The themes of social justice and gender inclusion dominated discussions at the premiere of ‘Earth Women’, a poignant docudrama that explores the plight of women living in areas impacted by extractive activities, including oil and gas exploration and mining.
The premiere of Earth Women was held alongside the third Community and Human Rights (CAHR) Awards, which honours individuals and organisations contributing selflessly to community development and inclusion in Africa; both initiatives of CSR-in-Action Advocacy, the development-focused arm of the CSR-in-Action Group.
The grand event had in attendance, prominent personalities from business, entertainment, the media and the public sectors. Prominent guests at the event include the Erelu Kuti of Lagos, HRM Abiola Dosunmu; Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Dr. Ogbonnaya Orji; Lagos State Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Lere Odusote; Lead Pastor, The Elevation Church, Godman Akinlabi; Founder, Erinla Ecosystem, Yomi Awobokun; UK Government Department for International Trade, Nigeria, Chimwemwe Chalemera; Trade Commissioner at Deputy High Commission of Canada to Nigeria; and Managing Director of Hill+Knowlton Strategies Nigeria, Tokunboh George -Taylor.
Others include Ford Foundation Regional Programme Officer, Funke Baruwa; Managing Director of Niger Delta Exploration and Production (NDEP), Gbite Falade; Country Director, CEO, Landwey, Olawale Ayilara, Sonia Hukil; Yemisi Ransome-Kuti and Nollywood stars – Ego Boyo and Rita Dominic, amongst several others.
According to the Bekeme Masade-Olowola, CSR-in-Action’s Chief Executive and Earth Women’s Executive Producer, who visualised the concept for the documentary, when natural disasters occur, women suffer immensely because their sources of livelihood are threatened, and they often do not have control over what happens to them in such situations. Nevertheless, women continue to thrive and find better ways to survive.
“This documentary is inspired by our deep understanding of the multi-layered challenges in the extractive industries, having worked for the past ten years, on a common platform for resolving these socio-political crises by bringing together key stakeholders in government, business and the communities,” Masade-Olowola said.
She also expressed appreciation to some of the organisations that have sponsored the documentary premiere, including Access Bank, Coca-Cola and Diageo (Guinness Nigeria).
Earth Women, produced by CSR-in-Action Advocacy, which was founded by Masade-Olowola 11 years ago, and is now a foremost sustainability consulting and advocacy outfit, was primarily funded by Ford Foundation, the international organisation which supports social justice, and has Ego Boyo, veteran thespian, and Meka Olowola, communication expert, as co-Executive Producers of the docudrama.
“Wherever you find benefits in the form of natural resources, you find women and girls unfairly excluded from conversations around these resources. Women continue to be marginalised in both formal and informal spaces,” said Funke Baruwa, Country Director, West Africa for Ford Foundation. “However, we are really happy that women continue to challenge this marginalisation and continue to push through to make sure that our voices are heard.”
“We are supporting organisations like CSR-in-Action because we believe that supporting them will help in identifying gaps and driving programs and strategies that address challenges that women face in the extractive sector,” Baruwa added.
The ‘SITEI-Woman’ project, a series of initiatives targeted at empowering women, especially those impacted by the extractive industries in Nigeria, which is an offshoot of the 10-year-old Sustainability in the Extractive Industries (SITEI) Initiative, of CSR-in-Action which is aimed at fostering fiscal and social justice for communities with oil and gas and mining resources.
