IWD: SDGforHER Impacts  2,650 Women, Girls in Lagos

Sunday Okobi

The Founder of Sustainable Development Goals, SDGforHER Initiative, Mrs. Hannah Ayilaran-Omon, yesterday disclosed that the organisation has impacted the lives of over 2,500 girls and women in Lagos since it was founded two years ago.

In a chat with THISDAY during the SDGforHER 2025 International Women’s Day (IWD) conference in Victoria Island, Lagos, the founder said in spite the number of lives impacted, she still felt the organisation is still just scratching the surface.

According to Ayilaran-Omon, the initiative came as a result of her drive and passion to do more for the society.

She said: “Living in a community whereby I have seen people go to bed hungry, and I have seen women stand in the streets looking for means on how to send their children to school, I realised that we are not better than these ones but that we are just privileged. We are just in a position that we have a little bit more.” 

“And where I sit, I’ve always been driven to do more for people, and SDGforHer has been doing this for almost two years now and we are happy that we’ve impacted the lives of over 2,650 women and girls across Lagos State.”

She stated that the theme for their conversation is ‘all hands-on deck beyond commitment’.

The founder noted that on international days a lot of organisations would come and speak but after these commitments what happened next?

“For us at SDGforHer, we are a non-profit organisation and we do a lot of hands-on grassroots community impact. We want the people to go beyond talks and commitments but come up with actionable points that can actually transcends to a positive impact on women and children.

 “How can we ensure more women are represented in politics, how can we aid financial inclusion, how can we ensure that women and children have access to education, how can we ensure women have access to loans and SMEs to run and fund their businesses. These are the questions we are asking. Beyond commitment how can we make these actionable?” Ayilaran-Omon, queried.

Despite having touched many lives of women and children across Lagos, for Ayilaran-Omon, she still feels she hasn’t done enough.

“As someone in development sphere and as a founder, I always feel like I’ve not done enough. I always feel there is more to be done. Sometimes I wonder if what I’m doing is actually making a big impact in the large scale of things when you compare 2,650 women to the numbers of women in Nigeria. But I take consolation from the fact that at least I’m doing something. If all of us could do 2,500 in our capacity, imagine how much more women would be reached out to,” she stated.

Ayilaran-Omon noted that the “government cannot reach everywhere; we can therefore serve as the government legwork and help them reach corners and places they are not able to reach, and by that way, they can accelerate the speed of impact faster.”

Several key note speakers were on hand to share their experiences on the topic: ‘Advancing Gender Equality Through Collective Action’, including Mrs. Folashade Ambrose-Medebem, Tawakalit Kareem, Nnenna Jacob-Ogogo, while Mr. Fola Ologun, a board member of SDGforHer, gave the closing remarks.