By Benjamin Ubiri
The African Centre for Leadership, Strategy & Development (Centre LSD) is training women’s rights organisations to establish accountability measures for male allies and ensure their involvement in gender advocacy strengthens women’s leadership.
The two-day workshop, which opened in
Abuja, is organised through the Centre’s Male Feminists Network (MFN) Project, with support from the Ford Foundation.
Held under the theme “From Principles to Practice: Institutionalising Accountable Male Allyship in Women’s Rights Programming,” the training focuses on developing systems to guide how male allies participate in women’s rights initiatives.
Victoria Udoh, Project Lead and Director of Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning at Centre LSD, said engagement with male allies must strengthen women’s voices and decision-making rather than replace them.
“The focus is on ensuring that engagement with male allies strengthens women’s leadership, voice, and decision-making,” Udoh said,
A statement signed by Tracy Irhezaen, Communications Coordinator at Centre LSD, says the workshop Will provide participating Women’s Rights Organisations (WROs) with practical approaches to selecting, supervising and holding male advocates accountable within their programmes.
According to the statement, “Participants are examining institutional readiness, risk management, survivor-centred approaches and ethical programme design to identify safeguards for responsible male engagement.”
The training also covers formal codes of conduct and reporting mechanisms designed to ensure male allies operate within established feminist principles and remain accountable to the organisations they support.
Other areas of focus include strategic advocacy, gender-based violence prevention and lessons from broader African political reforms, including the implementation of gender quotas in governance.
It notes that participating organisations will develop action plans to integrate accountability measures into their programmes.
The initiative builds on a foundational session held in January 2026 as part of the Centre’s efforts to advance transformative leadership and gender equality across Africa.
Edited by Julian Osamoto
