- The first phase targets 1,395 girls, aged 10 to 19, aiming to equip them with valuable life skills
The Katsina government has finalized plans to mentor and train 4,000 out-of-school girls in vocational skills. Kabir Nadada, the focal person for the girl child education and child development department at UNICEF, revealed this in an interview on Friday.
The initiative, conducted in partnership with the state government and UNICEF under the Reaching and Empowering Adolescent Girls in Northwest Nigeria (REACH) project, will enroll girls in Rimi, Mani, and Katsina LGAs.
The first phase targets 1,395 girls, aged 10 to 19, aiming to equip them with valuable life skills.
“Girls of age 15 to 19 would be trained on vocational skills and those of 10 to 14 would be provided the opportunity to have access to formal education,” Nadada said.
“A total of 8,750 girls as reported using the Child Protection Information Management System (CPIMs) had been verified and documented as out-of-school adolescent girls in the state.
“This drew our attention for prompt action.”
Nadada explained that the goal of the programme is to increase girls’ knowledge, nutrition and menstrual health hygiene; and also encourage communities to demonstrate increased awareness and support for the girl child rights to education.
“The programme will also increase access to survivor-centered services, prevention from violence and harmful practices,” he said.
He added that the programme had so far reached about 4,000 community members through dialogue, community-based structure and mentorship to support social behavioural change (SBC) interventions.