As a demonstration of its commitment to substantially increase the literacy, numeracy and entrepreneurial skills of women in Nigeria, the AfriWomen Initiative, a pan-African Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) situated in Oyo State, has embarked on an adult literacy and entrepreneurship training programme to empower no fewer than 2500 women by 2023.
According to the AfriWomen founder, Mrs. Adebukola Oso, the literacy programme, which commenced on January 21, 2020, is also aimed at contributing to the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 which seeks to eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable by 2030.
Oso said that the training which has taken off with 50 women and subjected to the government’s COVID-19 guidelines, will run for nine months and that its first batch of women will graduate from its basic level literacy class in October 2021.
She added that the training has been registered and is now being regulated by the Oyo State Adult and Non-Formal Education Agency, while the organisation has also recruited paid-facilitators and volunteers to ensure a successful outcome.
While explaining the training benefits, Oso said: ‘The training goes beyond literacy, numeracy and enterprise skills. It will include practical, wellbeing and health activities like the training of women on how to make face masks and understanding of the value of face mask-wearing. In 4 weeks, we have registered 205 illiterate women in micro and small businesses for training.’
‘The recruitment and registration of women into training is still ongoing and we are encouraging more volunteers, facilitators, members and sponsors to join us in enhancing the literacy level of Nigerian women by empowering them to be more,’ she added.