Diversity of ICT for girls in Nigeria

I was reflecting on sharing this here, and I almost forgot to do so. Hello everyone, I’m Omodolapo from Nigeria. I’m the founder of Goal Women Africa, and we also run a sister program for underserved girls in rural communities.

Our work to address the educational gaps these girls face started last year when we launched SAFE Girls, an initiative designed to oversee and report cases of abuse and harassment, which are unfortunately common among girls in secondary schools across rural communities. As we stepped in, it became painfully clear just how dysfunctional the educational system is. To make any meaningful impact during our sessions, we began introducing new curriculums. To our surprise, ICT had never been taught to these girls — even though many of them were already in their final year of secondary school.

The timing wasn’t ideal, and while we jumped in to support them as best we could, a lot of damage had already been done. About 50% of the girls had dropped out and won't be participating in their WAEC or JAMB exams, mostly due to financial challenges and a deep lack of confidence in passing.

For the ones still in school, many are uncertain about what the future holds. But we’ve committed to giving them rigorous preparatory lessons leading up to the exam periods. And for those who won’t be writing exams or who don’t pass, we plan to engage them in a one-year ICT and vocational skills program to keep them active and prevent issues like early pregnancy or child marriage common risks when girls are idle and unengaged.

It’s also worth mentioning that out of over 170 students, only about 50 remain, and of that number, only two can confidently use a computer to type or browse the internet.

We are making progress, and while it can be deeply disheartening at times, we’re not backing down. Every girl reached is a win, and we’re committed to doing even more.