Oluwatoyin Ogedengbe, a faith-based counsellor, sexuality educator, child rights advocate, development worker and pastor, is the Executive Director of Pan African Purpose-Driven Women Initiative (www.papdwi.org), Coordinator of Child Protection Network, Oyo State and Co – Pastor of House on the Rock in Ibadan. In this interview with YEJIDE GBENGA-OGUNDARE, she speaks on development activities, what fuels her passion, 35 percent affirmative action and women in governance, among other issues.
You have been into humanitarian and development activities. What inspired you?
The inspiration began for me in 2007 as a young woman who had to resign her teaching job to take care of her then very young children and had to find her way around purposeful living as a sit-at-home mum. It began alongside three other women of like minds with intercession, mission support programmes / visits, retreats and conferences for women from where ideas about working from home budded into business enterprises such as school run, consulting and product supply services. In response to a pastoral assignment which led to the relocation of my family to Ibadan in 2014, a vision for the rehabilitation of female commercial sex workers was birthed by the need to see ladies who usually lined the streets every night along the avenue where our church is located come off the street into healthy and sustainable livelihood.
The very first outreach to this set of ladies whom we call ladies of virtue was in 2017; we focused on a particular region in the urban area of Ibadan. The experiences encountered while working with these ladies birthed yet another vision of reaching the younger generation, especially adolescents/ teenagers and young adults.
This led me to take some trainings for which I got certified as a faith – based counsellor and sexuality educator after which an annual Capacity Building Conference for Teens and a school outreach programme to secondary school students tagged “Character – Based Relationship & Sexual Integrity Education” (CBRSIE) started in 2017 and 2018 respectively.
The advocacy for the protection of child rights was birthed in response to a case of sexual abuse of a teenager for which our organisation had to provide intervention.
How has the programmes touched lives?
To the glory of God, though it has not been smooth sail all the way, we have been able to reach over one hundred and fifty commercial sex workers with the gospel of Jesus Christ at two different locations in Ibadan between 2017 and 2023. We have held evangelical cum medical outreaches at different times reaching over two hundred of these ladies. These have led to dedicated time of discipleship programmes alongside free services in skill acquisition trainings offered by some of our friends and partners to some of the ladies who had indicated interest in various skills.
Between 2021 and 2023, through the help of God and support from amazing families, friends and volunteers, we have conducted two graduation ceremonies and empowerment with start-up tools for two cohorts of twenty three (23) of these ladies who have made a decision to lead a new lifestyle. This we have been doing in collaboration with another organisation, Connecting Hearts Initiative. We have been able to reach over one hundred public and private secondary schools in Oyo State with the CBRSIE training.
As a member of the School Outreach Unit in Child Protection Network, Oyo State, our organisation has been part of several outreaches to several schools to create awareness on child rights, enlightenment on sexuality education among thousands of students as well as teachers and parents across different local government areas of the state using the commemoration of UN International Days such as International Day of the Girl Child ( October 11th), Day of the African Child (June 6th), World Day Against Child Labour (June 12th) and International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation (February 6th).
As the Coordinator of Child Protection Network Oyo State from 2021 till date, my organisation has been part of several interventions and rescue operations providing medical, Psychosocial support and rehabilitation for vulnerable, abandoned children living with disabilities, children in conflict with the law, victims of sexual abuse, teenage pregnancy, provision of educational supplies/ support for indigent students, amongst others.
We have also been part of media engagements, community dialogues in six different LGAs namely Oyo West, Ogbomosho South, Iseyin, Kajola and Ibarapa North that has led to a reduction in the practice of female genital mutilation in those regions.
What determined the focus of your activities?
The desire to positively impact commercial sex workers towards seeing themselves in the light of whom God says they are and sharing the gospel of the Lord Jesus with them for the salvation of their spirit, soul and bodies so that they could become empowered for sustainable purposeful living has shaped our focus on the Ladies of Virtue.
The desire to build the capacity of the younger generation in order to help them discover their purpose for living, early in life, so they don’t fall prey to social vices and so that they can grow into well rounded adults who can be self reliant and useful for themselves, families, society and the world at large has defined our focus on adolescents and teenagers.
The desire to see children protected against all forms of abuse, violence and exploitation such as child labour, physical abuse, child trafficking and child sexual abuse has also motivated the advocacy for the protection of the rights of children towards the fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Goals 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 10 and 17
Can women be good leaders?
Absolutely, yes! Women are created in the image of God just like men are, and the Bible says God beheld all that He created and saw that they were all good. So the word “good” is only an adjective to qualify whatever expression of God that humans could ever manifest, one of which is leadership. Being a good parent/ teacher/ lawyer/ engineer/ follower/ doctor for instance is a function of the nature of the individual in question and the nurture they have received in terms of trainings/learning exposures and experiences. It has nothing to do with whether the person is a man or a woman. I believe also that one of the questions we need to ask ourselves when trying to find out if women can be good leaders is to know who a leader is. If a leader is a person who knows what to do in any given circumstance, knows how to convince others and shows them how to do it and motivates them to do what they need to do to achieve set goals, even if they were not willing to do what they needed to do, then a good leader is that person, whether female or male who demonstrates the capacity and skills needed to achieve this and does it well to the end that goals are met, visions are fulfilled and lives become the better for it.
There are stereotypes and biases that have been created in the minds of people, some of which are cultural, religious, and social that make them think that women may not be good leaders.
In Bible history, just like we had fantastic women such as Esther and Deborah who were good leaders like men such as David and Gideon and others. There were also women like Jezebel who were bad leaders just like men like Saul and so it’s not about the gender but about the individual personality and the exposures and experiences they have had.
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