Interview with Josephine Effah-Chukwuma

Abstract

Josephine Effah-Chukwuma was born on September 29, 1966 and received her Bachelors in English and Literature. She worked briefly as a journalist with The Diplomat until 1992, when her desire for more educationled her to the Institute of Social Studies in the Hague, Netherlands, where she obtained an MA in development studies, with a focus on women issues. She worked for a few years with the Constitutional Rights Project (CRP) and in 1999 founded Project Alert on Violence Against Women, a not-for-profit organization that provides legal services and emergency shelter/space for abused women and girls. The organization supports gender equality and works to eradicate social norms and cultural practices that hamper the advancement of women. The NGO opened its first shelter, Sophia’s Place, for abused/assaulted women and girls in Nigeria in 2001. Through counseling, advocacy, and temporary shelter, the organization helps to break the silence surrounding domestic and sexual abuse in Nigeria.