ACCOMPLISH MAGAZINE DEC 2023
Folorunso Alakija: on business, philanthropy, legacy and her Journey to Mega Entreprenuerial Success.
Folorunso Alakija: on business, philanthropy, legacy and her Journey to Mega Entreprenuerial Success.
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
INTERVIEW<br />
Dr. Emem<br />
Okon,<br />
Executive<br />
Director<br />
of Kebetkache,<br />
Emem<br />
Okon<br />
giving her<br />
remarks<br />
during the<br />
graduation<br />
ceremony<br />
of Set<br />
5, Kebetkache<br />
Leadership<br />
School<br />
Accomplish: Please,<br />
introduce yourself to<br />
our readers.<br />
Dr. Emem Okon: My<br />
name is Dr. Emem Okon.<br />
I’m the Founder and<br />
Executive Director of the<br />
Kebetkache Women<br />
Development and Resource<br />
Centre. I am also<br />
the Chapter President<br />
of Rotary Club of Port<br />
Harcourt ECO.<br />
Accomplish: Wow!<br />
How did the idea of Kebetkache<br />
come about?<br />
Dr. Emem Okon: I had<br />
been involved in development<br />
practice. In fact,<br />
when Hon. Nimi Walson-Jack<br />
was giving the<br />
lecture on ‘Leading from<br />
the Middle’, I remembered<br />
it was exactly<br />
what I did. I have done a<br />
lot of community work:<br />
community mobilisation,<br />
community sensitisation<br />
on human rights,<br />
using popular education<br />
to talk about human<br />
rights, women’s rights<br />
etc. Then, I founded<br />
Kebetkache. I have been<br />
involved in development<br />
work since 1997.<br />
Accomplish: From<br />
1997?<br />
Dr. Emem Okon: Yes.<br />
Then, I worked with<br />
the Institute of Human<br />
Rights and Humanitarian<br />
Law. I founded<br />
Kebetkache in 2003 but<br />
started full operations in<br />
2004. While I was doing<br />
all the work I did in<br />
different communities, I<br />
noticed a gap. I noticed<br />
that that we did not<br />
have a very active and<br />
viable women’s rights<br />
organisation in the Niger<br />
Delta with a platform for<br />
community women to<br />
talk about how they are<br />
being impacted by the<br />
environment. There was<br />
a lot of agitation for resource<br />
control, against<br />
environmental degradation<br />
in the Niger Delta<br />
etc. But there was really<br />
no organised and visible<br />
women’s rights organisation<br />
pushing women’s<br />
issues to the regional<br />
level, national level or<br />
international level.<br />
Since 2004, we have<br />
carried out a lot of interventions<br />
- organising<br />
women in communities,<br />
creating awareness on<br />
women’s rights, building<br />
women’s self esteem<br />
and confidence. We<br />
also encourage them to<br />
speak about their own<br />
situations and to take<br />
local actions to engage<br />
with other community<br />
stakeholders, including<br />
Group<br />
photograph<br />
of<br />
the 2022-<br />
23 Kebetkache<br />
Leadership<br />
School<br />
Graduands<br />
46 | Accomplish Magazine
Change language