About 200 selected Adolescent Girls, Young Women and Girls with Disabilities in Bauchi metropolis have commenced a six-month skills acquisition training in nine Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics STEAM courses.
The training is part of the STEAMinists Against Gender-Based Violence (GBV) project, aimed at empowering participants with practical skills and raising awareness to prevent GBV.
Similarly, another 100 from Bogoro and Tafawa Balewa local governments have been selected for Science, Technology Engineering, Arts and Mathematics STEAM Awareness campaign.
STEAMinists against GBV is a project, implemented by The Girl Child Values Support Initiative, and supported by French Embassy Fund FEF.
The Senior Programmes Officer, Girl Child Values Support Initiative Mr Owa Zuriel said the project would empower the 200 beneficiaries who are between the ages of 18 to 35 with life skills to protect themselves against Gender-based violence.
“We’re basically training them for the future workforce, you know, that’s to come. We want them to be able to get skills that they will be able to get a remote job, and so far right now, the project has been a very, very huge success and we’re here, we can see that we have these ladies learning and being upscaled.“
He listed the nine courses to include Application Development, Graphics Design and Visual Arts, Web Design and Development, App Development, 3D Animation and 3D Modelling, Soldering and Electronics, Photography and Videography, Digital Story Telling and Podcasting, Drama and Theatre.
The Senior Programmes Officer said after the training, all the beneficiaries would be assembled for a Hackathon to develop new technologies through team work, thereby leveraging on networking for startups as well as employment and business opportunities.
“If she’s equipped, if she knows, if she has knowledge about gender-based violence, if she has the skills that can tackle poverty, she’s in a better position to tackle gender-based violence, and that’s our thinking.
“We have some of the girls learning soldering and electronics, they’ve just done a solar generator to be able to power up their community”, Zuriel said.
Some of the beneficiaries, Ms Jaiyeola Sharon and Ms Mansurat Abdulhakeem who both enrolled in the Graphics Design and Visual Arts said the six months training had changed their lives from dependency to becoming entrepreneurs with market opportunities already within reach.
“One of the things we face as youth out there is unemployment. So with this, I will be able to stand on my own to earn for myself”, Ms Jaiyeola explained.
For Ms Mansurat, “It’s been engaging, interesting, and I am really happy to be one of the STEAMinists. I really appreciate the French Embassy Fund. I can use this to defend myself as a female.“
They appreciated the sponsors and implementors of the project for the opportunity, adding that the knowledge gained would help them to fight poverty and Gender-based violence.
