No fewer than 1,620 girls participated in Safe Space activities supported by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA Nigeria) in Sokoto State.
The state’s Team Lead at the Centre for Girls’ Education (CGE), the implementing non-government organization, Mrs Ubaida Abdulnasir told reporters in a chat in Sokoto yesterday, that 81 mentors in Sokoto North and Binji local government areas were also equipped with knowledge on life skills, jolly phonics and gender-based violence (GBV).
Abdulnasir said under the intervention, CGE provided the girls with knowledge on jolly phonics, life skills, and issues on GBV.
According to her, issues discussed at the Safe Space focused on rudiments of mentoring, mentors’ standard practices, practical sessions, and others.
The team lead said: “There is an obvious increase in the number of girls’ school retention following mentoring at the safe space.
Abdulnasir added that another project was also introduced with the support of UNFPA and other donors, where 40 peer educators were equipped with knowledge and skills to promote optimal health and development of adolescents and young people.
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She said: “In the implementation of the Ripple Project, 3,038 peer educators acquired knowledge and gained information on Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR).
“Other topics were sexual and gender-based violence/violence against women and girls (SGBV/VAWG), family planning (PF) and harmful practices (HP), female genital mutilation (FGM) and early child marriage in various communities of Sokoto State.”
Ruqayya Ahmad Khalid, a junior secondary school (JSS 3) three Safe Space student said she learnt a lot about moral training, body hygiene “and how to prevent ourselves from sexual harassment and other forms of abuse.
“We also learnt how to prevent ourselves from contracting diseases, menstrual hygiene and how to advance our studies to actualise our future dreams.”
Another Safe Space student, Balkisu Sani from Yahaya Abdulkarim Secondary School Sokoto said the safe space allowed her and her peers to discuss silent and personal issues affecting their lives.
Sani said: “At the safe space, we talked about issues that we don’t even discuss with our parents.”