Education for the future in Nigeria

Background information

Since 2009, the violence of the terrorist militia Boko Haram has shaken north-eastern Nigeria, while the state of Plateau has been plagued by ethnic and religious conflicts since the end of the 1990s. This has led to the displacement of more than 2.5 million people and triggered a humanitarian crisis. The situation is particularly precarious for women and girls. When attacked by non-state armed groups, they are most at risk of becoming victims of abduction, forced marriage and sexual violence. Many of them also lose their husbands or parents in attacks. As widows and orphans, they are particularly at risk of being exploited or sexually abused. Single women are left on their own to feed their families. This proves difficult due to the structural discrimination of women in society. Traditionally, women in Nigeria are responsible for the household and childcare; they are often excluded from access to education and the labor market in Nigeria's patriarchal society. Without an education, widowed and single women as well as women on the run are particularly at risk of falling into extreme poverty or becoming victims of exploitation. Young people, for their part, usually see no prospects in life due to the country's weak economy. Characterized by violence, insecurity and a lack of future prospects, many of them slip into drug addiction or crime. Both women and young people have the potential to make an enormously important contribution to social cohesion and economic development in Nigeria. In order to strengthen their role in society and offer them prospects, Mission 21 and its partner organizations and churches specifically support women and young people. They support them through vocational training and training in personal skills and life skills. The focus here is on widows and young women who have been victims of Boko Haram attacks, as well as vulnerable young people from conflict areas.

Project goals

• Women and girls are able to read and write.
• Vulnerable groups of people are encouraged to demand their rights and can help shape society in a self-determined way. Vulnerable groups of people have the skills they need to earn their own living.

Target group

The target group of the educational projects are vulnerable people from the states of Adamawa, Borno, Kaduna, and Plateau, which are characterized by poverty and armed conflicts. These include, for example, victims of the Boko Haram crisis and conflicts between farmers and Fulani militants, especially widowed and single women, as well as women and girls who have been victims of abduction and sexual violence. The target group also includes young people from Jos, who are characterized by poverty and violent conflicts, are instrumentalized for violent conflicts and have slipped into drug addiction.

Activities

• Literacy courses for widows, single women and girls in education centers (Dzakwa, Kaduna, Yola, Kwarhi).
• Vocational training for widows, single women and vulnerable young people in the fields of fashion design, tailoring, knitting, shoemaking, cosmetics, catering and IT in various training centers (Michika (2), Shaffa, Gwalantabal, Kaduna and Kwarhi).
• Vocational training for young women and men whose lives are characterized by drugs, violence and poverty in the city of Jos.
• Awarding start-up grants to successful graduates of vocational training programs.
• Vocational workshops on topics such as personal development, women's rights, sexual and gender-based violence, trauma awareness, and resilience.
• Workshops in business management for widows and awarding of a seed capital to start their own small business.
• Workshops for young mothers on nutrition and hygiene to promote mother-child health.
• Psychological support and individual sessions for trauma processing for victims of violence and conflict.
• Awareness campaigns regarding human rights and gender-based violence to empower women and girls and increase their educational opportunities.

Project progress

Last year, 50 women learned to read and write at a training center run by the partner church EYN. Another 50 women attended a workshop in commercial basics and subsequently set up their own small businesses. Furthermore, around 100 young and widowed women completed their vocational training, e.g. as dressmakers, in the fall of 2022 and received start-up capital in the form of a sewing machine. Some female graduates of the ZME training center were able to start their own sewing businesses with the knowledge they had acquired.