Ford Foundation: Protecting the girl child

The Nomadic Education Commission was the first to organize a one day advocacy event at Arewa House Kaduna on May 4, 2014. It was attended by all officials in charge of nomadic education in the northwest, northeast, northwest and riverine states with nomadic fishermen. In his opening remarks, the Executive Secretary of the Commission, Professor […]

The Nomadic Education Commission was the first to organize a one day advocacy event at Arewa House Kaduna on May 4, 2014. It was attended by all officials in charge of nomadic education in the northwest, northeast, northwest and riverine states with nomadic fishermen. In his opening remarks, the Executive Secretary of the Commission, Professor Rashid Aderinoye welcomed participants and stressed the importance of all stakeholders participating in all strategies to fund and implement nomadic education for our population.
The Governor of Kaduna state, Alhaji  Muktar Ramalan Yero stressed the importance of girl child education and reemphasized his government’s commitment to nomadic education and in particular the gender perspective of education. Mrs Hannatu Ahmed Yero, a gender consultant, any humble self were commissioned as resource persons for the meeting. My presentation focused on the Gender in Nigeria Study conducted by Nigerian consultants and supported by the UK Department for International Development DFID and British Council in 2012. I also shared the outcome of a tribunal on girl child education set up by civil society organisations led by Change Managers, an Abuja based NGO. In our communiqué, we urged government at federal, states and local government levels to do more in order to achieve Universal Basic Education and attain gender parity in education in Nigeria. Many girls are out of school for no fault of theirs. Some of them found themselves in difficult situations as a result of being orphaned or through the divorce of their parents. Others are out of school because of poverty of their parents. It is the responsibility of government to protect such children who are in need.
The Tribunal also drew attention to the fact that ‘In 2000, the international community committed to achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the year 2015.’ Two of the goals specifically relate to education: MDG 2 focuses on universal primary education and MDG 3 aims to reduce the gender gap in education.  While notable progress has been made in the category of enrolment, much progress is still needed, especially in addressing gender parity and quality of education that addresses socio-economic needs.
 Hannatu’s presentation also focused on the gender perspective of education and both presentations made recommendations. The one day advocacy provided an opportunity for education advocates to review progress made, identify constraints and share experiences of best practices.
     The second girl child event held in Abuja on May 16 2014 at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel. It was organised by the Ford Foundation to review education activities it is funding across West Africa. The event also provided a forum for stakeholders in development work to meet the visiting President of the Ford Foundation Darren Walker. Professor Friday Okonofua, the Programme Officer at the foundation served as the moderator of the event, identifying speakers and controlling time allotted for presentations.  In his welcome remarks, the Representative of Ford Foundation West Africa Mr. Innocent Chukwuma welcomed all participants. He observed that the Foundation was working on providing social protection for our girls but the abduction of the 276 Chibok girls has added a new dimension to the challenges faced by development workers. He said the abduction of the girls should be addressed squarely without introducing politics into it.
In her speech, the Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Zainab Maina, said the Ministry is the mechanism for promoting survival, development and protection of children and the society. The Minister also informed participants that the federal government has established a Task Force on Girl Child and the Ministry is collaborating with UNICEF to carry out a survey on violence against girl child. She expressed the Ministry’s commitment to partner with development organisations to implement projects that will benefit the girl child and the citizens of the country. There were paper presentations from three resource persons. Mr Abdoulaye Diallo, the General Secretary of the West African Civil Society Forum WACSOF presented a paper titled Regional Initiatives and Partnerships for Addressing Early Marriage in West Africa. The second presentation was made by my humble self and it was titled   Emerging Issues In Protecting the Girl Child in West Africa while the third paper was presented by Dr Dayo Adeyanju, the Commissioner of Health in Ondo State.
My paper highlighted the fact that in Nigeria, the culture of tolerating child marriage has denied education to hundreds of thousands of underage girls over several decades. Now those who rise above these and are brave enough to seek education are abducted from schools. The unfolding tragedy in Chibok is presenting us with additional challenges in protecting our girls. Schools are supposed to be safe spaces for learning and development. The Boko Haram insurgency has changed that. The paper underscored the fact that as the meeting was going on, 234 schools girls were abducted by Boko Haram insurgents April 14 2014 from their school in Chibok, Borno State and one month gone, they were yet to be rescued.
Statistics shows correlation between marriage of underage girls and low girl child education, multiple adolescent pregnancy and high maternal and child mortality. Ten North Eastern and North Western States topped the list of states with highest forced marriage of underage girls with between 38% and 65% of underage girls forced into ‘marriage’.
The paper explored what the Forum of African Women Educationist FAWE is doing across West Africa to improve girls’ education and empowering women to sustain such initiatives.
In Nigeria, the projects being implemented by a consortium of NGOs supported by the Ford Foundation was also discussed. They are all implementing projects to promote girl child education and delay the age of marriage.
The presentation by the Ondo State Commissioner for Health shared the pioneering work the state is doing in promoting maternal and child health under ABIYE and in particular offering adolescent friendly health services.
The closing remark was presented by President of Ford Foundation, Darren Walker who observed the passion, anger and concern in the presentations by the three resource persons and need to address poverty which is an underlying cause of some of the problems faced by the girl child. He stressed the commitment of the Foundation to supporting development projects across West Africa and expressed hope that the abducted Chibok girls will be rescued. He rounded up the meeting with a message of solidarity the ‘Chibok girls are Nigerians but they belong to the world.” Participants had a fruitful interactive session before the event ended.