Skills 4 girls 4 life is a capacity building project implemented by the development Research and Projects Centre with the support of John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation under the Partnership to strengthen innovation and Practice in Secondary Education to strengthen the Implementation of the New Secondary School Curriculum in Girls Schools in Northern Nigeria.

Project Goals

Expand empowerment opportunities for girls in Kano and Jigawa states enter the labour force

Project Objectives

• Strengthen commitment, leadership and skills of decision makers in Ministries of Education in Jigawa and Kano States to position life-skills subjects of the new WAEC curriculum as a central component a new  girls’ education policy trust emphasizing transferable skills
• Expand the capacity of government in-service teacher training agencies (KERD, JERD and CERC) to design and deliver training programs for teachers of civics and craft subjects skills a cost effective and sustainable manner
• Expand knowledge and learning of the opportunities and potential of leveraging transferable skills in the new WAEC Curriculum for empowering girls in Northern Nigeria

Project Achievements

• Entrepreneurship Teachers’ Manual was developed by representatives of KERD and JERD facilitated by the  Bayero University Kano Entrepreneurship Training Centre
• A Policy Brief on Entrepreneurship in Craft subjects was produced through the facilitation of a consultative process between teachers of the Skills4Girls4Live focal secondary schools; KERD; JERD and the project’s consultants
• A draft of the – Practical Guide for Vocational Skills Learning was produced in December 2017. The final document will be ready by the end of March, 2017
• dRPC has produced a practical guide on How to deal with traumatised girls and psycho-social issues in schools.
• The dRPC has developed a practical guide to developing an after school club for girls in Northern Nigeria
• A training manual on leadership development for senior civil servants in girls’ education has been developed for the December 2016 training of 33 key senior officers of the GPE program in the 5 GPE grant recipient states in Nigeria, including 8 senior education members of the education committees of Sultan Foundation for Peace and Development and Kano Emirate Council Education Committee underwent 3 days training on leadership for girls education by National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru (Please links to live updates by Premium Times: http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/218392-nipss-workshop-girls-education-holds-abuja-live-updates.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter)
• 31 participants deliberated on guidance and counselling issues with particular emphasis on in-school and out of school girls. The participants drew up a guidance and counselling plan for Kano and Jigawa states and with inputs from the participants an Algorithm of Psychosocial Support to Girls with Trauma was also developed
• Establishment of After School Club: needs assessment exercise was conducted in the 36 target government girls secondary schools to determine the preferred structure and components of the after school club program. This exercise was conducted over a 3 week period in which participation and involved girls, PTAs, teachers and administrative staff of the girls schools. Simultaneously with conducting the needs assessment exercise, the dRPC also developed a parallel initiative to identify mentors from the community, the state and national level for girls and teaching staff to strengthen girls’ education. A mentoring form was developed and total of 25 mentors were identified and their details kept on a data base. The consensus position from the consultative process were for – First Aid Club; English language book club, and business development/entrepreneurship clubs. As at this reporting time, 6 schools have established entrepreneurship/business clubs with a membership of  663 female students. The take off activity for all 6 clubs is business development – where the girls are producing – popcorn, household disinfectant for consumption in the schools and neighbouring villages. Clubs will be expanded to all 36 schools in a phased basis by the end of 2017.