SKY Girls, a Pan African empowerment movement has launched in Nigeria in a bid to increase financial inclusion for teen girls between the ages of 12-19.
The event which took place on Saturday in Lagos state was attended and endorsed by Folashade Adefisayo, Commissioner for Education, Lagos.
The girl focused movement, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was first launched in 2014 in Botswana and now active in Ghana, Kenya, Cote d’Ivoire, Zambia and Nigeria.
It focuses on creating edutainment content for teenage girls in order to empower them and increase their resilience and confidence.
We are expanding financial inclusion in Nigeria so that young girls can understand the role it plays in finance and their lives, says Alice Railton, SKY Girls Market Lead, Ghana and Nigeria.
“We are building the movement now by getting them involved through financial awareness so that they can start to have the understanding and the importance of savings later in life,” Railton said.
She also added that a lot of the girls we have spoken to can start saving, budgeting and understanding the importance of it. “There is so much inequality for girls and women in that area. So, we are trying to correct that.”
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The initiative would include messaging around financial decision-making, education and knowledge, to improve the girls and their families overall future life skills.
Apart from providing them with financial education, the movement would also reduce tobacco uptake.
“The movement is fuelled by its desire to reduce the worrying uptake of tobacco amongst adolescent girls by reaching girls through multiple online and offline channels, from magazines, social media, radio, TV shows, feature-length films, school clubs and community events,” said Adenike Odutola, General Manager Operations, 7even Interactive for SKY Girls Nigeria
“Within this platform and through role models, SKY integrates tobacco messaging in such a way as to make NOT SMOKING the aspirational choice,” Odutola further added.
Adefisayo applauded the programme for the laudable feat and encouraged young girls and their parents to take advantage of the various opportunities tied to the initiative.
“It is impossible to quantify the magnitude of importance of such a programme in today’s world. The odds are often stacked against young girls in developing countries, but here, SKY is showing the girls while still in their formative years how to be more confident and make positive decisions that would potentially set their lives towards the right trajectory.
I invite parents and guardians to avail their teenage girls the chance to be a part of this programme. We might not be able to change the world in an instant, but we can do so, one girl child at a time.”
