Voting is underway for the nominees of the second Community and Human Rights (CAHR) Awards, to be presented during the 9th Sustainability in the Extractive Industries (SITEI) Conference, holding virtually on Tuesday, 17 and Wednesday, 18 November, 2020.
Organised by CSR-in-Action, the foremost sustainability advocacy and consulting firm, the CAHR Awards celebrates outstanding individuals and organisations that have performed excellently in community inclusion and protection of human rights. Previous winners include Agip Oil Company Ltd, Aliko Dangote and Segun Awosanya, known as Segalink.
According to the Chief Executive of CSR-in Action, Bekeme Masade-Olowola, the CAHR Awards provides a platform for inspiring individuals and business entities in Nigeria to take extraneous steps to correct the anomalies of engagement within their impacted communities.
“As calls continue to grow for more responsible citizenship and sustainable ways of doing business, certain people and organisations have made significant efforts to engender and sustain viable paths of engagement with their communities in search of peace and inclusivity. In addition, certain people and organizations have strived for the defence and protection of human rights around them. It is the efforts of these people that we honour at the CAHR Awards,” Masade-Olowola said.
There are seven different award categories, each dedicated to a historically prominent personality. Categories include the Ken Saro-Wiwa Environmental Management Award, MKO Abiola Community Engagement Award, Hajiya Gambo Sawaba Community Impact Award, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti Human Rights Award, Mallam Aminu Kano Award for Leadership, Josephine Nkemdilim Equal Rights Award, and Apostle Hayford Alile Humanitarian Award. Voting is open to all members of the public and can be accessed on the CSR-in-Action website.
The 9th SITEI Conference, themed: Inclusive Communities, Inspired Women, will focus on reversing the norms that have culturally and systematically hampered women’s progress and youth exclusion in extractive industries’ dialogue and benefits.
“For almost a decade, SITEI has been a veritable platform for charting sustainable paths to more fairness and inclusivity in Nigeria’s volatile and complex extractive industries sector,” Meka Olowola, Chairman, Planning Committee for the SITEI Conference said.
“While companies in the extractive sector have over the years contributed to the development of their host communities, issues such as gender-based violence and exclusion of women from decision-making, remain constant sources of conflict between these companies and their host communities. This year, the SITEI Conference will address issues hampering the development of women and girls in these communities and those preventing their voices from being heard,” Olowola added.
For the first time, the Conference will be held virtually, with several speakers joining in from different countries around the world.
The SITEI Conference is organised by CSR-in-Action – the multi-level, multi-stakeholder organisation driving collective social responsibility and corporate governance in West Africa – in partnership with the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Ford Foundation, Global Rights, Zenera Consulting and other partners.