Determined to support the battle against gender-based violence in the workplace, African Women on Board (AWB), an independent, non-profit organisation has launched a new podcast ‘She Thrives’.
She Thrives is an important part of the organisation’s ‘ Violence Against Women in The Workplace’ initiative and will feature stories from women who have faced violence within their working environments and perspectives from thought leaders.
The podcast will help stakeholders (women, men, workplaces, regulatory bodies, policymakers, etc.) better understand and tackle violence against women and create policy models that can be applied to workplaces across the continent.
Nkiru Balonwu, Chair, AWB an organisation funded in part by Ford Foundation while speaking about the podcast series launched on Wednesday said this podcast was created to confront this culture of looking away; to sensitise the public and policymakers about how widespread workplace violence against women is and its effects on women and our society. Balonwu said it was created so women could come out and say, ‘ Here’s what I’ve faced and I’m tired of facing it.”
Inem King, programme manager, said the primary objective of this podcast is to inform the public about the existence and prevalence of workplace violence against women and detail its adverse effects on women, businesses, societies and economies.
Read Also: Bayelsa to build science, technical schools across all LGAs
According to King, “It also serves as a springboard for recommendations to relevant stakeholders whose policies, regulations and rules can mitigate this menace.”
African Women on Board is an African women-led independent non-profit organisation dedicated to reshaping the future for African women and girls globally by mainstreaming their voices and fast-tracking their trajectory into the leadership roles of the future.
Uche Ofodile, chief executive officer, MTN Benin Republic while speaking at She Thrives Podcast premiere said every chief executive officers need to put a clear policy in place to ensure every employee understand what sexual harassment looks like.
According to her the leadership of every organisation determine to a large extent how employees are protected against any form of harassment in the workplace.
On her part, Nicolette Naylor, international programme director, gender, racial and ethnic justice; regional director for Southern Africa at Ford Foundation called for the creation of a safer space for women at the top of every organisation.
Obigeri Ezekwesili, a candidate for the office of the President of Nigeria in the 2019 election said the strategic use of storytelling as a medium to draw attention to the issue of workplace violence against women needs to be amplified.
She equally calls for more coalition among women body to achieve scale and push for a near-perfect work environment.
Others present at the launch include Chidinma Lawanson, country head, Mastercard Foundation
The 10-episode series premieres on Wednesday on BEAT 99.9 FM from 1:00 pm – 1: 30 pm and 4: 00 pm on Podcast platforms like Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and more. Subsequent episodes will also air at the same times for 9 weeks.
