Through an innovative hybrid learning program that includes catch-up classes and vocational training, girls and boys in Nigeria’s North East region are gaining the skills they need to thrive in the 21st century. The program is delivered by UNICEF and other strategic partners with support from Education Cannot Wait, the global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises within the United Nations.
By Kent Page
She has a name and a dream. Her name is Fatima and her dream is to become a seamstress. And now — through a ground-breaking learning and vocational program delivered by UNICEF with funding from Education Cannot Wait (ECW) in North-East Nigeria — Fatima has a future.
Nine years ago, Fatima and her family were forced to flee their village of Konduga, Borno State. Boko Haram and other armed insurgent groups were terrorizing the Nigerian countryside, kidnapping girls, killing children and burning villages to the ground.
Since 2014, more than 1,600 children have been abducted across northern Nigeria. Fatima was lucky; she was never abducted. But losing her home left her out of school for most of her life.
Now 17, Fatima had never been to school until she was identified through the UNICEF-led hybrid learning program that is providing children with catch-up classes along with vocational training on everything from sewing to soap, body cream and incense production. In fact, Fatima didn’t even know how to write her own name.
Quality education changes lives
Like the 20 million children that are out of school in Nigeria, Fatima would have been just another statistic. A girl without an education or prospects for the future.
“The reason Fatima was not going to school was because we barely had enough to eat at home. Also, we could not afford to pay for school uniforms,” says her mother, Falmata Malam Baba. “But she always wanted to go to school.”
“I got into this vocational school after I heard about it when I went out to sell food,” says Fatima, who spent most of her days selling bean pudding and helping out with household chores. “I immediately kept what I went out to sell, then I got my name registered. Those of us who were not going to school were identified and selected.”
Skills training programs open doors to employment
It’s not only the devastating challenge of being out of school — in crisis contexts, 72 million children are out of school today worldwide — it’s also the challenge of not having access to skills training.
Across the globe, 1 in 4 young people are either out of school, out of a job or out of a training program to help them join the work force. As of today, without additional measures, 300 million students will lack basic literacy and math skills by 2030, and only 1 in 6 countries will achieve the goal for universal secondary education, according to the United Nations.
“Being enrolled in this vocational school has taught me a lot. Before, I could not write my name, but now I can. I can even write in Hausa and read it out,” says Fatima. “Also, I am now familiar with numbers and am able to measure people with tape when I am sewing.”
Fatima is becoming an expert seamstress, which can be a lucrative career for a young woman in Nigeria. “I want to learn this skill so I can make my parents proud and happy,” she says. “When I finish learning, I want to be the one who sews clothes for my siblings for the Sallah Festival.”
Since 2018, ECW and its strategic donor partners have provided more than $23 million in investments in North-East Nigeria. The integrated programming, delivered by UNICEF, the Norwegian Refugee Council, Save the Children and other strategic partners in coordination with the Government of Nigeria, has reached close to half a million children to date.
The education funding gap remains significant in Nigeria, even as the sector faces significant risks – from climate change and forced displacement, to attacks on schools and kidnappings.
To call attention to this forgotten crisis, in February 2024, Dr. Heike Kuhn, Co-Chair of the ECW Executive Committee and Head of Education Division at Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Merete Lundemo, Co-Chair of the ECW Executive Committee and Special Envoy for Education in Crisis and Conflict for Norway’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Yasmine Sherif, ECW Executive Director, undertook a high-level mission to Nigeria and issued a clear, clarion call for increased international funding.
During their mission, they met with victims of gender-based violence, girls with disabilities like Aisha, girls and boys attending school for the first time like Fatima, and high-level representatives from the Government, UNICEF, civil society and other key partners.
An education is something no one can take away from you
“Building resilient education systems for increased access to inclusive, quality and lifelong learning is crucial for Nigeria, as half of its population are children and youth. Educating children means to change their lives, letting them participate in building peaceful sustainable societies. The African Union has just launched the Year of Education 2024 and we are looking forward to advancing education jointly with our partners,” says Dr. Heike Kuhn.
“Education is a lifeline for children living in areas affected by armed conflict. Norway welcomes the strengthened cooperation with Education Cannot Wait to reach the most vulnerable with education in North-East Nigeria. This is part of Norway’s wider engagement for children living in armed conflict. It has been great to see how these education projects bring much needed relief and normalcy to children in this area,” says Merete Lundemo.
ECW Executive Director Yasmine Sherif has become one of the world’s strongest advocates for education in Nigeria. Recently, ECW announced a new grant to the Global Survivors Fund to support the innocent victims of sexual violence in Nigeria.
“Children – especially girls – pay the heaviest price of the horrific violence that has plagued the North-East of Nigeria for more than a decade. Their learning lost and development delayed, they suffer from the trauma of abductions and sexual violence,” says Sherif. “I call on additional strategic donor partners – governments, the private sector, philanthropic foundations and high-net-worth individuals – to join our efforts in mobilizing an additional $600 million to reach our target of $1.5 billion for ECW, allowing our partners to reach, by 2026, a total of 20 million girls and boys in crises affected areas of the world.”
For Fatima and girls like her, the future looks bright.
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