How Advocate Chidera Natasha Is Seeking Justice And Equity For Women & The Girl Child
Inspirational Speaker, Mind Shifter and Girl Child Educator, Chidera Natasha is a certified Girls/ Women Rights Advocate with over 2 years experience in activism and advocacy. Natasha grew up in an Igbo dominated community, an environment that was hostile to women and girls, according to her. What she saw and experienced then propelled her to join the course of actualizing equality, justice and equity for women and the girl child.
She is a graduate of Archaeology/Tourism from prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka. She is the founder of Make Girls Initiative(MGI), Wise Women Award recipient, 2017 FALA nominee and Yali fellow.
In her quest to seek justice and equity for the girl child, she founded the Make Girls Initiative, a nonprofit organization that has become a household name in humanitarian activities for the girl child across Sub- Saharan Africa. According to her, it took quite a long time for her to develop a voice, and now that she has it, she said she is not going to be silent.
So far, she and her team have been able to organize community projects such as; SAY NO TO VIOLENCE CAMPAIGN, FEED A CHILD CAMPAIGN, EDUCATION for the girl child project and are currently running the “pad a girl campaign” across 5 African countries including Nigeria.
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Read her story below…
”As a young girl, growing up, I had always known there was something extraordinary about me. A force that propelled me to push for what I wanted, to be aggressive in pursuit of my dreams and unapologetic about attaining heights…
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Success to me has always been my ability to be the best version of ME and the best version of me as a young girl was envisioning Tasha as a global influential woman in all ramification. This seemed like a ‘normal’ dream for many girls (mates) but from where I was, it was a daring goal…
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Having grown up in an Igbo dominated community where most of the women where mostly housewives married to rich men who reside abroad and always ensured that they were financially capacitated; a status symbol that women craved for and most of these women had shops opened for them by their generous husbands.It seemed to me as though my dreams/goals were mere fantasies (unattainable) because I didn’t grow up to see most women turning on their cars to go to work or staying up late to meet deadlines, all of that was a foreign concept.
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So imagine me with all my passion, fire burning in me with no one to look up to, no like minds, nobody to say “girl”, this is exactly who I want to be. I tried diminishing this fire in me because there were no women around me with the same spark, but the more I tried suppressing this fire so I can align to what society expects of a WOMAN the stronger the flame grew. …
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So I persisted against all odds. I knew what I wanted for myself and realizing it entailed breaking free from stereotypical female traits like passiveness, timidity, sluggishness and the need to be pitiable. …
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In a world where we are constantly fighting for gender equality and girl-child education , I worry that we underestimate the power we have to make it a reality.
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And I ask; How are we (women) portraying women. How are we rewriting the story? Do we still show the world as weak and timid, in desperate need of rich husbands as backbone? What images are we planting in the minds of young girls….. #tashainpires#evolving #becoming.”
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She shared in another Instagram post:
”I grew up in an environment that was hostile to women and girls. An environment where women and girls were often marginalized and denied basic opportunities to thrive. I became so passionate and dedicated to the course of actualizing equality, justice and equity for the girl child after my relative became a teenage mother.
This propelled me to dedicate my life, my time, my experience in fighting for the girl child, especially the indigent ones. In the quest to seek justice and equity for the girl child, I founded the Make Girls Initiative, a nonprofit organization that has become a household name in humanitarian activities for the girl child across Sub- Saharan Africa.
Make Girls Initiative is a Pan African initiative that involves 13 state and country Reps and over 50 African member countries dedicated to empowering young women and girls across the continent.
So far, we have organized community projects such as; SAY NO TO VIOLENCE CAMPAIGN, FEED A CHILD CAMPAIGN, EDUCATION for the girl child project and we are currently running the “pad a girl campaign” across 5 African countries including Nigeria.
All aimed at developing young girls to be what they should be. Helping them develop self confidence and to take informed decisions. I have realised that most of these young girls are not properly guided, hence, they make wrong decisions. Therefore, we prepare them for the journey ahead.”
