LONDON, ENGLAND, March 7, 2012 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Alice Ukoko, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Women Of Africa, has been recognized by Worldwide Who's Who for showing dedication, leadership and excellence in humanitarian outreach.

Ms. Ukoko, has a very important goal, that of reforming Africa through international recognition and restoration of the status of women. World history maintains that humanity and civilization began in Africa through missionaries, transatlantic and commercial slave trading. Africa supported world development and civilization like a dutiful mother.

The delay in Africa's modern day civilization can be traced to the far-reaching impact of external disruptions in her developmental process.

It is a fact that Africa is largely regarded as a member of the unified world although in terms of development, African countries are lagging behind in most aspects of the global partnership, a world partnership recognised only as allies and detrimental to Africa and Africans.

African nations, though rich in human and natural resources, continue to look to the developed world for international aid, whilst Africans migrate to the western world in droves for security and economic survival of themselves and families left behind in Africa.

The failure of Africa to develop human and international standards through realistic reform was raised on 7th December 2010 in Brussels during the EU- Dev Days (6th to 7th December 2010) by a prominent member of the European Parliament. According to the MEP, Africans should stop blaming others for their failings and realise that the responsibility of Africa's reform is theirs alone. TRUE

Repeatedly the EU event stressed the need for African governments to include Africa's civil society in the development of the continent.

Africa needs to reform and the violence and abuse of African women and girl children needs to stop. This is the driving force of the work that Alice Ukoko is doing to raise the profile of African women for international recognition through remote support.

Without liberty and a shared sense of responsibility amongst Africans, it is not possible for the continent to recover and reform in our lifetime. Traditionally, women define Africa's culture and traditions. It therefore stands to reason that unless African women are brought to the decision making process in Africa's affairs as equal stakeholders, the African dream will not be realised and nor would the challenges that women face universally end.

To achieve the necessary conditions that will enable Africa to recover, Alice Ukoko is working to hold the first Congress of African Women to constitute and launch African Women's Commission to represent Africa's civil society with women taking the lead and to launch Project Africa Direct, which aims to connect Africa Diaspora and friends of Africa worldwide with Africa grass roots for empowerment of Africans. Alice Ukoko believes that with the continuing efforts to eradicate poverty in Africa, women can in their own rights as key stakeholders consolidate the humanitarian efforts to reach the very people who need it. At the Congress scheduled to be held in an African country to be confirmed, African women would launch a fund for their headquarters and solicit partners to drive the support needed for African women within Africa to contribute of their own survival and restoration of Africa.

African women as valuable stakeholders in Africa's affairs are able to effectively take their place as leaders and decision-making partners with men and to propel Africa from socio-economic and political stagnation contributing to insecurity in Africa and the world at large. This model aims to provide leadership training for African women towards their task in Africa's recovery and to add value to the humanitarian efforts of the good people of the world, bearing in mind that philanthropy cannot replace a viable and good government.

Alice has strived to achieve this goal for the last 20 years and has acquired valuable expertise in community law, advocacy and cultural mediation services in the UK in particular. In her leading role with the nonprofit, she campaigns and lobbies world governments, businesses and others to achieve the African dream through gender equalisation. She speaks at conferences to raise awareness about Africa and correct myths about African women, traditions and the changing position of women.

For example, Alice, based on her personal experience, contributed to the understanding of the African ritual known globally as female genetal mutilation though female circumcision to Africans when she wrote and directed the drama, "The African Maiden" in 2000 to give an insight into the life-long impact of the ritual on its victims. This play contributed to the British Female Circumcision Act 2003.

Alice believes that with the growing interest in empowering African women and efforts to eradicate violence against women and girl children, working in partnership with Women Of Africa will without doubt add value to the efforts of every good citizen anxious to see Africa come out of the man-made poverty trap. Alice Ukoko solicits partners to kindly help build sustainable capacity of African women economically and politically aimed to reform Africa to 21st Century standards. She is confident that with improved status of African women, violence and wars against them would be eliminated, Africa would become reformed and equal partner in world affairs. Africa's civil society is a citizen of their nation and the global world.

Ms. Ukoko is a lawyer and understand the needs of Africans. She was born in Nigeria and arrived in the U.K. in 1970 without formal education. She married in 1973 into an abusive relationship and has five children whom she raised herself. In 1994, she founded Women of Africa, which was originally known as Women of Nigeria International, to contribute to the campaign to end direct military dictatorship in her own country of Nigeria in order to bring about democracy and respect for the rights of Nigerians. Alice Ukoko attempted to contest the Governorship of her home Delta State - Nigeria in the April 2007 general elections. Alice's aim was to give women an opportunity to judiciously govern and apply the crude oil and natural liquid gas resources of the State in place of the plundering and human tragedy that the richness of the State has become.

In 2012, Women of Africa is scheduled to launch the first edition of the "Journal of Women of Africa" under the editorial direction of Nigeria's Professor Christiana Okojie of University of Benin. The vision for the Journal is to give voice to African women on a world stage; it aims to interweave reality with academic theories to project the contributions that women make to Africa's history and their role in the recovery of their continent. In other words, African women want to tell their own story instead of it being told for them.

The first Congress of African Women is scheduled to be held in 2012 in a country to be confirmed. Attributing her success to her love for humanity, Ms. Ukoko became involved in her profession as she tries to prevent others from going through what she herself has experienced in her own life. She sees herself in others and reaches out to help women and mothers in distress. Through her advocacy and legal advice work with women and families, she is further convinced that the only realistic way to help women is through raising their profile internationally.

Alice Ukoko received an Honors Bachelor of Laws from the University of London in 1992. She is also a Graduate member of the Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria. For her humanitarian work, she won the African Nigerian Award and is scheduled to receive an award from Alice Ukoko's Isoko community in Delta State. Alice highly appreciates the recognition being accorded by her homeland as it confirms her worldwide worthiness.

Looking ahead, Ms. Ukoko wants to see Africans and every human being united in purpose and in focus to reform Africa. Firstly, it is the primary responsibility of every African of African descent to contribute towards ending the negative history of a continent so rich and yet so impoverished. Alice believes that every African woman is a leader and that leadership quality can be harnessed and combined for the good of all. Africa needs to HEAL from hundreds of years of abuse and exploitation. Africans cannot continue to blame others for their failure to reform. African women are able to reform though they require the support of the international community to take their rightful place in Africa and in the world like their sisters did in the development of the West.

For more information about Women Of Africa, visit http://www.womenofafrika.org.

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Contact:
Ellen Campbell
Director, Media Relations
[email protected]

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