About Us
We are a team of change-makers creating innovative solutions that drive women and girl child empowerment in Nigeria
About US
Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC) is a non-profit civil rights organization established in 2000 to promote respect for human rights, gender equality, equity, the rule of law, accountability, and social justice in Nigeria.
WARDC is a women’s rights organization that provides pro bono legal services for women victims of gender-based violence and other forms of women’s rights abuse. Since its inception, WARDC has prosecuted over 450 cases in court, instituted four class actions, and received an average of six women every week for legal and socio-counselling support on matters of gender-based violence and other civil issues affecting women. The organization has also established 133 paralegal communities across Nigeria.
Over the years, WARDC has expanded its work to reassert pro-people budgeting and women’s emancipation at all levels of society, protecting rights and promoting equity in gender relations through advocacy, reporting, impact litigation, research, and documentation.
WARDC works with a wide range of stakeholders, including policymakers, grassroots women, traditional rulers, religious leaders, market women and men, politicians, professionals, national and regional government institutions, the private sector, and local and international development partners to achieve its aims and objectives. Through these collaborations, WARDC also strengthens protection and reintegration systems for women and girls returning from trafficking, irregular migration, displacement, or conflict‑affected situations, ensuring they receive legal support, psychosocial care, and community‑based assistance that promotes their safety, dignity, and long‑term well-being.
Driving Gender Justice Through Systems Advocacy
WARDC has developed over the years, working to reassert the pro-people budget and women’s emancipation at all levels of society, protecting rights and promoting equity in gender relations through Advocacy, Reporting, Impact Litigation, Research, and Documentation.
VISION
A just, equitable, and sustainable world in which every person especially women and girls enjoy the right to a life of dignity, freedom from violence and all forms of oppression
MISSION
To work together in solidarity with other women’s human rights defenders to create cultures of gender equality, justice, and equitable access for Nigerian women using advocacy, litigation, and policy reform strategy.
Our Core Values
WARDC shares a set of core values that define us as an organization and the way we work within the organization, with funders, with stakeholders, within the community, and with other organizations.
These core values are Transparency, Integrity, Accountability, and Respect these values are key to the realization of the mission and vision of the organization.
Transparency
We make available on a regular basis detailed, current, timely information to all stakeholders of the operations and activities of the organization.
Integrity
We demonstrate honesty, fairness, openness, and clear boundaries in all our interactions, behaviors and practices within the organization and with our funders, stakeholders, and the wider community.
Accountability
As a women’s rights organization, we believe in prudent, ethical, and responsible stewardship of all funds and resources in our care.
Respect
We believe in the personhood of women, and that our rights are an inalienable, indivisible, and integral part of universal human rights.
Our Leadership
Dr. Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi is a Nigerian lawyer and civil rights, activist. She is the founding Director of Women Advocates Research and Documentation Center (WARDC), a non-governmental maternal and reproductive health advocacy organization whose major objective is to promote women’s rights, human rights, governance, and rule of law.
Dr. Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi is an executive board member of the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding and the Nigerian Women’s Trust Fund. She teaches International Humanitarian Law at the University of Lagos. In 2016, She was elected the chairman of The Monitoring Group (TMG), the coalition of 400 civil society organizations
CONTACT US
Phone
+2348180056401,
+2348055951858
Address
MESSAGE US
Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC) is a non-profit civil rights organization established in the year 2000. To promote respect for human rights, gender equality, equity, the rule of law, accountability, and social justice in Nigeria.
WARDC is a women’s rights organization in Nigeria, which provides pro bono legal services for women victims of gender-based violence and other women’s rights abuse.
OFFICE ADDRESS
Lagos Office:
No 22, Afariogun street, off Obafemi Awolowo way, Ikeja Underbridge, Lagos.
Abuja Office:
No 17, Iwopin close off ondo street, behind Area 1 shopping complex, Garki-Abuja
Abeokuta Office:
Ifeolu Close, off Igbore Street, Behind Ijeja Stadium, Abeokuta.
Email:
info@wardcnigeria.org
womenadvocate@yahoo.com
Phone Nos.:
+2348180056401, +2348055951858