AFAB offers an opportunity to celebrate the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women all over the world.

International Women’s Day is celebrated annually on March 8. It offers an opportunity to celebrate the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women all over the world.

The theme for 2023 International Women’s Day is “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality”. The Afri-AID Across Borders (AFAB) NGO joins with many to press for a gender-responsive approach to innovation, technology, and digital education that can increase the awareness of women and girls on humanitarian aid and clean cooking solutions.

Nigeria suffers a “silent” energy crisis – poor access to clean cooking energy. Over 20 million households and about 120 million Nigerians depend on wood primarily as a source of fuel for cooking. It is recognized that women disproportionately make up this number.

This is despite the abundance of modern cooking energy sources including natural gas.   Cooking inefficiently using the traditional method (open fire), among other things, causes pneumonia in children, low birth weight babies, stillbirth, and lung diseases, The use of efficient and clean cookstoves/fuels saves lives, improves livelihood, empowers the community, and combats climate change. Enhancing access to clean cookstoves is linked with progress on the implementation of many of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

The AFAB recognizes that when given the chance, women and girls, including those displaced by insurgency can do so much more with their time. A clean cookstove means new opportunities for women, within their families, their communities, and society at large. Inadequate access to clean cooking energy needs to be taken as a development priority and be tackled today. Bringing women and other marginalized groups into technology results in more creative solutions and has greater potential for innovations that meet women’s needs and promote gender equality.

As we celebrate International Women’s Day, AFAB recommits and reaffirms support to all women who are striving to overcome energy poverty, especially women-led community groups and organizations, and women investors to ensure gender equality and empowerment for a sustainable tomorrow and bring clean cooking solutions to everyone. Let us press for clean and safe cooking practices to prevent death and diseases for women and children, and accelerate the fight against cooking energy poverty using innovations and technologies.

Together, we can embrace equity, and accelerate gender equality and empowerment by promoting innovations and clean cooking technologies in Africa!