The Importance Of Women Literacy and Education

https://guardian.ng/features/lagos-moves-to-educate-50000-illiterate-adults-yearly/

Why does it seem that recently, there is a constant emphasis on women development, women empowerment, and women literacy? If I were to hazard a guess, it would be because even in 2021, there is still a gaping divide between male and female rates when it comes to development, literacy, education, politics, and the list goes on. Did you know that women make up more than two-thirds of the world’s 796 million illiterate people? That is a significantly large number. So permit me, for the sake of emphasis, to also join the crowd and highlight why it is incredibly beneficial for both men and women to ensure that women have access to adult literacy and education programs and are encouraged to pursue them.

First off, when we say Women Literacy and Education, what do we mean? Literacy, simply put, means the ability to read and write. The UK National Literacy Trust defines literacy as “the ability to read, write, speak and listen in a way that lets us communicate effectively and make sense of the world”. It may be hard for you who is reading this right now to comprehend what a handicap it must be, to be able not to make sense of the world because you can’t communicate effectively. Imagine not being able to read the news or google WebMD for information on some worrisome symptoms. Something as simple as writing a name or reading a holy book becomes a challenge because of the obstructive barrier of not knowing how to read or write. Unfortunately, literacy for many women in our part of the world is a luxury that they cannot afford. There aren’t that many opportunities to help them pursue adult education. In childhood, male education is often prioritised over female education, which means that a girl grows without those fundamental building blocks and remains at a tremendous disadvantage. So, women literacy and education refer to the programs and initiatives explicitly aimed at women as a disadvantaged group, to equip them with literacy skills through informal and formal adult education with the aim of enriching their lives and helping them develop skills that will benefit them and their families.

Credit: africa – stock.adobe.com
Copyright: ©africa – stock.adobe.com

Why are women literacy and education initiatives so important? I will try and condense my answers into four all-encompassing reasons

Literacy lifts women out of poverty

Studies have shown that a woman has better economic prospects and a greater chance of escaping poverty with just a primary school education. Thus, literacy initiatives and programs create opportunities for women to learn additional skills, be employed, be entrepreneurial and pursue beneficial interests that can support their lives and livelihood. 

Literacy reduces infant mortality rates. 

It is easier for women to know and understand the importance of physical health and adopt safe birthing methods that ensure their children’s lives through acquired literacy skills. They immunise their children because they can understand the value. Studies have shown that infant mortality rates drop remarkably for women who have had primary education and even more for those who complete secondary school. It is estimated that infant mortality decreases 9% for every year of education attained. 

Literacy positively impacts economic growth beyond the local community.

We are a product of our environment, and an environment that is not enabling, especially towards women empowerment, slowly dies. One of the reported side effects of women literacy is how it yields social and economic benefits for the local community. In Nigeria, we see a current trend where youth migrate from rural communities to search for opportunities in large cities. Women education and literacy initiatives have proved to be instrumental in injecting life back into the community, which positively impacts each generation through raised expectations and increased self-esteem. In addition, improving literacy facilitates innovation and creates businesses and revenue streams that benefit both men and women, ultimately contributing to the community’s growth.

Literacy prevents radicalisation and the support for extremist ideologies and perpetuation of violent acts. 

Numerous findings on the spread of radicalisation among women have shown that the largest group of women vulnerable to extremism are the poor, the under-educated and the socially excluded. In Nigeria, we have seen this trend with women being used to facilitate the terrorist actions of the Boko Haram sect. However, when women are encouraged to become empowered to be able to generate income they are less susceptible to radicalisation. Therefore, the extra support through literacy programs gives them the confidence to become employable, to be law-abiding citizens; because they know their rights and understand their stake in ensuring a peaceful and unified Nigeria.

There are several other great examples, but these few are the basis for why the Yarang Llamisi Foundation launched the Second Chance Initiative aimed at women adult literacy to complement the ongoing work we are doing at the vocational centre in Zambuk. The privilege of knowing how to read and write, communicating effectively, and making sense of the world shouldn’t be a privilege at all but a right equally accessed by all. With the Second Chance Initiative, we hope to bridge this gap, and we look forward to sharing with you soon the strides we are making to secure the future for our children by investing in our women today.

Launch of Yarang Llamisi Vocational Training Centre

Launch of Yarang Llamisi Vocational Training Centre

March is a month that is all about Women, and what better way to start the month than with a celebration?!

To kick off the International Women’s Day 2021, we are proud to announce the launch of the Yarang Llamisi Vocational Training Centre, the first of its kind, in Zambuk Town of Gombe State, Nigeria.

This endeavour has been a dream that we have nurtured for a long time, and seeing it come to fruition is a momentous occasion! Our joy arrives on the tails of back- breaking work to challenge gender stereotypes that have been held together by cultural beliefs, such as “only men are supposed to work to support their families”. This archaic way of thinking has left many women struggling in abject poverty and many men coping with the mental health issues that come with being weighed down with the burden of providing for the family alone.

At YLF, we have worked with our traditional rulers and along the grain of our cultural institutions to show how the whole community benefits when women are empowered. Starting at the grassroots and championing the value of educating the girl child, we took a step further to address one of the key bottlenecks to the success of girl child education, which is female role models in the community. Young girls need to see other women that are equally

educated and empowered and are seen to add value to their families and the community as a whole.

We know that education is not just formal but informal, and local institutions play a key role in equipping individuals with the tools they need to run successful businesses, participate in politics, and advocate for social change. It is on this foundation that Project Second Chance was laid.

We targeted women with no formal education, primary and high school dropouts, and women who society would write off as not able to add economic value.

We held town hall discussions to get a sense of our community’s need and educated women on necessary entrepreneurial skills to multiply their income and save their profits. We are pleased to announce that based on these interactions, we have opened a free vocational centre where women can learn how to sew, knit and crochet, and make soaps, body moisturizers and handcraft as a start.

We are currently working on implementing other programs like computer literacy, photography, baking, cooking oil production, weaving and more. We fully intend to break the mould and deviate from the kind of vocational training that stereotypes what is acceptable for women, like the ones we just listed, because we know that women can be butchers, mechanics, welders, plumbers and carpenters too! We want this vocational centre to be a beacon of hope in our community and a model for the many more to come. We plan to train trainers so that the centre becomes self-sufficient and sustainable with old students passing down the knowledge they have acquired. We are excited about this new beginning as we believe and have always said that when you empower a woman, you save a village.

We are currently working on implementing other programs like computer literacy, photography, baking, cooking oil production, weaving and more. We fully intend to break the mould and deviate from the kind of vocational training that stereotypes what is acceptable for women, like the ones we just listed, because we know that women can be butchers, mechanics, welders, plumbers and carpenters too! We want this vocational centre to be a beacon of hope in our community and a model for the many more to come. We plan to train trainers so that the centre becomes self-sufficient and sustainable with old students passing down the knowledge they have acquired. We are excited about this new beginning as we believe and have always said that when you empower a woman, you save a village.

YLF 2020 Overview Newsletter

YLF 2020 Overview Newsletter

What a year this has been! The global events that shook the world the conflicts, wars, bush fires, floods, volcanic eruptions, a cyclone, an earthquake, plane crashes, black lives matter protests, and several explosions in large cities. As if these disasters were not enough, the world was engulfed by a Pandemic.

 

 

Even here at home in Nigeria, this year has been one for the books with the importation of the COVID-19 virus and the inescapable lockdown in major cities.

We were already in the grip of an ASUU strike, which had cast university students across the nation adrift in a sea of uncertainty. The borders were closed, affecting businesses from Ikeja to Hadejia. The border closure brought about the inevitable increase in foodstuff prices, which caused hardships for so many families, culminating in the sacking of palliative care warehouses by an already frustrated nation.

All these issues were simultaneously happening amid the unrest in the North-East, the abduction of school children, the killing of aid workers, and the Nationwide End SARS (Special Anti-Robbery Squad) protests’ fallout. 

How does one have the time to prioritize the needs of the few when grappling with the needs of many? We asked ourselves this question when we saw the emergence of an ugly trend during the lockdown, which was branded as the “shadow pandemic”. We began to see a recorded increase in cases of gender-based violence in Nigeria. So we decided that something needed to be done, a response to one of the many challenges being faced by women and girls in this Pandemic to ensure the physical well-being and the mental health of women and girls preserved.

 

We launched YLF in Nigeria to respond to the challenges and needs we saw in our community in Zambuk. We saw the need to support women’s vocation so that they can provide for their families; we saw the need to bring hope to young girls by inspiring and supporting their education. So in 2020, with all the negative news home and abroad, here is an overview of what we were able to accomplish since our launch in July 2020:

1.

When 1.53 billion students worldwide were out of school this year, YLF stepped in to provide free tutorials to girls and boys in Zambuk and its environs.

2.

We also launched the 2nd Chance Initiative working with girls and women to develop and enhance their entrepreneurial skills by supporting them to learn vocations like tailoring and dressmaking or any skill they sought to develop.

The program also focused on providing the basic needed education to enable the beneficiaries start their businesses and adequately manage their finances. This successful pilot has opened the door to new possibilities, which we look forward to deploying on a larger scale in 2021.

3.

In honor of the international day of the girl, we launched an essay writing competition with the theme “My Voice Our Equal Future.” We received so many entries from girls within and outside Gombe, all beautiful voices, united in purpose and the desire to see that all young girls in Nigeria live free from violence and harmful practices that hinder them from achieving their full potential.

16-year-old Maimuna Najat Aliyu Waziri,

from Darul Arqam Academy Gombe, emerged as the winner of the competition. We have decided to make this an annual event with bigger and better prizes, so look out for this in 2021!

4.

We supported 490 families in the payment of PTA dues across schools in Yamaltu/ Deba LGA, Gombe State. This was to enable the students to get the extra facilities that the PTA dues support. Typically, parents agree to this levy to support school structures in their communities that struggle with funding so that the students will not be affected by the lack thereof. Due to the recession and the financial hardships endured in 2020, YLF saw the need to step in and lessen this burden. We hope to secure funding in this 2021 to do more to support school systems and learning.

5.

We donated school uniforms to 150 pupils of Sirankiwo Primary School of Akko LGA in Gombe State.

For many children in Northern Nigeria the idea of school is a daunting endeavour. They begin by learning in a language they don’t understand, handicapped by the school books and tools they don’t have, and wearing clothes that make them stick out because they can’t afford the uniform. This simple yet defining gesture gave the pupils of this impoverished community a sense of self-worth, identity and purpose.

We are excited to take 2021 head-on, we know the year will present us with more opportunities to provide support and touch lives and we invite you to be part of this journey. We hope you will connect with us on all our social media platforms or through our website.

Let us know what type of support would make a difference to you. If you are interested in giving back, we welcome the extra set of hands (monetary contributions). We truly believe that every little bit helps and pushes us closer to achieving our goals of seeing that every woman and girl we encounter thrives.

Happy new year!

The Bad Investment Of Educating a Girl

The Bad Investment Of Educating a Girl

Dollar and Naira bills [Photo Credit: NairaFX]

Is it true that it’s not profitable to educate a girl? In Nigeria, we hear this lie all the time, that educating a girl is a waste of money. She will be married off, they say, and her husband will reap the rewards. She may not be able to hold a job, they say, especially if it conflicts with raising the children, so why waste money on someone who will become a housewife? How many girls get poor education compared to their male counterparts because of this ideology that it is a bad investment? 

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