By Odezulu Scholastica Chekwube
The widow groups of the Catholic Diocese of Nsukka were established as forums for widows to meet together for their common interest. The help being offered to these widows mostly come in form of welfare relief packages such as money, foodstuff, clothes and shelter, which are occasionally given to them. There are many problems that are associated with widowhood, which could make many of the widows see themselves as helpless. It is necessary for the widows to be empowered to enhance their potentials and exercise their individuality instead of waiting for the world to come to their rescue. How could these widows be empowered to cope with their problems? This could be possible through education. As women who are engaged in many activities, they need a type of education, which is non-formal in nature. This study therefore, aimed at investigating how the widows of the Catholic Diocese of Nsukka may be empowered to cope with their problems through non-formal education programmes. Five research questions and one null hypothesis were posed for the study and the research design was a survey. A total of one thousand and two widows who are registered members of the St. Rita’s Widows Association from the twenty-three parishes where the association exists constituted the population while three hundred and four was the sample. The study employed a simple random sampling. The drawing of the sample was based on one-third (1/3) of the entire population. A structured questionnaire was used to elicit some information form the widows. Copies of the questionnaire were administered and data collected and analysed. Simple percentage, weighted mean and ANOVA statistics were used to analyse and test the research questions and hypothesis respectively. The findings revealed among others that majority of the widows indicated interest in acquiring educational qualifications. There was a general agreement that the widows will be empowered through income-generating skills training, reproductive health, literacy, family life education and legal education programmes. There was significant deference among the coping strategies of the widows based on their educational qualifications. Therefore the null hypothesis is therefore rejected. Recommendations made based on the finding include among others that The Catholic Diocese of Nsukka should establish skills acquisition centres for their widows, at strategic parishes, which should integrate all the aspects of non- formal education programmes identified in this study.