New Socio-Economic Empowerment Project Enrolls Marginalized Girls in Lagos

In response to findings from a recently concluded study to document the educational, health and socio-economic contexts of out-of-school adolescent girls living within slum areas in Lagos State, this new pilot socio-economic empowerment project is being launched in Iwaya Community of Lagos State. Four hundred and eighty (480) out-of-school adolescent girls who have been unable to take advantage of the Lagos State Government’s free universal basic education programme for varying reasons, were interviewed in a research conducted by Action Health Incorporated (AHI) in Iwaya, one of the over 40 communities designated as blighted or slum areas by the Lagos State Urban Renewal Authority. Many of the girls whose families currently live in conditions of abject poverty, were found to be suffering multiple socio-economic deprivations and continue to be exposed to risky sexual behaviour as a means of survival.

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To address this situation, 108 of the out-of school girls have been identified to benefit from the pilot phase of this initiative in which they will be enrolled in varying programme options that include formal education, non-formal education and vocational skills acquisition under a collaborative partnership involving contributions from the community members and relevant state government agencies.

Specifically, 37 of the girls who are 10-14 years old will be enrolled for primary education with the goal of preparing them for admission to secondary school. AHI along with Iwaya Community Leaders have also identified accredited hairdressing and beauty salons and tailoring businesses n the community where the other 71 the girls aged between 15-19 years will be enrolled in apprenticeship programmes to gain marketable skill for financial independence. In addition to the apprenticeship, the Lagos State Government Agency for Mass Education will be supporting the 71 girls to acquire basic literacy by setting up evening classes within the Iwaya waterside, providing learning materials and workbooks, as well as paying the instructors’ monthly salaries.

For us at AHI, the goal of the project is to reduce their current multiple vulnerabilities by building the 108 girls’ personal, social and socio-economic capacities to enable them attain self-actualizing adulthood. AHI also hopes that the lessons learnt from this pilot phase will help to inform effective low-cost strategies that the government and other stakeholders in the private sector can use to address the problems facing marginalized adolescent girls on a larger scale in the numerous blighted communities across Lagos State.

A Call to Action

We at AHI are convinced that girls are assets and resources. They do not have to be liabilities. They have the potential to end poverty for themselves and their communities if we will just decide to commit to investing in their development. Unfortunately, a girl born into poverty is her family’s infrastructure and insurance policy. She is the water carrier, the wood gatherer and the caretaker of the young, old and sick. However, if we give her a chance equation will shift.