Tabitha Cumi Foundation with support from the Australian Government launched the Girl’s Safety Initiative with the aim of providing security awareness, peace building, conflict resolution, life building skills, mentorship, etc. on the weekend in Abuja. The Girls Safety Initiative also aims at addressing some of the multiplicity of challenges facing girls education and widening access to education for girls.
At the
launch of the initiative in Abuja, the Executive Director of the Tabitha Cumi
Foundation, Mrs. Adetayo Erinle said the project was conceived as a result of
the state of insecurity in the country which has been unsafe and insecure for
young women and girls who have been the most affected of the security
challenges facing the nation.
“The country
is insecure and girls have been the prime targets. Many of these girls stay in
communities that are underserved on the outskirts where accommodation is
relatively cheaper than the city. These communities have been found to be
places where people who migrate to from other places can stay for a while
quietly before they launch out to do whatever they want to do. These girls are
usually the first targets,” Mrs. Erinle said.
“We have
brought out these girls to teach them about their environment, security, how
they can identify strangers in the community, how they can know what to do when
they notice suspicious activities or persons. Besides these points mentioned, in
many communities, there are so many isolated areas where girls have been
violated and nothing has been done about it. They can’t speak out, sometimes
nobody become away and most often, these experiences affect their lives.”
“These girls
have also been brought together to learn life building skills so that they can
grow beyond their environments because we have found that it is not as if these
girls are dull, what they lack is opportunity. If they have the same
opportunities the ones in the city have, they can become whatever they desire
to be and more in the future. Because they don’t have the high fences and
security that protect the girls in the city, we don’t want them neglected but
to have safe places within their communities.”
“These girls
have had a wonderful time with their facilitators and have done well through
the learning process and I believe that if they take their knowledge back to
other girls in their communities, in time, we would have developed hundreds of
girls with these life building skills,” Mrs. Erinle also said.
With the
Girls Safety Initiative Campaign, Tabitha Cumi Foundation aims to create Girls
Clubs in five communities across the Federal Capital Territory to support over
300 girls and young women to provide them with a safe place to grow, learn,
have fun and develop confidence in themselves and their ability to stand out
and make a difference.
The launch
of the initiative signified the end of a three-day training workshop for 50
girls selected to be peer educators and leaders of the Girls Clubs. The girls
who have learnt valuable life skills about safety, security, family and health,
society and culture are expected to take the shills back to their communities
and pass it on to other girls through their clubs.
The
Australian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Jonathan Richardson, said, “The
Government of Australia has a steadfast and ongoing commitment to be at the
forefront of women and girls empowerment through our development assistance
program. The right for girls to learn and develop in safety is one of the most
basic ones we hold dear both in Australia and Nigeria,” he said.
Mr.
Richardson was appointed one of the Girls Safety Ambassadors for the High
Commission’s support for the project.
According to Mr. Richardson, the project is one of the 21 projects the
High Commission has supported over the last one year alone which he said is
worth a total of approximately 110 million naira.
The
supported projects by the High Commission were funded across a wide range of
fields including education, agriculture, health, good governance, water and
sanitation. According to Richardson, the Development Assistance Program of the
Australian High Commission was designed to help the most vulnerable in the
society, including those displaced by conflict in the North-East, people living
with disabilities, women and girls.
Awards were
presented to personalities at the launch, including representatives from the
Ministry of Women Affairs, Ministry of Education, Civil Society Coalition on
Education for All (CSACEFA), and popular radio personality, Ahmed Isa,
Hembelembe crooner. The recognitions were given to the awardees for their
support for the education of the girl-child and young women in the F.C.T.,
Nigeria and the Diaspora.
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