The Youth Empowerment Foundation (YEF), a non-governmental organisation is closing out on its ‘GOAL Project’, implemented 14 years after with sponsorship from the Standard Chartered Bank in 2010.
At the close out ceremony in Abuja on Wednesday, the Executive Secretary, YEF, Iwalola Akin-Jimoh said the project empowered youths through strategic partnership and programmes in health, livelihoods, sports, education and leadership.
Akin-Jimoh said the essence was to move the project to the next level and hand over to the stakeholders to carry on using existing structures.
“In its 14 years of existence in Nigeria, running simultaneously in three cities; Lagos, Ibadan and Abuja, the Goal Project has touched the lives of 168,946 girls across public schools.
“It has giving them vocational skills and training in sports like football and taekwondo while making them advocates against gender-based abuse and violence as well as financial literacy and entrepreneurial skills,” she said.
She called on contact persons involved in the project to go ahead to run the project in spite the stoppage of the funding, saying that resources were available in the communities and schools to take ownership of the project.
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She said that the project had also helped to develop the leadership capabilities of the girls so that could become great citizens of the country anywhere they find themselves.
“GOAL clubs are already established in the schools. We want to harmonised the resources we have and ride on the structures already existing so that the project continues.
The Stakeholders’ meeting is on annual basis to review the success of a project called GOAL.
“We bring together our contact persons such as the principals and various government agencies to learn about what we have done over the years and look at the challenges we have .
“GOAL has four modules under the training, Be healthy which talks about their body, menstruation and for them to know more about the physiology of a woman.
“Be yourself talks about knowing about the type of persons they are and have an understanding about how they can improve their self-esteem and self-confidence.
“Be empowered talks about their rights and their responsibilities not only to themselves but also to their parents and the community and ‘Be money’ talks about their savings, needs and wants,” she added.
She, however, said that the project had gulp over 500,000 dollars invested by the Standard Chartered Bank on the girl-child in Nigeria.
