CAPACITY BUILDING FOR WIDOWS : PATHWAYS FOR SUSTAINABLE GRASSROOT DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA

Abstract

This paper examines capacity building for widows and pathways for sustainable grass root development in Nigeria. The increasing n'umber of widows with little or no means of capacity for economic empowerment at the grass root has become an acknowledged social problem in most developing societies like Nigeria. This paper argues the need for capacity building as an urgent step for attaining the needed sustainable national development for this segment of the population. The study relies on survey of942 widows across sixAwori communities, in Ogun state, Nigeria. Using descriptive statistics, the result shows that, about 60 percent of the sampled population had no form of fbrmal or informal education. Thus, they live in abject poverty. This paper recommends the need for both government and Non Governmental Organizations (NGO's) to drive capacity building through formal and Non-formal education, to enable widows especially at the grass root maximize their potentials in the ever changing world.