


































Advances in Politics and Economics
ISSN 2576-1382 (Print) ISSN 2576-1390 (Online)

Vol. 3, No. 2, 2020
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87

Original Paper

You Can’t Give What You Don’t Have: Intervention 

Agencies and Gender Dynamics in Beneficiary Communities
Demola Akinyoade1*, Bosede Awodola2 & Adeola Ogunrin2

1 Department of Peace and Conflict Studies, College of Social and Management Sciences, AfeBabalola 

University, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria
2 Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Abuja, Nigeria
* Department of Adult Education and Lifelong Learning, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, 

Nigeria

Received: May 8, 2020          Accepted: May 28, 2020        Online Published: June 2, 2020

doi:10.22158/ape.v3n2p87           URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/ape.v3n2p87

Abstract

Interventions are meant to improve people’s lives; however, they can fail to do so and at times even 

worsen situations. Gender equality is one area that needs improvement in societies, but which 

interventions can inadvertently impact upon negatively. The study assessed the impact of the Niger 

Delta Development Commission’s (NDDC) interventions on gender dynamics in Odi Community. A 

case study design was adopted for the study. Data collection and analyses were iterative. Findings 

showed that although gender sensitivity is articulated in the mandate of the Commission, however, the 

NDDC lacks institutional capacity for it. Hence, it did not appropriately mainstream gender in its 

interventions, and thus, impacted gender relations negatively. This it did by inadvertently entrenching 

traditional power disequilibrium and gender roles between females and males. Also, it did not include 

women in its community engagement meetings and unconsciously allocated more financial resources to 

males. Finally, the Commission did not make provision for women’s needs to encourage women 

participation and entrenched women’s traditional reproductive activities. It takes more than policy to 

make intervention agencies to support gender equality: institutional capacity and sensitivity are 

required.

Keywords

Gender, Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Niger Delta Region, Ijaw, Women, 

interventions, PCI



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1. Introduction

Gender refers to cultural roles, attitudes and values that a society assigns to its women and men, girls 

and boys, which define their behaviours and relationships. Gender roles are created and maintained by 

social institutions, which have been more favourable to the male members of the society at the expense 

of their female counterparts. Indeed, women have been peculiarly disadvantaged as a result of 

subjugation by the mandolin most societies. Movements to redress this inequality culminated in the 

idea of gender mainstreaming. There are documented efforts by individuals and groups, spanning 

millennia to address the issue of inequality between men and women. In this instance, the international 

community first showed special interest on women issues in 1946 when a Commission on the Status of 

Women was set up as the first gender perspective on the International Bill of Human Rights. In 1967, 

the Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women came into existence. The 

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), was 

presented at the World Conference of the UN Decade for Women, in Copenhagen 1980. The 

Development Assistance Committee-Women in Development (DAC-WID) Guiding Principles on 

Women in Development came into existence in 1983. At the Third World Conference on Women 1985, 

there was a shift from WID to Gender and Development Approach (GAD). GAD is an approach to 

development that focuses “…on social, economic, political and cultural forces that determine how 

differently women and men participate in, benefit from, and control resources and activities.”

From the foregoing, it is important to mention that, “Gender mainstreaming” was first coined at the 

United Nations’ third World Conference on Women in Nairobi in 1985 and then explicitly endorsed 

with the adoption of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA) ten years later at the Beijing Conference—

the Fourth World Conference on Women. Gender mainstreaming is defined as:

[t]he process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including 

legislation, policies or programmes, in all areas and at all levels. It is a strategy for making women’s as 

well as men’s concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation, 

monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic and societal spheres so 

that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated (ECOSOC Agreed Conclusions, 

1997, p. 2 in King, 2003, p. 3).

[a] set of processes and strategies that aims to ensure the recognition of gender issues on a sustained 

basis […] an approach that situates gender equality issues at the center of broad policy decisions, 

institutional structures and resource allocations, and includes women’s views as priorities in making 

decisions about development goals and processes’ (NCRFW).

To further explain gender mainstreaming, Heyzer (2003) insists that every aspect of a given activity be 

assessed for its gender implications. The process of gender mainstreaming, in the words of Heyzer 

“…requires persistent effort, including regular monitoring, reporting, follow-up training, and 

evaluation of progress made and obstacles encountered, as well as systems for holding the 

operation/organisation accountable for achieving its goals. All of this requires resources and, above all, 



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political will at all levels”. Gender equality and gender equity are two key goals of gender 

mainstreaming. Gender equality means women and men should have equal value, enjoy the same status 

and conditions and should be accorded equal treatment. It refers to the full equality of men and women 

to enjoy the complete range of political, economic, civil, social and cultural rights, with no one being 

denied access to these rights, or deprived of them, because of their sex. It means, they should benefit 

equally from the results of development (CEDAW, 1979). On the other hand, World Health 

Organisation (WHO, 2001) defines gender equity as “fairness and justice in the distribution of benefits 

and responsibilities between women and men” It refers to giving to the disadvantaged gender on the 

basis of needs, taking steps to compensate for historical and social disadvantages that prevent women 

and men from operating on a level playing field. 

Therefore, gender perspective becomes imperative in the discourse of intervention in whatever context, 

linking gender to intervention in this study is justified. Interventions, which in this paper covers 

development aid, humanitarian assistance, or peace building, refer to a range of deliberate initiatives or 

activities, which aims at positively influencing a situation to bring about an improvement or to forestall 

deterioration. However, in the last two decades there has been growing realization that interventions in 

contexts characterized by conflict, though intended for good, can also influence the situation negatively. 

Hence, interventions in such context, especially, have the potential for negative and positive impacts. 

This idea, coupled with the notion of gender mainstreaming, makes gender one of the areas assessed for 

potential or actual impacts when assessing impacts of interventions. Other areas include conflict 

impacts, peace impacts, economic impacts, social impacts, cultural impacts, and environmental impacts. 

For instance, assessing peace and conflict impact led to the emergence of Peace and Conflict Impact 

Assessment (PCIA) area. From the early 1990s literature on PCIA include methodologies, frameworks, 

approaches and tools to map, assess or evaluate the potential and actual impact of interventions on their 

contexts and vice versa (Barbolet, Adams, Rachel Goldwyn, Hesta Groenewald, and Andrew Sheriff, 

2005). The overarching purpose of these approaches is that interventions will build rather than weaken 

or destroy peace; and reduce rather than exacerbate conflict. A thorough analysis of conflict and 

identification of areas of potential or actual impact are generally common features of PCIA approaches. 

Gender is a regular issue that arises both in these conflict analyses and impact assessments. It is within 

the larger context of a PCIA of the NDDC interventions this study was carried out. 

Introducing gender sensitive lens to impact assessment helps us understand women and girls, men and 

boys’ roles as actors (participants in planning, implementation and monitoring and evaluation and 

beneficiaries) and victims of intervention programming. King (2007) opines that engendering 

intervention this way makes it more efficient, effective and delivers maximum good. According to 

Bush (1996, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2009), interventions can impact traditional gender roles positively or 

negatively. An intervention can entrench the traditional subjugation of women, cause tension between 

female and male gender, and/or build a gender’s capacity or inadvertently allocate more resources to a 

gender at the expense of the other. Alternatively, it can empower women and girls and/or promote 



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gender equality and equity. The point here is that, interventions are never neutral on gender dynamics 

of the contexts where they are situated. The potential of interventions for positive and negative impacts 

on gender dynamics supports the argument for mainstreaming gender in intervention programming. 

Consequently, this study assessed the capacity of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) 

for gender sensitivity and its implications for gender dynamics in the study area. The objectives of the 

study includes: assessing the extent to which gender sensitivity is mainstreamed into the NDDC 

institutional context and intervention programming; and assessing the implications of the NDDC 

interventions for gender dynamics in Odicommunity and by extension, the Niger Delta. From these are 

three research questions including to what extent is gender mainstreamed in the NDDC institutional 

context? To what extent is gender mainstreamed in the NDDC intervention programming? What are the 

implications of the NDDC interventions on gender relations in beneficiary communities?

1.1 Methodology

To answer the questions posed above, the study employed a combination of purposive or deliberate 

sampling methods—maximum variation sampling, snowballing/network or chain referral technique, 

informant sampling, concept/theory sampling, and site selection and comprehensive sampling strategies. 

Seventy-eight interviews sessions were held with 45 purposively selected participants comprising 10 

programme beneficiaries, 10 community stakeholders, 7 technocrats, 6 NGOs staff, 3 law-enforcement 

agents, 6 NDDC officials and 3 consultants using semi-structured guides. Interviews were recorded 

using digital voice-recorder and transcribed. The Niger Delta Regional Development Master Plan, 

NDDC Act, official documents, and website contents were analysed. Unstructured observations were 

carried out at NDDC Offices and Odi. Odi Community was considered appropriate area for this study, 

first because it is an Ijaw Community, and Ijaw being the largest ethnic group in the Niger Delta 

Region (NDR) and the fourth largest in Nigeria. Also, at the time of the fieldwork, the community was 

not involved in any violent conflict, which makes it safe for the researcher and respondents. Moreover, 

preliminary investigation revealed that the community has enjoyed relatively high number of NDDC 

interventions. Furthermore, it is a home to one of the major NDDC consultants on its agricultural 

support programme—the Biotechnology Resources Development Centre (BIODEC). ATLAS. ti 7.0 

was used for data analyses. Data collection and analyses were iterative.

1.2 The Study Area

The NDR, the third largest body of wetlands in the world, is located in the southern part of Nigeria and 

is home to about forty ethnic groups speaking two hundred and fifty languages and dialects (Master 

Plan, 2006). The region has a long trajectory of conflicts. Also, various actors—I/NGOs, IGOs, donor 

agencies, multinational oil companies, and government—have undertaken different forms of 

interventions in the NDR conflicts. The Nigerian central government, at different times, established 

specialized agencies to cater to the need of the region. These include the Niger Delta Development 

Board (NDDB) 1960-1966, the Presidential Task Force 1980-1985, the Oil Mineral Producing Areas 

Development Commission (OMPADEC) 1992-1999 (Master Plan, 2006). Through these 



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establishments the people of the NDR suffered from rising expectation, relative deprivation, and 

frustration. This resulted into aggression and violent conflict in the NDR. The NDDC was established 

as Nigeria federal government’s another intervention agency. It was set up by an Act of Parliament as a 

socio-economic intervention agency in the Niger Delta conflict situation on the 12th of July 2000, 

officially inaugurated on 21st December 2000, and established in 2001 (The NDDC Act, 2000; Niger 

Delta Development Commission, 2012). The Commission was set up “to offer a lasting solution to the 

socio-economic problems of the Niger Delta people” (Master Plan, 2006). Its vision is to “offer a 

lasting solution to the socio-economic difficulties of the NDR”. It has the mission “...to facilitate the 

rapid, even and sustainable development of the Niger Delta into a region that is economically 

prosperous, socially stable, ecologically regenerative and politically peaceful.” (Master Plan, 2006). 

The Commission has a 10-point mandate. 

From the foregoing, the NDR and the NDDC interactions present a good case for studying the impacts 

of intervention on gender dynamics in conflict contexts since conflicts and interventions have both 

been part of the NDR context for decades. Extant literature covers the history, people and culture, 

conflicts and interventions in the Niger Delta (Dike, 1956; Ikime, 1969; Alagoa E. J., 1999; Human 

Rights Watch, 1999; Albert, 2001a; Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution, October 2002; 

Isumonah A. V., 2003; Ogbogbo, 2004; Internaitonal Crisis Group, 3 August 2006a). Also empirical 

works on gender issues in the Niger Delta do exist (Aina, Adeyemi, Waziri, & Samuel, 2009) however, 

a Gender-based assessment of the interventions of the NDDC and its implications for the context of the 

interventions has also not been adequately covered. Also, the institutional capacity of the NDDC for 

gender sensitivity has not been empirically assessed.

Odi is an Ijaw community in Kolokuma-Opokuma LGA (with headquarters in Kaiama), Bayelsa State. 

It is located beside one of the tributary rivers of River Niger, bordered in the north by Odoni and 

Agbere, in the south by Sampou and Kaiama along the River Nun bank. Its western neighbors are 

Patani and Abari, while in the east is OkordiaZarama. Its built-up area is 3.85km north-south and 

2.6km east-west. Odi has twenty-seven communities (essentially compounds but rechristened for 

political reasons) and divided into north (Asanga) and south (Tamanga) parts. The community has three 

wards.

There are four cardinal groups in Odi Community—the traditional council, the Community 

Development Committee (CDC), the Youth Council, and the Women Group. The traditional council is 

headed by His Highness, the Amananaowei (King) and has twenty-seven chiefs representing each of 

the communities in Odi. Membership in the traditional council is by election. While the Amananaowei 

is elected for life, the chiefs are elected for a period of three years. Upon the demise of the King, his 

first son act as a regent for a period of two years before election is conducted for the next King. 

Membership of the Youth Council is open to all female and male youths age fifteen to forty-five, who 

has a maternal or paternal affiliation to the community. Interested individuals register with a token fee 

to become a member. Any member can vie for elective post by campaigning and seeking vote through 



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elections. Elections are held every two years through open or secret ballot system. The Youth Council 

is a vibrant and formidable organization in the community, with well-articulated twelve-point 

objectives covering almost every facet of community life. Divergent views between the Tradition 

Council and the Youth Council often lead to tension between the two groups. However, in Odi the 

Youth Council usually defers to the traditional council on many occasions out of respect for the elders 

and in order to “allow peace to reign”. 

The Women Group, headed by the Ereamini da-aru (women leader), comprises of every community 

woman by default. The Ereamini da-aru is chosen by the women themselves to manage their affairs. 

The Ereamini da-aruat the time of this study assumed office in 1999,the year of the Odi Massacre (Note 

1). The Community Development Committee (CDC) is a group set up for the development of the 

community. It is supposedly the community’s contact with any development initiative coming into the 

community. Each of the 10 members is elected democratically from the communities (compounds in 

real sense) within Odi. No community can have more than one member. The group is headed by a 

chairman. At the time of the fieldwork, the CDC was being reconstituted. At the time of the 

fieldwork—eleven years after the massacre—Odi Community has become a peaceful community. 

There were no open conflicts, however, low intensity dissatisfaction thrived.

2. Gender Sensitivity in Intervention Programming

Gender sensitivity encompasses the ability to acknowledge and highlight existing gender differences, 

issues and inequalities and incorporate these into strategies and actions (European Commission, 2013). 

Borrowing from the concept-conflict sensitivity, gender sensitivity in intervention means understanding 

the gender dynamics in the context for which the intervention is intended, understanding the interaction 

between the intervention and the gender dynamics of the context (that is, how the intervention will 

affect and be affected by the relationships, including power relations, between female and male in the 

community), and the capacity to act upon this understanding to promote gender equity and equality. 

Gender sensitivity attempts to ensure consistent and systematic attention is given to the differences 

between females and males in the intervention, with a view to addressing structural gender inequality in 

the context of the intervention. This is the rationale of frameworks such as Gender-Responsive 

Development Planning (aka Gender-Responsive Planning, GRP), and the Gender and Development 

Approach that attempt to ensure and assess gender mainstreaming in an intervention. The core 

assumption of such frameworks is that mainstreaming gender makes development planning and 

programming more people oriented and people focused, emphasizing their impacts on women in 

particular. 

Assessing an intervention for its gender sensitivity is a multistage activity. Since “…you cannot give 

what you don’t have”, the first stage assesses the institutional capacity for gender sensitivity. 

Institutional capacity for gender sensitivity will be seen in whether or not, and the extent to which 

gender is mainstreamed in the agency. A good place to start is to determine whether the agency has a 



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gender policy. Having a gender policy indicates a deliberate effort for gender sensitivity in an 

organization’s structure and culture. An agency with a gender policy is likely to have a gender policy 

for its interventions as well. So, it follows, the next stage is to determine whether the organisation has a 

gender policy for its intervention programming. However, an agency without a gender policy may still 

have a gender policy for its intervention. For instance, gender sensitivity may be part of donor’s 

requirements, hence, “forcing” the agency to mainstream gender in its intervention. Assessing an 

intervention policy for gender sensitivity or assessing a gender policy of an intervention involves 

assessing each stage of the intervention programming cycle—conception and planning, implementation, 

and monitoring and evaluation for sensitivity to gender dynamics in the beneficiary community. This 

provides a framework for determining the degree to which gender is mainstreamed in an intervention or 

how gender sensitive an intervention is. 

What happens at the Conception and Planning (C&P) stage is very important. The extent to which this 

stage is gender sensitive will potentially impact on gender sensitivity of the subsequent stages. Hence, 

the gender must be mainstreamed into (and at) this stage by involving gender experts (at the micro and 

macro levels) and, importantly female and male representatives of the intended beneficiary community. 

Gender sensitive community participation means ensuring that both genders understand the need for 

gender mainstreaming in the intervention programming. It emphasizes the involvement of women and 

girls and community-based women and girls’ groups having representative quota and includes ensuring 

that women and girls participate in setting goals and objectives for the intervention (Bunch, n.d.). 

Gender mainstreaming in community participation involves setting a representative quota for both 

sexes to participate as individuals and groups equally or equitably. This may necessitate employing 

innovative and non-traditional means to mobilize and enrol women and girls, who studies have shown 

to be disadvantaged, at each stage of the intervention programming. Bunch (n.d.) cites examples of 

innovative means such as holding planning sessions where women traditionally gather, providing 

services and incentives to women so they can forgo their daily tasks in order to participate. 

At the implementation stage, gender sensitivity involves employing representative quota (equality or 

equity) for both sexes to be selected as beneficiaries of the intervention. This involves affirmative 

action. In case of physical project involving physically tasking unskilled labour, conscientious effort 

should be made to bring willing women and girls on board or create alternative or compensatory 

benefits for them. Equitable participation may involve special empowerment programmes for women 

and girls where need be. However, care must be taken to distinguish between those programmes that 

truly empower women and girls and those that reinforce their subordination to men. At the level of 

monitoring and evaluation, women and girls should be part of the monitoring and evaluation team and 

should be consulted as participants in the evaluation. 

In addition to gender sensitive community participation, other ways to mainstream gender in an 

intervention include gender sensitive communication/facilitation, gender sensitive logistics and gender 

equity at each stage of the programming cycle (Bunch, n.d.). Gender sensitive 



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communication/facilitation means that facilitators or conveners must be trained on gender sensitivity. 

This is to ensure gender sensitive language while addressing participants. This also ensures 

reinforcement of gender sensitivity at different stages of the intervention programming. Also, 

instructional materials must be gender sensitive. Gender stereotypes in narrations and illustrations 

should be avoided. Gender equity in intervention involves ensuring that activities at every stage of the 

intervention address power imbalance between the sexes. Deliberate effort must be made to empower 

women and girls in role playing, task assignments, sharing of responsibilities, group leadership, 

selection of beneficiaries, leading group discussions and other innovative ways. Gender-sensitive 

logistics ensures that in selecting time, venue, and other logistics, convenience and safety of women 

and girls should be put into consideration. Special considerations should be provided for women on 

child-care and conveniences and other things (e.g., transportation) that will ensure their full 

participation at each stage of the programming.

Figure 1. Gender Sensitivity in Intervention Programming (GSIP)

2.1 Gender Impact Assessment

Gender Impacts Assessment (GIA) refers to analysing or measuring how an intervention, policy or 

programme will affect or has affected female and male differently within a given context. It “…is a 

process which allows decision-makers and stakeholders in a project to understand the current situation 

and context that will be affected by the project, and what changes and results may emerge based on that 

project. It uses gender criteria to inform that understanding of predicted and realised impacts”. (Oxfam 

Australia & CPWF, 2013) In addition, to the indicators in gender sensitivity above, the gender impact 



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assessment indicators are whether the intervention entrench the traditional roles of women and men or 

it challenges it; build the capacity of a gender at the expense of the other; foster tension among the 

genders; and increase the vulnerability of women and girls both socially and economically.

3. Findings on Gender Mainstreaming in the NDDC

Empirical evidence shows that, the Commission does not have a gender policy. All NDDC staff and 

consultants interviewed reported not to have knowledge of a gender policy. A participant—a high 

ranking NDDC official—noted: 

“…my sincere answer to that question is that I have not seen…NDDC policy, ok…I wouldn’t 

say…such a policy concerning gender equity, eh, whatever, doesn’t exist, I’ve not seen any, ok. It 

could be there and I, I guess that, you know, if you have the opportunity of talking with a board 

member or a management staff they’ll be able to answer that question better, authoritatively as well.”—

NDDC Staff, State Directorate.

Nevertheless, one cannot say that the Commission discriminates against women in job opportunities. A 

male respondent, an assistant director in a directorate, authoritatively claims “Oh, sure, sure we have 

more women than men in this directorate, but it may not have been deliberate. Sometimes you look for 

the very best.” Another NDDC Staff in another directorate claims “We don’t look at gender in being 

assigned to do work. But as you can see, we have many women in the directorate. But to say this is 

number of women must go to the field or do this or that, we don’t.” 

Participant observation by the researcher confirms that, in number, women are not discriminated 

against. In fact, at the time of this fieldwork, the Community and Rural Development and the 

Agriculture and Fisheries Directorates were headed by women. However, only four of the twenty-three 

member Management Board are women.

Similarly, empirical evidence reveals that the Commission does not have a gender policy for its 

intervention programming. The NDDC Strategic Policies for Change is documented in page 22 to 46 of 

the Master Plan. The Plan has eighty-six policies covering five thematic areas of economic 

development, human and community needs, the natural environment, physical infrastructure, and 

human and institutional resources. None of the policies was solely on gender. Although gender issues 

were mentioned in Section A in Goals on Education (pp. 34-35) under Policy for Human and 

Community Needs. One would have expected women and girls to be listed amongst vulnerable groups 

that deserve special attention in Social Welfare and Community Goals. The need to build the capacity 

of women in conflict resolution is also mentioned in Policy HR 14—Capacity Building for Conflict 

Resolution. Section five of Policy G1—Strategic Planning Principles—reads:

A sound planning process has to be based on participatory decision making. This entails meaningful 

involvement of the “Active” and “Passive” stakeholders—public sector, private sector, community and 

NGOs—and ensuring that their respective needs and constraints are taken into consideration when 

policies and proposals are formulated, including attention to issues such as gender and youth.



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In spite of the above quote, none of the study participants knew of any NDDC gender policy on its 

intervention programming or of any deliberate attempt by the Commission to ensure gender equity in 

its intervention programming. In other words, there appears to be no framework to ensure that women 

and girls, men and boys participate equitably in the conception and planning, implementation, 

monitoring and evaluation of the NDDC interventions. The Commission only involves members of the 

intended beneficiary community in the implementation of its interventions. Community participation at 

this stage, in the case of HCDPs, is limited to selection of programme beneficiaries and in the case of 

the IDPs, to employment, usually as menial labourers. The Commission only informs the community 

about its intervention when its staff comes to introduce the contractor, in case of the physical 

development projects. At such occasion, only the Traditional Council, often the chief and some of its 

members are present. The impromptu nature of such meetings does not permit all chiefs to be present. 

The current Ereamini da-arau—the women leader/chief—(a primary school head teacher, who has held 

this position for over a decade at the time of the fieldwork) claims she has never participated in such 

meetings. Moreover, unlike some NGOs working in Odi, the NDDC has never directly sought the 

participation of women group in its activities through their leader. She explained the situation as fallout 

of the patriarchal nature of the traditional African society. 

I was not informed….I only heard of it. I only heard of their meeting…I wasn’t informed at all…You 

know, in everything there is monopoly now. In our African society, even this eh…especially Ijaw 

culture everybody want to bring women down. Everybody wants to put women down. They feel if 

women come out they will usurp our power. I think that’s my belief. So most of the things they refuse 

to involve women, unless women will react on it.—Ereamini da-arau 

So-to-say, I am part of it [the Traditional Council]. So they say I am part of it, but when you are not 

called upon, you will…you will not even know what they are doing. Because you won’t know when 

programmes are going to…[trails off] and women we are not involved, so you have to wait and look 

what they are going to do.—Ereamini da-arau

You know, I will say African System. The Africans, we look down at women. We feel women can’t do 

anything, they are housewives. They remain in the house and then bring up children. That is, that is the 

way […] we see our fathers manage their households.—Traditional Council Member (male)

Since gender is not mainstreamed in the NDDC interventions, the NDDC policies and interventions are 

gender-neutral or gender blind. That is, the Commission implicitly assumes that its policies and 

interventions affect everyone the same way regardless of gender. Using the Gender Based Analysis of 

Intervention (GBAI) Framework earlier, results show that the Commission does not make any 

deliberate effort to ensure that women and girls are especially encouraged to participate in the 

programme. This is the case throughout the stages of intervention programming as confirmed by the 

submissions of community people:

I’ve not heard any of their programmes specify, given number of women. […] Because most of these 

their programs they only come to the Bioresource and they will organize it and go. Because they don’t 



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come to the community, highlight the council, sensitize the, the people ever before they start. They just 

say they have so-so-so program, they can write to the community or they announce over the radio. […] 

every community just pick; politicians will pick their people, there is so-so-so program the NDDC is 

trying to organize in Bioresource, Odi. I have included your name o, you go, like that. They just come 

and go. And those people picking too, unless […] maybe their girlfriends or their own sisters, if not…it 

is the male, because we the male take care of the women.—Traditional Council Member (Secondary 

school teacher)

“…when they tell the town crier to announce, they didn’t say anything about only female or male. But 

they talk about the both people. The both, not only one group of people, or not only youth, or not only 

women, or the men or something like, no. Everybody should be there, so that they will benefit.”

—A female programme beneficiary (Federal Government Worker)

“It is open for everybody, of which, maybe, they said they want to train hundred so they will put it in 

quota form. And the quota, anybody can come to represent their community.”

—A male programme beneficiary (Graduate of Political Science, Niger Delta University)

In fact, not giving women special encouragement to participate generally lowers women’s participation 

in the NDDC intervention. For instance, researcher’s direct observation in the field, show that during 

the day, Odi women were busy, perhaps, more so than their men. A number of men—game men—were 

seen playing draft. However, throughout the five days in the community, hardly was any woman seen 

idle. Women were usually engaged in agricultural and economic activities such as small-scale farming, 

fishing, frying gaari, collecting firewood, retail business, among other endeavours. However, this does 

not imply that all Ijaw men do is play draft, as some scholars erroneously concluded. Rather, men are 

usually involved in more physical activities such as large scale farming and fishing in the high sea. 

Fishing in the high sea is seasonal and the fish migrate during the season. The migration of fish 

determines the location of the men—in or out of town. Also men fish in the night. So during the day 

when they are in the town, most of them engage in leisure activities to relax until the night time when 

they embark on their vocation. At times, they leave the town for a number of days. However, women 

are usually involved in reproduction activities, which often require such personal involvement. 

The traditional division of labour in the community, therefore, naturally favours men’s participation in 

the NDDC intervention. Women would therefore require special encouragement and accommodation 

within the NDDC programme schedule, in order to be able to participate. They typically find it difficult 

to abandon their responsibilities and attend the NDDC HCDPs. Although the Commission pays 

stipends to participants, and equal stipends are paid to women and men, both complained that the 

stipends paid after the training is usually lower than what was promised. For instance, they claimed that 

they are paid between one and two thousand naira (instead of fifteen thousand promised) after 

participating in a two to three day workshop. For women, this amount is too low incentive to make 

them leave their agricultural and economic activities which yield greater incentive. Past records of the 

Commission in not living up to people’s expectation or in fulfilling its promises in stipend payment and 



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not providing post-training financial and material empowerment seem to further discourage women and 

girls’ participation. 

She say the people that they came to train they promised them that they would give them 

because…they delay them in their farming work, they said they will give them 15,000 [Naira] each, but 

they only bring one, one thousand to them. And they said that they hear, that they have paid the money 

into their account and they contributed some amount of money, but still they have not seen anything.—

A female beneficiary (speaking through an interpreter)

To further confirm relatively lower participation of women in the NDDC interventions, community 

participants reported the following.

As I told you, the list came out and there were a lot of women but most of the women did not 

participate hoping that this is something that we have been seeing. What is there? And they did not go 

further…there were less women, you see. Because a lot of these women feel that these things they are 

not relevant. So, probably in a hundred you see about ten or fifteen.

—Male Programme Beneficiary, Politician

…sometimes they [women] even give out their spaces. Their names might be there [on the list of 

successful applicants] all right. They will give it to one of their brothers. “Go there abeg. Every time 

we dey go there wetin we dey benefit?” There was this, eh, the comm…was she a commissioner or 

something in Niger Delta representing Bayelsa State. The woman from Mende, she came and open this 

thing there. She actually said “The women population is so few, why?” So she made an effort to lure 

women but it was not possible.

—Male Programme Beneficiary, Politician 

Moreover, facilitators of training do not have gender training, hence their language and that of the 

materials provided for participants are not gender sensitive. Furthermore, the logistics was not gender 

sensitive. For instance, there are no special arrangements for child-care for nursing mothers during the 

training. There was no evidence of any deliberate effort by facilitators to empower female participants 

during the training. Empirical evidence suggests that in organizing and executing training programmes, 

female and male participants were treated as if their social, economic, political realities, experiences 

and needs are the same. There was no special recognition and acknowledgement of the inferior status 

of women in the community, and no provision to improve their lots. Hence gender equity was absent 

from the NDDC intervention programming in Odi Community. 

The policy and programming of the NDDC, as the findings reveal, supports patriarchy. In other words, 

it maintains an unjust system for the male to benefit more from the NDDC intervention programming at 

the expense of the female members of the beneficiary community. The above findings are consistent 

with the argument of the socialist feminists that patriarchy in the structure of the human society 

subjugates the female folk under their male folk. They argue that there is need to overcome gender 

blindness in the struggle for development and against shared oppression of women, especially in the 

developing world. 



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The NDDC designed some programmes—the Home Management Business Skills—specifically for 

women. This, nonetheless, may not indicate gender sensitivity. The Home Management Business Skills 

(HMBS) is designed with a view to helping women perform their socially assigned roles as 

homemakers. This HMBS initiative has the potential of entrenching women in their traditional roles as 

homemakers and preventing men from benefitting in such programmes. So it will likely lock women 

and girls, men and boys in their traditional gender roles. According to an NDDC staff,

But on the other hand, we do design programmes specifically for the girls and women. We call them 

home management business skills, basically designed to cater for the needs of our ladies, girls and 

ladies. Bearing in mind that if you have a wife and a mother that is being engaged, it might contribute 

to the well-being and stability of the family, so we do have programmes specifically designed for 

women. That’s not to say that we are shutting women out of the other ones…They select the very best, 

the most qualified and I do see a couple of ladies there. But the home management skills is specifically 

designed for our girls and women. So if you see a few men there, it’s just by accident. 

—NDDC Staff, Headquarters

The response of the NDDC Staff, “…if you see a few men there, it’s just by accident” shows that 

already men are being seen as misfit in such HMBS. Men interested in such programmes may be 

discouraged or reluctant to apply for such programmes because the HMBS is “…specifically designed 

for our girls and women.” This implies that the Commission by its intervention is suggesting that there 

are some business skills for women, which men do not have to acquire. And from the list of the HMBS 

programmes, they are skills for less paying, inferior, women jobs like baking and sowing. This 

inadvertently indicates the NDDC endorsement for labelling low paying, low skill home management 

jobs as women’s jobs, which are not meant for men. This implies that the Commission supports the 

view that men deserve more rewarding, high profile or highly skilled work, thus strengthening the 

traditional view of men as the superior sex group. Findings also, show that while women are not 

exempted from other NDDC interventions, special provisions or considerations are not made for them 

to be able to compete favourably with their men counterpart in benefiting in the programmes. Literature 

on gender equality and feminism assert that women have been disadvantaged by the dominant 

patriarchal structure in the society (Aina, 2009; Mejiuni, 2012). This makes it slightly difficult for them 

to compete favourably with their male counterparts. Hence, there is need to recognize their 

disadvantaged position and make deliberate attempt to make them benefit equitably from social 

programmes. However, this is not the case with the NDDC intervention. According to a high ranking 

officer of the Commission, 

As I speak to you there is a[…] in the programme we are running in Turkey, and em, it’s an 

international welders’ em prop, you know, preparation(?)…, I saw a lady there, she came there on merit. 

She passed the aptitude test. Yes, at the maritime trades. The ladies that came on merit, they, they did 

not come as ladies. They came because they were qualified. They passed the aptitude test and every 

other test that was required. Those kind of things, I wouldn’t say they are not gender sensitive, but they 



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are gender blind. 

—NDDC Staff, Headquarters

Empirical evidences reveal that mainstreaming gender in intervention programming is not strange in 

Odi community, participants reported that NGOs do bring women empowerment programs and they do 

involve women in the intervention programming. According to the community people

Our women leader and her group, they have many projects…programs that they used to attend na [now] 

and then they have some projects which they want the government to help them. They have programs, 

like they want to build town hall. That is their meeting hall…It was…only NGOs used to bring, bring 

those…eh programs. —CDC Chairman. However, findings show that some desk officers may use their 

initiative in mainstreaming gender in implementing some NDDC programmes. A desk officer of the 

Commission reported,

No, for me, ok, I have a background, before coming to NDDC, I worked with several non-

governmental or ganisations, so I have, you know, schooled in the culture of being gender-sensitive, 

[ok] ok, so there is nothing that I do, eh, if we have, say maybe a conference, a seminar, I ensure that 

even if it’s not fifty-fifty, then it’s sixty-forty [male-female ratio], that’s a personal…

This last two quotations show that mainstreaming gender in the NDDC interventions in the community 

is not an impossible task. The question then is why is gender not mainstreamed? Is it a consequence of 

ignorance or nonchalance?

4. Discussion on Implications of Gender-Neutrality of the NDDC Interventions

The gender-neutrality of the NDDC interventions has implications for the context of the intervention. 

These were evident in four main ways. First, it sometimes brings tension between female and male 

community members; and often brings tension and suspicion between the women chief and the 

Traditional Council. As noted earlier the women chief (a member of the Traditional Council herself), 

claimed she has never been called upon to participate in any meeting between the NDDC and the 

Traditional Council (The meetings are briefings in the real sense as NDDC only comes to inform the 

community leaders of their intervention and introduce the contractors to them. This is strictly about the 

IDPs and occurs shortly before the commencement of the intervention). 

“I was not informed….I only heard of it. I only heard of their meeting…I wasn’t informed at all”

So-to-say, I am part of it. So, they say I am part of it, but when you are not called upon, you will…you 

will not even know what they are doing. Because you won’t know when programmes are going 

to…[trails off] and women we are not involved, so you have to wait and look what they are going to do.

Apparently, from her facial expression and choice of words (the underlined), she resents the idea of 

excluding her in meetings with the NDDC. The NDDC meetings (or rather briefings) are usually 

impromptu and this makes it impossible for every member of the Traditional Council, especially, civil 

servants (which she is), to participate. However, not to have been informed at all is a different case 

entirely. Another male member of the Traditional Council, also a civil servant (a teacher, like the 



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women chief), reported been unable to attend such meetings in some cases, but at least he was 

informed when the NDDC officials came in for the impromptu meetings. The women chief interprets 

this situation as a continued deliberate subjugation of women in the African society, especially the Ijaw 

culture. The second quotation shows that she feels that the council makes deliberate effort to make her 

redundant. 

“You know, in everything there is monopoly now. In our African society, even this eh…especially Ijaw 

culture everybody want to bring women down. Everybody wants to put women down. They feel if 

women come out they will usurp our power. I think that’s my belief. So most of the things they refuse 

to involve women, unless women will react on it.”

The quotation above also hints at deliberate male subjugation of women. She became so reflectively 

and distant when she made the statement above. (As if it is something she has contemplated upon and 

confirmed many times) The tone of her voice suggested to the researcher that men are so afraid of 

women’s power that they have successfully invented several ways to tame them to satisfy men’s selfish 

ends (As a male interviewer, the way the respondent described the situation made the researcher 

somehow ashamed as a man. At the same time, I felt slightly jittery of a fleeting thought that the 

respondent was going to make me a scape goat because of the concealed and controlled anger that 

seemed to course through her at this point in the interview) (Although not directly linked to the NDDC 

intervention, the researcher gathered from some members of the community that the Ereamini da-arau 

women leader), a former head teacher in a public primary school was recently demoted to a class 

teacher. Her demotion was punishment for her political party affiliation. The Labour Party of which she 

is a member ousted Peoples Democratic Party in the election for the House of Representatives. The 

PDP-controlled state and local government therefore decided to punish her for her political activities). 

Second, not involving women in the conception and planning has a tendency to impact negatively on 

women cultural and economically and consequently leading to conflict. For instance, there was a case 

of communal conflict involving the traditional ruler, the NDDC contractor and the community women. 

An NDDC contractor—the Elite Company—has been awarded the construction of Odi-Trofani Road. 

The road would pass through a channel of river where women harvest fish, lobster, and firewood for 

home use and sale. In short, the channel has been a source of household food and income for women 

for generations. Thus women have higher stake in the channel. However, the Elite Company decided to 

block the channel since that was cheaper than constructing a bridge. When the community women 

realised that the men and the Traditional Council were not going to do anything about this, they took 

their fate in their hands and reacted. According to the Ereamini da-arau, They wanted to block the place 

instead of making bridge so that even this rainy season people can pass through. They were blocking 

it—the Elite Company—because they think that will be cheaper for them. The community women 

reacted…Yes the women reacted. So we were called to the king’s palace, because we find out that they 

were not doing anything. So we…we reacted. And actually we went to the Elite, eh the company had to 

take the complaint of the women and they had to do it. Though the bridge was not properly done, but at 



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least, people can pass through (even this [rainy] season) to go and bring whatever they want to bring.

The women’s “reaction” was a nonviolent demonstration involving almost all the community women. 

Men felt unconcerned and the sincerity of the king’s committees set up to look into the case before 

women intervened directly was questionable. According to the Ereamini da-arau: 

They [women] are concern. They are in the kitchen so they’re concern. So if the easy means to go and 

bring their woods is being blocked and in this [rainy] season, this lobsters that they bring, this season, 

they make a little money out of it. And even the family they will eat part of it. But most of our men 

they are feeling unconcern. If not, the channel is for everybody but you know at least if something 

happens some people will be touched the most. So the women feel, felt that it is their right because they 

are the people going there more, you know the population of the women are more. And people using 

the place…, is women that uses the place more than the men, so…we went there later and we 

succeeded in making that bridge.—Ereamini da-arau

According to him [king], he set up three committees to go and meet the company. But the company or 

the people that are working there, but we don’t know, that is what we don’t know. We now went to 

take permission from him that whether they agree or not we have to go there. So we went there and got 

in touch with the white man that was in charge and that unless they agree with us then the road can be 

built. —Ereamini da-arau…so when they are trying to build that place, they were trying to close up that 

place. The women now woke up, they said “You cannot.” The company said that they will. So the 

women, the women leader and all the women in the community stood up and say “No, we are making 

use of that place and the company cannot close down that place.” …So all the women went there when 

the company was working; went there, stopped the company. All the women o…stopped the work. And 

the company was trying to prove stubborn. Some of the women that knows how to drive cars took their 

keys from them, drove the car to different corner, charge [rev] them very well.—Youth President (male)

The above showcases the Ereamini da-arau submission “[s]o most of the things they [men generally] 

refuse to involve women, unless women will react on it.” And in this case, women reacted, although in 

a nonviolent way. 

Thirdly, not mainstreaming women in the Commission’s interventions creates more power imbalance 

between female and male community members by directly empowering men economically. In respect 

of the IDPs, one way men and boys benefit directly is through direct employment as labourers—semi-

skilled and unskilled. Considering that the IDPs have been more regular than the HCDPs and that this 

has been the situation since the inception of the Commission, one begins to have an idea of what this 

meant in financial advantage to men and boys over women and girls. As of the time of this fieldwork, 

the Home Management Business Skills have not been kick-started (although interested people have 

submitted their applications. The researcher even sighted some applications at CID office at the NDDC 

headquarters). Male youths, as militants or demonstrators, are usually the beneficiaries of “marching 

ground” paid by NDDC contractors to allow them to execute their projects, since they are those that 

demand it through violent agitations. Hence, through direct employment and marching ground, men 



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and boys benefit exclusively from the NDDC physical development projects. As commented by an 

NDDC personnel, …most times when we talk about youth, especially in the Niger Delta region where, 

eh, youth, you know, have seen violence, as, you know, as a vehicle for agitation, it tends to exclude 

women. Young girls, who, naturally, should see themselves as, part of…you know, that category called 

youth, so because of violence they are unable to come out openly when young people come out, you 

know, to participate in that process of agitation or advocacy, whatever.

Also, in its ad-hoc responses to agitations arising from its interventions, the NDDC has not been gender 

sensitive. The Commission’s “settlement” usually takes care of the males who are more likely to 

champion such violent agitations, either against the NDDC or their contractors. As noted by an NDDC 

Staff in the quote above, young female seldom participate in agitations and since the agitations yield 

fruit for the “head ones”, that is, the leaders as referred to by a programme beneficiary, females are not 

likely to reap the fruit of such agitations. Thus male youths benefit exclusively from NDDC as reapers 

of tangible fruits of violence—in cash and in kind.

Finally, gender neutrality of the NDDC intervention misses opportunities for women and girls 

empowerment, especially through its HCDPs. Women involvement in the entire intervention 

programming are good avenues for empowering women and promoting gender equity. If as noted by 

the Ereamini da-arau, the Ijaw culture subjugates women, affirmative actions to empower women and 

girls would be a worthwhile goal for the Commission to pursue. However, the Commission fails to 

exploit this opportunity in programming its intervention. This probably is a case of underutilization or a 

skewed prioritization of the NDDC resources. Empowering women this way may reduce the likelihood 

for violent agitations in the Niger Delta. Casual observations on the pattern and dynamics of agitations 

in the Niger Delta reveal that it is engendered. It appears that violent and nonviolent agitations are 

characteristic of male and female agitations respectively in the NDR. In other words, the NDR women 

are more likely to be involved in nonviolent agitations, while their male counterpart is more likely to 

employ violent tactics. Militants are essentially males. And empirical women’s nonviolent tactics 

appear to be more effective. As noted by the Odi youth president,

At that time point in time, are you going to bring police there, when women are taking action? Now 

because of that action now, that led to the construction of bridge at that place. If not for the women they 

would have closed up the place. People are now passing there, to go and fetch firewood and do their 

farming activities. 

The underlined shows the strategic effectiveness of nonviolent agitation by Niger Delta women. Hardly 

can any government justify the use of force against women engaged in nonviolent protest. As the case 

of Odi Community shows, women appear to be able to get result for their agitations than youth. Also, 

the outcome of women’s protest is more likely to produce result for the benefit of all. The phenomenon 

of settling the ‘head ones’ syndrome did not come up during the women’s protest, unlike the youths. 

Hence it was difficult to discredit their movement. If in their present relatively subjugated state, women 

are able to achieve this feat, one wonders what they will achieve in their empowered state. Although, 



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this aspect of the study is inconclusive, the potentials of women group taking the lead in improving the 

interventions of the NDDC is worth exploring.

5. Conclusion 

In spite of the popularity of both international and national policy frameworks on gender equality, the 

NDDC does not have a gender policy. There is also no such policy for its intervention programming. 

Hence both the NDDC and its interventions are gender-neutral or gender blind. Despite this, women 

are well represented in the Commission. Gender-neutrality of the interventions, however, has negative 

implications for gender equality in the study area. The NDDC interventions entrenches the power 

disequilibrium between females and males in the community. The programming of the interventions 

systematically give males more benefits at the expense of their female counterparts. Also, it engenders 

conflict between the roles and discriminates against women. By not mainstreaming gender in its 

intervention, the NDDC loses on the unique perspective that women could bring to enrich its 

interventions. In cases where intervention impacted negatively on their livelihood and income, 

community women took collective nonviolent action to demand a change in the implementation, and 

they succeeded. Women nonviolent collective action achieved better result than the usual violent 

agitations of the youths (essentially male). Hence the women’s nonviolent approach offers a potential 

source of leverage for communities in negotiating intervention with the NDDC. With abysmally low 

capacity for gender sensitivity, the NDDC cannot deliver gender sensitive intervention in the NDR, 

rather it entrenches the traditional power imbalance and roles between female and male members of the 

beneficiary communities.

Notes

Note 1. The Odi Massacre was a recurrent theme in the discussions with all the community people.

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