effective advocacy benefits both policymakers and citizens.
