What We Do

A “policy firechat” is a shortened form of a “policy fireside chat is an informal, on‑stage conversation where a moderator interviews one or more policymakers or experts about specific public policies or issues. The term comes from Franklin D. Roosevelt’s informal radio talks explaining government policies directly to the public during the 1930s and 1940s, which have been seen as one of the best ways of engaging the citizens, especially during periods when formal gatherings are not feasible, like during wartime. A firechat is therefore a form of conversation on specified development issues A fireside chat is structured but conversational and involves primarily a small group of seasoned contributors to the topic. Essentially, it aims to unpack the core ideas of, real impacts of or particular outcomes of a development policy issue. It is meant to be a relaxed discussion, rather than presenting formal speeches; thus making the atmosphere friendly to a broad audience. It should be followed by audience questions, which reveal how much the discussion has percolated the populace. . Hence, the appellation of firechat aims to make the setting, participation, and responses to the issue more relaxed, less academic-sounding and thus more people-friendly. All are welcome!! Why Fire chats? Often, there are challenging issues related to common societal goals and aspirations that call for policy intervention and more strategic programming to achieve expected outcomes. A development conversation aims to expose key manifestations of the challenges, explore possible solutions from varied perspectives from all stakeholders, including from local and global best practices and to propose actionable solutions. In other words, the conversation asks strategic questions with regard to the potent issue - Where are we? Why are we here? Where do we want to be? How do we get there? The Gilead Trust Policy Firechats The Fireside Chat of the Gilead Trust Research and Development Center is our Development Conversation, aimed to openly elicit critical perspectives on contemporary policy issues, especially as they affect the Nigerian economy and African continent in general. It will explore topical issues that are “simmering” in the larger society but have not been overtly addressed by policy. In other words, we aim to amplify silent voices or phenomena by unpacking the core issues, soliciting public perspectives from known experts, and thereby attracting more overt policy attention. Our Fire chats will be held periodically, at least twice a year as “voices of critical stakeholders” by stakeholders drawn from among academics, policy practitioners, civil society organizations, and as much as possible, representatives of those most affected - “the real storytellers”. Introduction to the First Firechat Welcome to the first Policy Firechat of the Gilead Trust Research and Development Center, a civil engagement platform – with several parts/projects. I am Bola Akanji, a key motivator of this project, representing the Board of Trustees of the Center and its Directors. (url of the centre) Today, I turn 70!! This is one main reason I am here today. Today, the Ides of March, is a date that is etched into political history by the incident of the first known political assassination of Julius Ceaser, the Roman Emperor in …… It was the first known people’s open resistance to authoritarian rule, especially involving the people’s representatives (the government cabinet of Rome). In other words, the first “palace coup” in history. This historical event is the precursor of today’s democratic thoughts and governance. To me, personally, this piece of history signifies a necessary attitude to governance – the relevance of resistance, not just to take over power, but to force policies to be tweak to be more people-friendly. I feel proud to have that date as part of my personal legacy. At this point, the twilight of my professional career, I feel the need to leave a legacy of more open discussion, not just about gender relations, but also about so many things Nigerian and/or African that we accept as the norm or a way of governance that can’t change. Why this topic? The Gender Backlash: Progress or Peril for Gender Equality I may have been an overt scholar of gender and development, but I have largely been a silent feminist. I am actually saying here that feminism is not synonymous with gender equality. While the first is a political ideology aimed at instigating certain forms of resistance to the norms of society, the latter is a programmatic framework by which the manifestations of some of the feminist challenges can be addressed. I had the opportunity to be a more overt policy critic as a fellow at NISER for 25 years, but on a whole range of development issues for which NISER has always been known for. However, with regard to gender relations, I have been a silent resistor. Like most African women, I have been less vocal than I would have loved because of the gender norm that has schooled women to “not be controversial”. I am a product of a generation schooled in that thinking, and whose mother silently instilled in me an attitude of quiet resistance. I also attended an all-girls school where There is also a culture of secrecy in African family life that restrains women from opening up about lingering personal and societal issues. Having said this, I have spent the better part of the past 40 years of my scholarly career working on gender and development. However, I have since recognized and accepted that gender and development in Nigeria and Africa has been more overt in terms of the structural effects of a binary (men and women) than the Western ideology behind global focus on gender inequality. I was more recently introduced to that ideology through exposure to and teaching of Gender and Women’s Studies (GWS). I came to understand the origin, which emerged from feelings of being undermined (inequality) by women in Western countries; this morphed into the global call for women's voices in matters that affect them – suffrage, the right to vote. That movement has gone through three main stages or waves, each on unearthing more areas of human inequalities, indeed, now seemingly going into extremes of equality or in post-modern feminist terms, areas where life and living can now not be pinned to any particular way of thinking or living – I daresay, leading to extremisms that is now ripping the world apart between liberals and conservatives. Some of these extreme ideas I believe have led to what we are now here to discuss – the Gender backlash.