Registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission Of Nigeria in 1999 as a non-governmental and non-profit organization with headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria, the Center for Women Studies and Intervention (CWSI) is a mission of the religious congregation of The Handmaids Of The Holy Child Jesus (HHCJ).
The Handmaids Of the Holy Child Jesus is a Religious Congregation of women, founded in Calabar (Nigeria) in 1931 by Mother Mary Charles Magdalen Walker of the religious sisters of charity (RSC). Charles walker came to Nigeria in 1923 in response to the appeal of Bishop Joseph Shanahan, C.S.Sp of southern Nigeria from 1919 to 1922 to Religious Congregations in Europe to send sisters to help in the formation of women and children in Southern Nigeria.
“At Calabar, Nigeria, in the Efik country,
Sister Magdalen has worked wonders
among the women and girls….”
-Times Philadelphia, January 14, 1930
Today the members of this Religious Congregation of about 800 sisters, work in Nigeria, Ghana, Togo, Sierra-Leone, Cameroon, Kenya, Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom,united states of America and Canada.
The desire to continue the work that was begun by Mother Charles Walker and heeding the call of Saint John Paul II (Pope) to religious communities to engage in new apostolates that respond to the signs of their times, as did Charles Walker has inspired this apostolate of empowering women and the girl-child: educating them on their dignity and their fundamental rights as human beings.
OUR VISION
The Centre for Women Studies and Intervention employs the newest of tools for the fulfillment of the oldest of dreams that each woman and man walk in freedom and dignity. CWSI seeks to empower and embolden the woman for constructive participation in liberative actions for a just world.
OUR MISSION
CWSI, propelled by faith in the creator of all beings, is committed to uphold the dignity of women through conscientization and empowerment; thereby bringing the voice of the woman and girl-child to the table of hope, of renewal and transformation.
CORE VALUES
- Courage to choose life and not let fear cripple our imagination in the breaking of fetters.
- Accountability to that which gave rise to us and causes us to speak.
- Integrity to speak of what we know: of our experience and the hope we bear.
- Commitment to action in freedom for the establishment of a new world: a new order.
GOAL
CWSI seeks a holistic empowerment of the women for social rebirth and the promotion of gender equality.
The long term goal of the Centre is to become a research institute on gender issues.
AREA OF ACTIVITY
Rights advocacy:-
- Gender equity
- Political/economic rights and empowerment
- Skills acquisition
- Migration
OBJECTIVES
- The holistic empowerment of the woman and the girl-child,
- To promote gender equity by increasing the recognition and integration of the woman as co-steward of the man in the care of the earth,
- To advocate for the elimination of harmful cultural practices that cripple the mind of the woman, abuse her dignity and threaten her integrity,
- To make a woman economically self-reliant and imbibe savings culture,
- To consolidate the achievements in paralegal training and counseling,
- To raise awareness of HIV and AIDS and advocate for voluntary testing,
- To encourage greater participation of women in politics with keen mind,
- To establish a functional monitoring and evaluation system for CWSI programs.