The Women’s Rights Advancement and Protection Alternative (WRAPA), held the inception meeting of the ‘Advancing Women’s Legal Rights: Strengthening State Accountability and Community Action to Address Gender-Based Violence in Adamawa and Kano States’ project, on the 10^th of April, 2019in Adamawa state. The project is supported by the Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption (RoLAC) Programme, which is funded by the European Union and implemented by the British Council in Nigeria. The aim of the RoLAC Programme is to enhance good governance in Nigeria, by contributing to strengthening the rule of law, improving the administration of criminal justice and curbing corruption. The programme is doing this by supporting reform initiatives led by the federal and state criminal justice institutions, anti-corruption agencies, civil society, citizens and the media. RoLAC’s interventions are focused in 5 states – Adamawa, Anambra, Edo, Kano, Lagos and at Federal level.

The purpose of the inception meeting was to; launch the project in Adamawa State, establish project objectives, and, build a strong foundation for the smooth implementation of the project. This meeting also targeted the community influencers, to strengthen the demand and support for the enactment of legislations that respond to the need for the protection of women, girls and all vulnerable persons from discrimination and all forms of gender-based violence.

Present at this meeting were members of the WRAPA/RoLAC project team, and key stakeholders of the project that include; Ministry of Justice, Legal Aid Council, National Human Rights Commission, International Federation of Women Lawyers, Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Christian Association of Nigeria, National Association of Persons with Disabilities, Sexual Assault Referral Centre (Adamawa Hope Centre), Federation of Muslim Women’s Association of Nigeria, Nigerian Police Force and the National Television Authority (NTA).