The Gender Technical Unit (GTU) facilitated the passage of the Violence against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Act and the progression of the Gender and Equal Opportunity (GEO) Bill and has gained recognition as a facilitator of gender responsive legislative process at the National Assembly in Nigeria.
A critical aspect of creating an enabling environment for young girls and women in Nigeria are the presence of laws and policies that support girls and women’s empowerment (GEWE). For V4C, this has meant identifying potential legislature and finding ways to engage with the National Assembly – the main legislative body that governs the country – as effectively as possible in order for them to be enacted into law.
Rather than starting from scratch V4C revived the Gender Technical Unit (GTU) – an ‘in-house’ function set up within the National Assembly (NASS) with the remit to influence national legislative processes and engage with those already engaged in pursuing and contributing to gender-sensitive policies and laws. Prior to V4C’s engagement the GTU, which had originally been set up to work alongside civil society to boost their efforts to advocate for gender equality-related legislation, had a very low profile and was only known by a small number of stakeholders, thus minimising its impact.
Find more V4C case studies at v4c-nigeria.com
