of expectant mothers to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV. The HIV Control Agency at the federal and state level has undertaken several awareness campaigns to curb the pandemic. However, the approach to HIV and AIDS is health-based, while the pandemic has sociocultural and economic dimensions that warrant more multifaceted interventions and remedies, including a strong human rights law and culture that recognises and protects women’s rights. 362. Traditional rulers are the custodians and vanguards of culture in their areas of influence. They have a significant role to play in alternative dispute mechanisms and in influencing and shaping the pace of cultural evolution. Stakeholders expressed the view that many of these institutions serve to entrench strong patriarchal norms of male dominance and have failed to adopt progressive norms that promote the rights of women. Nonetheless, they felt that these important institutions can influence the communities to adopt progressive practices regarding human rights and the protection and promotion of women’s rights. 363. Despite the existence of a Ministry of Women’s Affairs and Social Development at federal and various state levels, few women know about their legal and human rights. NGOs involved in promoting and protecting the rights of women have attempted to fill this gap, but this has proved to be an uphill battle given the geographical and numerical dimensions of the problem. The prominence attached to the value of cultural norms makes it harder for advocacy messages from ‘outsiders’ to receive acceptance, even among women. Participation in development activities 364. Stakeholders expressed the fear to the CRM that, in many states, the development programmes include little or no data collection. Consequently, in the absence of evidence-based programmes, assumptions are made when planning for women. The result is the inadequate impact of programmes for the target groups, including women. They reported that poverty alleviation programmes at national and state level have not been well conceived and have failed to alleviate poverty, with the women most disproportionately affected, as noted in the CSAR. 365. The majority of the women involved in commerce are found in the nonformal sector. Businesswomen in Nigeria are quite enterprising and engage in retail trade such as food, clothing, handicraft and other forms of petty trade that support their subsistence living. This trade can be conducted with small amounts of capital, but does not bring in large earnings. 366. There is an enabling environment for business creation through the extension of small loans to women involved in commerce under several micro-finance credit schemes. These loans carry low interest rates of about 9 per cent, with few or no collateral requirements and nonattachment of collateral for loans advanced, as was reported in Kwara. In Ogun, the CRM was informed that women score highly in repaying these loans. Cooperative societies also stand as guarantors for women’s groups to enable them to gain access to loans. The Ministry of Women’s Affairs 125