PROGRAMS
WHERE WE WORK
ICEHD works all over Nigeria as the legal status permits. We have worked in the east and central Nigeria, but most of our work has been focused mainly in South-West Nigeria.
All our work seeks to promote gender rights and equality amongst men and women and inclusiveness at all levels. To this end we provide information on human rights, undertake education and capacity building programs to build capacity of women and girls to understand their rights and demand it, to reorient men and boys to understand and respect the rights of women, treat women a equals and create spaces for equal participation. GEP also engages with relevant stakeholders to seek reforms that promote equality with strong commitment to service and advocacy.
Our Major activity revolves around promoting and protecting women’s right to health through a combination of research, capacity building, education and service delivery to promote maternal health and mitigate the impact of the environment hazards on women.
We work with local birth attendants who take deliveries of babies and conduct ante-natal care for majority of Nigerian women in rural communities and villages. In these communities, access to well-equipped healthcare facility and skilled medical staff are absent, which is why most of the women resort to patronizing birth attendants. Other reasons for such patronage includes ignorance of the importance of quality and skilled maternal and reproductive health care services, poverty, poor attitude of some skilled medical staff and healthcare providers, proximity and familiarity. Some state governments have begun to incorporate birth attendants in their activities to promote women’s health, and ICEHD works to support the efforts of government to realize SDG goal 3.
In partnership and collaboration with State Healthcare Boards, registered Nurses, qualified doctors, skilled medical personnel, Primary Healthcare Centers, state healthcare Boards and Traditional Medicine Board, we train, educate and monitor birth attendants on safe pregnancy, danger signals, referral process, record keeping, environmental health, safe delivery process, hygiene and sanitation, safe motherhood and service provision limits.
Over 400 birth attendants have been trained in four local government areas. We periodically conduct monitoring and assessment visits to clinics of birth attendants to appraise the quality of facility hygiene and care provided by birth attendants to rural women. Most of the birth attendants are given medical kits with standard medical implements to last for a few months. We also provide training for Birth Attendants on use of technological devices and tools such as computers, phones and internet to access reproductive health information, record and retrieve medical services data, especially for use by health boards and government health agencies for referrals, further interventions and reforms.
The major focus of this program is promotion of maternal and reproductive health through activities of hygiene, sanitation and use of quality implements that advance access to safe and healthy pregnancy, childbirth, care and access to treatment.
The Women/Girls Forum is an extension of this program, which provides outreach programs and counseling for women, girls and widows. Under this Program, ICEHD also works to secure the protection and promotion of the health and development of young girls and female teenagers through the provision of healthcare interventions, awareness, sexual and reproductive health information and promotion of menstrual hygiene. ICEHD utilizes information sharing, capacity building and advocacy to actively promote their sexuality and reproductive health and eradication of practices that adversely impact upon their health and development such as harmful practices, menstrual hygiene practices, FGM, use of contraceptives and abortions.
The program also advocates for the performance of government’s obligation to promote the quality of life of women, and the eradication of traditional and discriminating practices that violate women’s right to health, healthy environment and development.
The environment is the surroundings and conditions in which humans, animals, plants and everything else exists and operates. It is the natural world around us, encompassing all living and non-living things found in the air, land and water. The fact that we live within environments means everything in the environment affects us, which means every activity within the environment must be carefully undertaken to protect human health. ESP provides information and education on the connection between environmental conditions and human health, especially the health of vulnerable groups such as women, children and people with compromised health conditions.
ESP seeks to promote environmental justice and pollution prevention through environmental interventions to address environmental violations that undermine human health in diverse ways. We undertake hygiene and WASH interventions that focuses on prevention, care, and support for communities to enable people, especially vulnerable women and children live healthy productive lives.
ICEHD works with government agencies in charge of clean environment, industries and corporate actors to provide information on clean environment through workshops and conferences and monitor compliance to environmental laws and regulations. We also use this medium to demand for recourse processes to address violations.
We also focus heavily on climate change intervention especially gender action on climate change to support and promote Sustainable Development Goal(SDG) 1, 2 and 3 and particularly goal 13.
ICEHD also works with support groups to addresses mitigation of the impact of HIV and AIDS through the provision of hygiene and sanitation intervention, pollution prevention, provision of clean and adequate water, nutrition and economic empowerment.
Designed to promote community health and development, this program provides information on environment and health and prevention of unhealthy practices.
To support achievement of SDG Goal 6, ICEHD provides access to clean water through construction of water points and boreholes in communities and villages, and construction of toilets and sanitary systems to eradicate open defecation
The major objectives of CDP include, to:
EJP contributes to the promotion of SDG goals, 1, 5 and 8
To promote equality and bridge gender disparity in economic and entrepreneurial activities, ICEHD undertakes economic justice program that provides economic empowerment training and counseling for women and girls through vocational education and micro-credit services. Some of the training includes Janitorial and Sanitation Services, Healthcare services, Farming and Climate Resilience etc. The aim is to economically empower vulnerable women and girls, including returnees (victims of human trafficking) to reduce their susceptibility to high risk behavior due to poverty, enable them face economic challenges and realize their rights. We work in collaboration with diverse professionals and business people on business development, management, monitoring and mentoring.
This program provides free legal support to individuals and groups in the assertion of their rights, particularly the right to health, a healthy environment and development. It seeks to bring social and economic justice to the poor and marginalized sectors of the community through legal counseling, education and strategic intervention in litigation. It advocates for policy to promote human rights, and the reform of laws that undermine the social and economic advancement and the realization of human rights. It also supports widows probate matters.
OUR PUBLICATIONS
ICEHD has periodic publications which are ICEHD VOICE, which provides information on our areas of focus to educate the people on issues of health and environment, and BULLETIN, which showcases our activities. We also have some other publication such as a book on Promoting Women’s Right to Participation and Leadership-A Case Study of Imo State”.
