UNICEF, Others Partner To Promote Digital Skills Among Girls

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and Generation Unlimited (GenU) have partnered Yaba College of Technology (Yabatech) to bridge learning, digital connectivities and skills gaps in girls.

The partnership is through Girls Education Skills Partnership (GESP) programme.

At a tour of GESP Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Hub, Yabatech, and Computer Village, Ikeja, Urmila Sarkar, Principal Adviser at GenU Secretariat, New York, U.S., said there were many girls yet to have access to digital activities.

The GESP programme provides a platform to empower girls with digital skills and opportunities in developing countries.

One of the projects under this programme is training of girls in Yabatech to develop mobile and web apps.

The training also gives the girls practical knowledge on mobile phone and computer repairs and maintenance at the Computer Village, Ikeja.

It aims to provide one million young women within the ages of 13 years and 24 years with high quality and market-relevant skills to enable them to become employable and entrepreneurial.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that, at the three-month programme in GESP ICT Hub in Yabatech, a tuition-free daily training accommodates 50 female students in each of the three sections.

Sarkar said that the global multi-sector organisation advanced and connected young people to skills and opportunities with a special focus on reaching the most marginalised young women.

According to her, there are many adolescent females, who have urgent need for skills and opportunities to seek livelihoods.

`’Youth unemployment and skills challenge are among the greatest challenges of our time, and critical to socio-economic development, globally.

“That is the reason we need to ensure that young men and women are on equal footing when it comes to skills and pursing their livelihoods.

“Creating enabling environment for equal opportunities for young people will go a long way to overcome the barriers that young women face in Nigeria,” she added.

She expressed delight at the GESP programme in Yabatech.

“Today in the world, one in five young people are neither in education, training nor in employment, and twice of these are young women.

“It is important for GenU, UNICEF and other public partners to eliminate these barriers and ensure that these young women have equal opportunities with their male counterparts,” she said.

Similarly, Phoebe Hill, Team Leader, Higher Education and Skills of Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), a donor to the programme, said that the United Kingdom was passionate about education of girls.

” We fund projects like this through UNICEF, and we are impressed by the teachers’ dedication and the commitment of the girls to the programme,” Hill said.

Earlier, Dr Abdul Ibraheem, Rector of Yabatech, expressed delight at the initiative, saying that learning was not limited to the classroom.

He said, “This initiative is also bringing to the fore, gender responsive pedagogy in terms of training the girls, and we are happy about it as the girls will be able to graduate from learning to earning on their own.

“By extension, some of them will be going to the Computer Village so that they can identify the areas where they will focus on.

“There are young people roaming the streets; if you make them to see reason for the empowerment, they will key into it,” the rector said.

A participant at the programme, Miss Chidera Eneje, applauded UNICEF and the other partners for the support.