Girls and women in Nigeria make up to 49% (80.2 million) of the country’s
population of about a 162.5 million and therefore, they cannot be undermined in
the consideration of Nigeria’s future (British Council, 2012:i). Despite the level of
global attention invested in ensuring gender equality in Nigeria through the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and agenda in Africa, girls and women are
still worse-off in Nigeria. Many of them still disproportionately live in poverty even
though 60-79% of the rural workforce are women. Women and girls are still victims or
harmful traditional practices like FGM and face with limited socio-economic
opportunities in comparison to their male counterparts.
“Up to one third of Nigerian women report that they have been subjected to some
form of violence. One in five has experienced physical violence”(ibid). Many also
face various forms of abuse including domestic abuse, sexual abuse and human
trafficking amongst others. In addition, the recent kidnap of over 200 girls in Borno
State, Nigeria by the insurgent terrorist group Boko Haram, further arouse the need
to protect and safeguard girls and women in Nigeria. In ThinkKnowAct Initiatives,
we believe that such advocacy and campaign should significantly engage girls
who are future women of tomorrow as a preventative measure.
Raising Girls is a project designed with the aim to empower girls
between the ages 11 and 17 years old (especially those in secondary
school). We do this by targeting and engaging key stakeholders
including parents, teachers, faith leaders, policy makers, women, men,
boys and girls. We strongly believe that in order to advocate against
those who abuse and undermine the Girl-Child, we have to begin to
address the underling factors that weaken the global competitiveness of
today’s African Girl-Child. This includes addressing the generational
social habits that emasculate and marginalize the African Girl-Child.
Specifically, this project will firstly, empower girls not to see themselves as
victims but as changemakers. Secondly, by re-engaging and resocializing societies on how to interact with the Girl-Child at home, school and work, we hope to disarm harmful social practices and nuances that disempower the Girl-Child today.
Thirdly, we aim to also reengage policymakers to articulate policies and practices that better
protect and safeguard the Girl-Child. The pilot of this project was
recently realized in Nigeria with the focus to empower a hundred (100)
girls through the Raising Girls Workshop.
The Raising Girls Workshop was carried in two secondary schools in Oyo State and Anambra state in Nigeria where we reached out to ninety-nine (99) adolescent girls. Many international organisations tend to limit their scope on similar projects to women in the Northern region of Nigeria. This is mainly due to the belief as well as the fact that women in Northern Nigeria are the most marginalized in the society. As a result, other marginalized women and girls in the
Southern region are often neglected. It is for this reason that we strategically decided to start with the Southern region.
