The Centre for Girls’ Education (CGE) has called for the integration of life skills and Safe Space approaches into education policies, curriculum and budgets at both federal and state levels, especially as preparations begin for 2026 budget cycles.
Development Diaries reports that CGE recently presented evidence from its Safe Space model at a high-level dissemination event in Abuja, focused on the economic and social returns of investing in adolescent girls’ education in Northern Nigeria.
The event, titled ‘Simulating the Impact and Economic Returns of Cost-Effective Interventions to Support Adolescent Girls’ Education and Marriage Delay in Northern Nigeria’, was hosted by the Accelerate Research Hub in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Gates Foundation.
It brought together representatives of government, development partners and civil society organisations.
According to a press statement by CGE, new modelling unveiled at the forum estimates that an investment of about $114 million (₦166 billion) in 1.1 million adolescent girls could generate up to $2.5 billion (₦3.6 trillion) in long-term benefits across education, health, protection and economic outcomes.
CGE, which participated as an implementation and data partner, leveraged more than a decade of programme experience through its Adolescent Girls Initiative (in-school) and Pathways to Choice (out-of-school) projects in Northern Nigeria.
Presenting CGE’s implementation experience, the organisation’s Executive Director, Habiba Mohammed, traced the Safe Space model from its beginnings as a community-level intervention in Zaria to its growing use as a reference model for broader policy and programme design.
According to CGE, the Safe Space approach combines mentored girls’ clubs with literacy and numeracy support, life skills training, vocational and economic skills development, and sustained community engagement.
The model is designed to support girls during the years when they are most at risk of school dropout, early marriage and early childbearing.
CGE reported that more than 300,000 girls across nine states have participated in different Safe Space variants, including in-school, out-of-school, preschool, married adolescent and apprenticeship-based vocational programmes.
The organisation cited evidence linking participation to higher rates of secondary school completion and delayed age at marriage.
‘What this investment case confirms in numbers is what communities in Kaduna, Kano and Katsina have observed over time’, Mohammed said.
‘When a girl stays in school and gains skills with family and community support, the benefits extend beyond the individual to the wider community’.
The event also featured a testimony from a CGE alumna from Tsibiri community in Zaria, Sakina Abdulkadir. She recounted how participation in Safe Space sessions and education support enabled her to remain in school and avoid early marriage.
She is now a Monitoring and Evaluation Assistant with CGE and the first female holder of a Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) in her community.
Findings presented at the forum reaffirmed that girls’ education is strongly linked to reduced child marriage, improved health outcomes and higher lifetime earnings.
The analysis also identified out-of-school unmarried girls and in-school girls in key transition classes as groups where targeted interventions deliver particularly strong returns. Speakers stressed that scale-up efforts must be adapted to state-level realities in Northern Nigeria.
The organisation urged governments, donors and community leaders to support coordinated, girl-centred education packages that combine schooling, skills development and community engagement, rather than isolated interventions.
