The Centre for the Advancement and Protection of the Rights of Vulnerable Persons (here referred to as CAPRIGHTS-VP) is an organisation borne out of the passion and concern of four Nigerian professionals for the cause of vulnerable people, particularly women children, orphans, people with disabilities, the elderly and the youths (especially those who need guidance in life) in our society. CAPRIGHTS-VP focuses on education, counselling, legal support, economic empowerment, transformative change etc., for vulnerable groups. It believes that socio-economic rights are right-based and not otherwise, and so frowns at any interpretation of such as charity. The organisation is interested in research, the development of new ideas and ways of addressing social norms in society, and the promotion of education and empowerment ideas for vulnerable persons. Its greatest pride has been successes recorded at little or no cost and the partnership it has enjoyed with friends and well-wishers.

Project ‘Reclaim Our Future’ is a powerful statement that inspires us the Ikotun Community women to take back what is left of our lives, look into the future with positivism and explore new ways of living. Therefore, the overall goal of this project is to empower Ikotun women with knowledge, courage and tools to take charge of their lives and live life to the fullest.

The Change that the Project wants to accomplish:

This project is a response to the gap identified by CAPRIGHTS during the project they implemented with our youths in 2018. It was eye-opening for many of us to hear things like ‘women taking charge of their body, claiming and preserving their body’. We have been aware of family planning but have been skeptical about it. It was our daughters that started the enlightenment after their project under Voice. As we gather at the markets, churches etc., we continue to discuss this and the need to get more details.

Our community has a lot of vulnerable young women who has little or no education because they are mostly into petty trading and farming. Most of our men do not have means of livelihood and so contribute little/nothing for family upkeep. Unfortunately, many of them are violent and likes to control. They believe that control is a way to make us submissive; many of our women bear too many children that they cannot take care of. We now understand that this will most likely keep us poor for more years to come because when we are not able to take good care of these children, chances are that they will become a problem to us and to our community at large.

The change that we see happening at this project will be at both individual and community level. We believe that this project will inspire us to learn more about our bodies and how we can make better decisions on our reproductive rights. Couples seminars proposed under the project is critical because it will be an opportunity to bring our men on board, to understand family planning and why it is important for us as a family, and also help them understand the things they do to us that constitute domestic violence. Another level of change that we foresee is financial independence. We make little monies from our petty trading and farm crops that we sell.

Most times, we do not save because we depend on these little incomes to keep the family going. But we hope that the village savings scheme that this project will bring into our community will help strengthen our savings practices and promote an alternative credit facility framework for us as we see this benefit other communities that have started the village saving scheme. Finally, the safe space will be the best aspect of the project for our women because many of us die in silence. We hope that this project will encourage them to come out and share their experiences with other women so that they can get the support they need.

Generally, we believe that as this project is changing our individual lives, our children and spouses can also feel the impact, thereby creating a wholesome change for the entire community.