Education
Source: Development Diaries
Connected Development (CODE) with support from the New Venture Fund through the development Research and Projects Centre (dRPC) brought together 17 young women from different spheres of life in Abuja, Nigeria, to build their capacities in identifying issues involved in overcoming barriers to girl child education.
The workshop took place from 22–23 August, as a step-down training in the aftermath of a workshop by the Women Leadership4Girls’ Education (WL4GE) Fellowship for which the A World at School Global Youth Ambassador and Policy & Advocacy Advisor of CODE, Ojonwa Deborah Miachi, is a fellow.
The lead facilitator, Ojonwa, noted that, ‘Female champions working passionately to reduce the barriers to girls’ education came together for a two-day workshop on leadership training, technical assistance to document best practices, training on advocacy for girls’ education and support to access global opportunities in girls’ education. The process of advocacy and leadership was broken down to the most [basic]level’.
‘The leadership skills of young women at the workshop interested in girls’ education were developed. There was also training on advocacy techniques, networking skills and the creation of mentoring opportunities between participants and instructors to enable the young women explore numerous leadership opportunities that can build their experience and, most importantly, increase the enrolment of girls in schools’, Ojonwa stated.
A student of City Royal International Academy, Agbeje Naomi, stated that, ‘As a 12-year-old girl, I now know I can take on the role of leadership at any point in my life. I have learnt a lot about the challenges other girls face when trying to have access to education and from this training exercise. I know I can now contribute in doing something about it’.
The Chief Executive of CODE, Hamzat Lawal, stressed that this will be a beginning phase for the young women activist. ‘It is important for young women and girls to take leadership roles in ensuring girls have more access to education. Girls have so much potential to contribute to sustainable development and with the combined efforts of dedicated female champions, every girl can have that chance of going to school, which helps her grow into a powerful and independent person that can change the world’.
‘With the right tools in engaging our communities and policy makers, we would reduce numbers the out of school children and drive demand for quality education in Nigeria. This is why we shared with them our Education Budget Tracker, a web-based mobile tool with SMS integrated to track government and international aid spending as an incentive to hold government to account on providing access to quality education in Nigeria’, said Lawal.
At the end of the two days of training, participants came to a consensus to act more on data advocacy and information for girl child education and also agreed to work together as a team to reduce all barriers to girls’ education in Nigeria.
