Essay Topic

The role of the Nigerian government and society in promoting women’s equal participation and leadership in political and public life.

Eligibility

Girls in secondary schools in Nigeria

Guidelines & Submission

All essays must:

• Contain a cover page containing the student’s full name, age, class, school name, phone number, email address, and state of residence.
• Be written in English language
• Not less than 700 words and not more than 1,000 words
• Be the original work of the applicant

Submission

Essays should be submitted to essays@hacey.org on or before 6:00pm on Friday 15^th September, 2023.

Notification and Announcement of Winners

Finalists will be notified by September 18^th, 2023 and winners will be announced and awarded at the 11^th International Day of the Girl Child Conference in Lagos State.

Prizes

1^st – Laptop & N200,000

2^nd – N100,000 and other consolation prizes

3^rd – N50,000 and other consolation prizes

The post 2023 International Day of the Girl Child Call For Essay Competition appeared first on HACEY.

The Safe space summer fellowship program is a non-residential leadership and self-development camp targeted at providing 100 teenage girls (aged 15 -19) with skills, knowledge and support to improve their health, socio-economic outcomes and self-development. Core content of the fellowship will focus on sexual and reproductive health and rights, mental health, life skills, entrepreneurship, advocacy. The fellowship program will include a 5-day in-person ‘camp’ sessions during school summer break; monthly physical and virtual workshops to provide support and training for fellows throughout the program cycle. Key aspects of the fellowship include life skills and capacity building training, knowledge exchange sessions, mentoring, and community volunteering. 100 girls will be selected to participate in the fellowship and complete the program as girl empowerment champions after which they will receive certificates of completion. After completion of the fellowship, the girls, “Girl Empowerment Champions”, would continue as peer educators promoting health, mental health and leadership information in their communities and schools.

Do you want to become a girl empowerment champion?

Do you want to build your knowledge and skills in digital technology, financial literacy, sexual and reproductive health, and essential life skills? 

Do you meet any of the following criteria?

Aged 15 – 19 years

Currently, in a public or private senior secondary school

Possess at least average literacy and numeracy skills

A member of any community or school-based group/club

A resident of Ikorodu or Ibeju – lekki Local Government Area, Lagos

Have a mobile phone and WhatsApp number

Then here is an opportunity for you to join a 5-day training workshop for teenage girls.

Workshop Dates: 22nd – 26th, 2022

To apply:

Write a 200-word essay telling us about yourself and how your participation in the program will benefit other girls, and your community.

Include the following information on the cover page of your application

Full name, Age, class, school name, phone number, guardian phone number, email address, and Local government area).

Submission

Applications should be submitted to pave@hacey.org on or before 3:00pm on Tuesday 16th August, 2022

For more information, call Chioma on 08169356639

The post Platform For Amplifying The Voice And Empowerment of Girls appeared first on HACEY.

Lack of quality information, capacity building, counseling, and mentoring often resort in poor development for the girl child, which in turn hampers development in many countries, leaving them with less access to opportunities and less power over their own destiny. Restrictions on access to education and opportunities for women’s health and well-being perpetuate a generational cycle of poverty. It is imperative that we invest in the girl child by conceiving and implementing strategic programs that promote their growth, health, and well-being.

Safe space is a place where people can be themselves without fear of being harassed, bullied, or otherwise harmed, and where they can express themselves without fear of being judged or ridiculed. For girls, safe spaces are especially important because they provide a welcoming and empowering setting to develop the necessary knowledge and skills for a bright future.

Our PAVE for Girls program which is to be implemented in two local government areas (LGAs) in Lagos state: Ikorodu and Lekki, will engage and empower the girl child. Due to the fact that the primary health facilities in the project locations are most times not youth-friendly, this may create a barrier to access sexual and reproductive health care services and may lead to increased unfavorable outcomes such as pregnancy at a young age. We solicit the participation and cooperation of girls, educational institutions, and other important community organizations (including community leaders).

viding access to resources (human and information) on mental, sexual, and reproductive health and rights for adolescent girls is one of our project’s main goals. It also aims to empower girls to make their own decisions and take advantage of opportunities by providing life-skills training, mentorship, and information on financial literacy and vocational training.

Please visit our website, hacey.org, for additional information on the PAVE for Girls Project.

Written By:

Michael Adegboye

The post PAVE For Girls Project: Empowering And Amplifying The Voices Of The Girl Child Copy appeared first on HACEY.

Lack of quality information, capacity building, counseling, and mentoring often resort in poor development for the girl child, which in turn hampers development in many countries, leaving them with less access to opportunities and less power over their own destiny. Restrictions on access to education and opportunities for women’s health and well-being perpetuate a generational cycle of poverty. It is imperative that we invest in the girl child by conceiving and implementing strategic programs that promote their growth, health, and well-being.

Safe space is a place where people can be themselves without fear of being harassed, bullied, or otherwise harmed, and where they can express themselves without fear of being judged or ridiculed. For girls, safe spaces are especially important because they provide a welcoming and empowering setting to develop the necessary knowledge and skills for a bright future.

Our PAVE for Girls program which is to be implemented in two local government areas (LGAs) in Lagos state: Ikorodu and Lekki, will engage and empower the girl child. Due to the fact that the primary health facilities in the project locations are most times not youth-friendly, this may create a barrier to access sexual and reproductive health care services and may lead to increased unfavorable outcomes such as pregnancy at a young age. We solicit the participation and cooperation of girls, educational institutions, and other important community organizations (including community leaders).

viding access to resources (human and information) on mental, sexual, and reproductive health and rights for adolescent girls is one of our project’s main goals. It also aims to empower girls to make their own decisions and take advantage of opportunities by providing life-skills training, mentorship, and information on financial literacy and vocational training.

Please visit our website, hacey.org, for additional information on the PAVE for Girls Project.

Written By:

Michael Adegboye

The post PAVE For Girls Project: Empowering And Amplifying The Voices Of The Girl Child appeared first on HACEY.

Education is the process by which an individual gains knowledge, comes to realize his or her potentialities, and makes use of those potentialities for the purpose of self-actualization, so that they can be useful to themselves and others. It is a method for keeping the culture of the society alive, passing it down to future generations, and enhancing it.

Providing mental, moral, and intellectual guidance to a young lady is what we mean when we talk about educating her. Education is a fundamental human right, and it should be made available to every girl child. It is impossible to place enough emphasis on how essential education is for the development of a young lady. Education is of the utmost importance in both the ethereal and the more material aspects of the human experience. It is the light that reveals the path by dispelling the shadows cast by ignorance. It is the salt that imparts the flavor of life. It is the medicine that heals. And it is the key that unlocks doors. The greatest gifts that can be bestowed upon a girl child are the opportunities to “be educated” and “to educate others.”

  According to the native traditional philosophy, a woman’s place is in the kitchen of her husband, and the primary focus of her role is within the confines of her own home. This belief has prevented a great number of young women from pursuing an education.

When a girl is forced into marriage at a very young age, her right as a human being is violated, and she is also deprived of her right to education. If a girl’s husband does not give her the opportunity to go to school, she is doomed to spend the rest of her life illiterate. Researchers have found that increasing access to education for women is essential for the growth of nations, and that the importance of women’s participation in society cannot be overstated. There is a common saying that goes: “When you educate a man, you educate one; when you educate a woman, you educate a nation.” This is the case due to the fact that the education of every child begins within the family, and the mother is the child’s first teacher. Girls who receive education are more likely to become educated mothers who, in turn, are more likely to educate their own children, care for their families, and provide for their children.

Therefore, educating the girl child translates to better health for the future generations, a reduction in child mobility and mortality, and consequently triggering a snowball effect of achieving all other sustainable development goals in a viable manner. Education for the girl child also helps prepare her for the challenges that she will face in society and teaches her how to be a responsible wife and mother. She discovers that she can be whoever and whatever she wants to be as a result of her education, which allows her to realize the full potentials that have been endowed in her. She would shatter the barrier of her own ignorance and open the door to her own self-discovery with the help of education. It is imperative that the Child’s Right Act be expanded upon and made mandatory in every state. The prevention of child abuse without discrimination will be greatly aided by this measure. When it comes to providing a valuable pipeline for the “educated girl child” to be transformed into women who will be agents of national transformation, policymakers need to create an environment that is conducive to increasing gender participation and making gender participation more equal.

Through our PAVE for Girls program we have assisted a lot of young girls to maximize their potential especially in the area of education. Visit www. Hacey.org for more.

Written By:

Michael Adegboye

The post Increased Access to Education for The Girl Child As Prerequisite For National Growth appeared first on HACEY.

We would like to focus on young girls’ rights and the unique challenges they face throughout Africa. Millions of African girls continue to be denied fundamental rights and face enormous life challenges. These issues include education, nutrition, legal representation, medical care; discrimination protection; and violence against child marriage. In Nigeria, the girl child faces challenges such as gender discrimination, gender-based labour division, female genital mutilation, early marriage, a lack of education, and sexual abuse.

 However, some of these issues are more prevalent in some areas of Nigeria than others. A girl child from Northern Nigeria faces more difficulties than her southern counterpart (Obioma Evelyn Agoziem, The Guardian Newspaper, 2015). She has a higher propensity to skip school; it is simple to marry her off at age 11, because of this, many girls have been exposed to Vesico-Vagina Fistula (VVF) problems, and some have become socially isolated due to the disease’s nature.

To this end, there is a need to provide more opportunities for African girl children and raise awareness of the girl child’s unfairness. This includes, among other things, providing quality education, constitutional rights, protection against discrimination, and the abolition of child marriage and female genital mutilation. Girl children should be given equal rights and be allowed to pursue their dreams without feeling marginalized simply for being female and speaking up for themselves.

In addition, girl children have a right to education. This is because an educated girl is more likely to increase her personal earning potential, prepare for productivity and fulfilment, and reduce poverty in society. An African proverb states that “educating a boy educates an individual, but educating a girl child educates a community.” With this, we can confidently assert that the girl child has a vital role in developing our continent, and there is a need to tap into these resources. These resources can be fully utilized if a healthy environment for the girl child to live and thrive is provided.

We hope to see a continent where African girls will live in their different countries where they are not judged, equal opportunities are provided to all children regardless of gender, female genital mutilation is abolished, and girls are given the right to live freely and become whatever they want without being oppressed or neglected. We hope to see a family where the girl child is given the same freedom and opportunities as the boy child, a society where the girl children are not scared of expression, denied opportunity, belittled, trampled upon, or relegated to second place, just because they are girls. A girl child must be coached and taught proper values to improve her self-esteem.

A girl child must be nurtured, cherished, and loved. A girl child must be told repeatedly that she is valuable. Her parents, caregivers, governments, and society owe this to her. A girl child must be confident in her future! And that can only happen in the right and safe environment, where she can be herself, where she can dream without fear, where she can spread her wings and soar, where she can be boundless!

We provide that space for girls via our PAVE for Girls project. Visit www. Hacey.org for more information.

Written By: Mercy Kalu

The post Special Consideration: Elimination of Harmful Practices Affecting Girl Child appeared first on HACEY.

The continuous increase in unemployment in Nigeria is very alarming. The unemployment rate put at 27.1 per cent and the underemployment rate at 28.6 per cent has a direct link with the poor standard of living. Of course, a more significant percentage of the unemployed and underemployed population in Nigeria today are the youths being economically active population. Some of the factors responsible for this situation are overpopulation, lack of political will, lack of basic social amenities especially in rural areas, poor quality of education, lack of employable skills, corruption, poor implementation of development programs amongst others. 

Unemployment has lured several youths into engaging in activities that appear to them to be the easiest source of livelihood and means of satisfying their wants. This anomic situation is usually a result of their inability to meet their basic needs through legitimate means. This is evident in youths’ participation in illicit activities ranging from armed robbery, pick-pocketing, political thuggery, ballot box snatching, kidnappings, drug abuse, and vandalization (The Centre for Public Policy Alternatives, 2016; Ukwayi, Pius and Ojong-Ejoh, 2017).

It is imperative to acknowledge the government’s efforts in addressing the unemployment problem in Nigeria through the implementation of different social intervention programmes. Some of these programmes include Youth Enterprise with Innovation in Nigeria (YOU-WIN), the SURE-P Technical Vocational Education, Graduate Internship Scheme (GIS), and Training Programme (TVET), Youth Employment in Agriculture Programme (YEAP), N-Power, Government Economic Empowerment Program (GEEP), and the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT). However, the questions that we should ask ourselves are; are these programmes designed based on needs assessment? Who are the principal beneficiaries? How are the recipients selected? To what extent have these programmes reduced youths’ unemployment? Can we confidently say that these programmes have empowered youths?

The present administration needs to review its current empowerment programmes targeted at reducing unemployment among youths. The government should involve the youth in redesigning the programmes, prioritizing areas of interventions based on needs assessment, developing measurable indicators and putting in place mechanisms to ensure effective implementation of the programmes. Their participation will enhance the development process, especially in taking ownership, improve their productivity and quality of life.

For more information, read here and here.

The post The Role of Government in Youth Empowerment appeared first on HACEY.

Today, we celebrate all girls all over the world. The United Nations declared the International Day of Girl Child to amplify the voices of young girls worldwide and increase awareness of issues faced by them. According to the United Nations, achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment is an integral part.

To this end, HACEY Health Initiative has conducted a safe space (leadership and health) workshop. 30 girls were trained at the workshop, with knowledge on sexual and reproductive health, financial management, career development, life building and digital skills to strengthen their capacity to make informed decisions regarding their health and productivity. In the end, the girls were empowered with information, technical skill and resources crucial to amplify their voices and advance their rights.

HACEY Health Initiative has hosted 100 secondary school girls to a 1-day career-building exercise with women in management positions across diverse fields to celebrate this day. The mentoring exercise took place at Johnson and Johnson, Stag Engineering, Havana, Banwo & Ighodalo and Nensis Engineering. The mentoring exercise provided the girls with a better understanding of their chosen career path and insights on educational qualifications, technical skills and personal development.  

The winner of the annual 2021 International Day of the Girl Child Essay competition has been announced. The essay competition encourages critical thinking towards proffering solutions to girl child issues in Nigeria. The top ten finalists have been awarded cash prizes and other consolation prizes. The first three were awarded a laptop & N50,000, N30,000 and other consolation prizes, and N20,000 and other consolation prizes, respectively.

Speaking on the health and productivity of women and girls, here’s an interview with a beneficiary of the HACEY Health education scheme. He is an advocate for the Girl Child. Watch what Lawal Aisha and her father, Mr Lawal Rasaq had to say here:

This project successfully reached over 200, 000 young girls with information on health and leadership thereby amplifying their voices in society, creating a healthy and productive environment for them. It also helped promote the rights of girls to education, health, and economic empowerment in Nigeria as well as created a conducive platform for young girls to lead a healthy and productive life. 

In the end, 100 young girls were enlightened on the specific characteristics of preferred career, requirements, and available career opportunities and 10 young girls were inducted into the HACEY girls’ advisory board.

Written by Tomiyin Ayibiowu.

Read more about our work here. Follow us on our social media.

The post International Day of the Girl: Empowering leaders of tomorrow appeared first on HACEY.

Let’s look at Grace’s story (real name withheld). At 17, Grace got admission to the great University of Lagos to study Medicine & Surgery. Grace was excited to move with her Uncle in Lagos, away from her parents, because she heard Lagos was fun. Uncle Gbade, a single working-class man who lived in a rented apartment, was happy to receive Grace. However, two weeks upon arrival, the COVID-19 lockdown was announced, and Grace and Uncle Gbade were locked in the apartment. 

One day, while Grace was making dinner for the two of them, Uncle Gbade walked behind and started caressing her. Grace became uncomfortable and warded him off, but Uncle Gbade wouldn’t desist from her. He eventually raped her several times.

Grace found out she was pregnant three weeks later and didn’t know what to do. She was ignorant about her sexual and reproductive health rights. She finally decided to tell Uncle Gbade about the growing pregnancy. Uncle Gbade would not take it, and he took her to a quack doctor who attempted to remove the fetus. Grace lost her life in the process as a result of ignorance. If she knew better, she would have done better.

Twenty-five years after the (ICPD) 1994 aimed at addressing issues of human rights, population, sexual and reproductive health, many challenges still remain. Too many young people are being left behind on intimate partner or sexual violence.

A range of social, cultural, political, and economic factors and inequalities strongly influences an adolescent’s sexual and reproductive health (SRH). For example, family planning information and services are often tailored specifically for married women. When a young woman asks questions about SRH, she is often frowned at and perceived as promiscuous or immoral.

These factors increase vulnerability to SRH risks (e.g., unsafe sex, sexual coercion) and pose barriers to accessing SRH services. 

Globally, young girls and women have been at the receiving end of the unprecedented challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic presented. Like many other services, the availability and accessibility to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services were impacted negatively, causing distress, anxiety and fear among women and girls. 

“During the COVID-19 lockdown in April, May and June 2020, there was a reduction in uptake of family planning services compared to January, February and March when there was no restriction”. – Reports from Adolescent and Youth-friendly centres in Lagos State.

Conclusively, in addressing the underlying determinants of the Adolescent and Young people’s sexual reproductive health and rights, it is imperative to work with various stakeholders such as parents, community members, and policymakers. Also, it is a matter of urgency that every nation promotes the digitalization of their health system. This will ensure that everyone has unlimited access to health information and services irrespective of their location, especially in the event of another global epidemic. 

Sexual Right is a Human Right! 

ICPD – International Conference on Population and Development.

Written by Kemi Omole.

Edited by Tomiyin Ayibiowu.

The post The Role of Stakeholders In Improvement of Young People’s Awareness of Sexual and Reproductive Health appeared first on HACEY.

The role of the Nigerian Government and society in achieving gender equality in Nigeria.

Eligibility 

Secondary school girls aged 9 – 18 in Nigeria 

Application Period 

August 20th – September 30th, 2021 

Guidelines & Submission 

All essays must: 

• Contain a cover page containing the student’s full name, school name, class, email address, state of residence and phone number.
• Be written in English language. 
• Not exceed 1000 words. 
• Be the original work of the applicant. 

Submission 

Essays should be submitted to essays@hacey.org on or before 6:00 pm on September 16th, 2021. 

Notification and Announcement of Winners

Finalists will be notified by October 1st, 2021 and winners will be announced and awarded at the 10th International Day of the Girl Child Conference in Lagos State. 

Prizes 

1st – Laptop & N50,000

2nd – N30,000 and other consolation prizes

3rd – N20,000 and other consolation prizes

Other consolation prizes to be won by finalists.

The post 2021 International Day of the Girl Child Essay Competition appeared first on HACEY.