IIARD International Institute of Academic Research and Development

JOURNAL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE AND LEADERSHIP RESEARCH (JPSLR )

E-ISSN 2504-883X
P-ISSN 2695 2432
VOL. 11 NO. 2 2025
DOI: 10.56201/jpslr.v11.no2.2025.pg43.61

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Impact of Human Rights Advocacy Programme on Environmental Awareness Among FOWA Women in Khana, Tai and Gokana Local Areas

Amachree, T, Nweke, DC,

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Abstract

This study examines the impact of human rights advocacy programmes on environmental awareness among FOWA women in Khanna, Tai and Gokana Local Government Areas of Rivers State, Nigeria. The main objective was to assess the effectiveness of human rights education in promoting environmental awareness and empowering women to know their environmental rights. The study also examined the role of advocacy programmes in influencing women’s behaviour towards environmental protection and explored the challenges and opportunities faced by these programmes in promoting environmental awareness. A descriptive research design was adopted, with a population of 5,248 women from 63 communities in Khanna, 22 communities in Tai and 17 communities in Gokana Local Government Areas. Using Taro Yamane formula, the sample size was determined to be 433 respondents. Proportional and simple random sampling techniques were used to select participants from the three local areas. Data were collected through structured questionnaires and analyzed using descriptive statistics and analysis of variance (ANOVA) tools for testing the hypotheses. The results revealed that human rights education programs had a significant impact on improving environmental awareness among FOWA women in all three localities. The study also found that advocacy programs played a unifying role in empowering women to be aware of their environmental rights, regardless of their geographic location. However, the results showed a statistically significant difference in how these programs affected women’s behavior towards environmental protection: women in Tai showed slightly greater behavioral change compared to those in Khana and Gokana. Furthermore, challenges faced by advocacy programs, including traditional beliefs, limited education, financial constraints, and political interference, were consistent across all three local areas, while opportunities such as leveraging the FOWA network

keywords:

Human, Rights, Advocacy, Programme, Environment & Awareness

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