By Martha Agas
Malala Yousafzai, Co-founder of the Malala Fund, says Nigeria is a top priority country in Fund’s projects.
The Nobel Laureate stated this while speaking to newsmen at the Fund’s high-level stakeholder event, themed: “Partners in Change: Shaping the Future of Girls’ Education Together” in Abuja.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Malala and her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, co-founder of the Malala fund, are in Nigeria to meet with its Board of Directors.
The visit is aimed at advancing its priorities on girls’ education in Nigeria, which include ensuring that married and pregnant girls could return to school.
Other priorities also include increasing education financing to meet girls’ needs and using education as a policy solution to end child marriage.
According to Malala, Nigeria has the highest number of out-of-school children, which includes girls who share the same dreams and determination as their peers everywhere to learn and build a future for themselves.
“Nigeria is a very important part of Malala Fund’s projects.
“Malala Fund is dedicated to the mission of ensuring that every girl in every part of the world has access to a complete quality education,” she said.
She said that girls education was under threat in many parts of the world, citing Afghanistan where girls were banned from learning by the Taliban.
Malala added that in Nigeria, girls were also facing challenges in accessing education.
She listed the challenges to include school safety, the quality of teaching, forced and child marriages, lack of infrastructure and other socio-economic barriers.
According to her, Malala Fund is committed to ensuring that education serves as a solution to child marriage and forced marriage, while also working on the re-enrollment of girls in schools.
“Girls who have become pregnant, who have become young mothers, who have lost the opportunity of learning that we can work on their re-entry to schools. We cannot leave those girls behind,” she said.
She described girls’ education as an urgent issue, with 120 million girls out of school globally, nearly five million of them in Nigeria.
The situation, she said, reflects the need for a policy change that guarantees every girl 12 years of education with adequate financing.
She said the Malala Fund was seeking increased, transparent, and equitable financing for education, while also advocating that education budgets addressed the specific needs of girls affected by poverty, insecurity and child marriage.
The fund, she added, was securing gender-responsive policies for girls in Nigeria through its partners.
NAN reports that the Fund’s grantees, Invictus Africa, is working with Oyo and Gombe states to incorporate a Gender Responsive Education Budgeting framework into various phases of their education budgets.
Also, another partner, the Centre for Advocacy, Transparency and Accountability Initiative (CATAI) supported Adamawa in developing and unveiling the state’s first gender responsive Policy on Education.
The event featured a fireside chat with policymakers and testimonies from partners.
The Fund received a $500,000 dollar donation from Hauwa Ojeifo, Executive Director of She Writes Woman, through her Global Impact Fund for Women and Girls. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)
Edited by Isaac Ukpoju
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