African Centre for Leadership, Strategy, and Development (CentreLSD), in partnership with Malala Fund, has presented exercise books, schoolbags and sandals to 317 deserving schoolgirls in Adamawa State, northeast Nigeria.

The items were presented to schoolgirls under the Community-Led Collective Action for Girls Education (C-CAGE) project in the state.

The three-year C-CAGE project is aimed at strengthening systems and cultural norms that encourage girl-child enrolment and retention in public primary and secondary schools in Adamawa’s Song, Numan, and Maiha local government areas (LGA).

Development Diaries had reported that CentreLSD and Malala Fund teamed up to address the root causes of barriers to girl-child education in the northern state of Adamawa.

The population of out-of-school children in Nigeria is over 13 million, the highest in the world, according to a survey conducted by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF).

Statistics from the UN agency show that 69 percent of these children are in Nigeria’s northern region, and 60 percent of them are girls.

The development partners, CentreLSD and Malala Fund, had in 2019 established seven safe spaces in the LGAs. A combined total of 63,161 girls in the LGAs were out of school at the time, according to CentreLSD.

Now, the project, according to a statement from CentreLSD, has recorded successes including the enrolment of 910 girls in schools and the establishment of 16 safe spaces for girls to learn basic numeracy and vocational skills.

The safe spaces named, in Hausa, Masu Son Ilimi, which translates into English as Lovers of Education, were set up to provide opportunities for girls to engage in several empowerment activities, including the acquisition of basic literacy, numeracy and vocational skills.

Source: CentreLSD

Photo source: CentreLSD