In Nigeria's rural communities poverty doesn't just mean hardship, it creates the conditions for conflict. For violent extremist groups, economic desperation is a recruiting tool. For those willing to exploit it, a community without options is a community vulnerable to harm. Women, who often bear the heaviest load when communities struggle,  also often have the least power to change things.

LEGASI - the Ladies Empowerment Goals and Support Initiative - want to change this. They established 16 Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs) across Kaduna and Zaria, giving rural women direct access to financial support and, with it, a platform to lead. The groups quickly became something bigger than their original purpose. Women who had joined to access money found themselves at the centre of their communities - respected, organised and ready to act on the issues that mattered most to them.

That has meant taking on drug addiction head on. The VSLAs have run counselling sessions for young people and partnered with the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency on anti-drugs campaigns, because women embedded in their communities understand the problem in ways that outside agencies simply don't. It has also meant speaking out about sexual assault and harassment, with many groups leading local campaigns to challenge the cultures of silence that allow abuse to continue.

At the heart of all of this is something that can't be delivered by a programme or a policy: trust. LEGASI built it carefully, and the women have used it to build something in return - communities that are better  connected and more able to protect their own from violence.