Maryjacob Okwuosa, Mukhtar H. Modibbo are Youth Leaders for Global Partnership for Education. They raise awareness of the barriers to education and aim to increase the ambition of leaders for financing education and development.
The impact of COVID in Nigeria
The advent of the COVID pandemic has not only revealed the poor state of infrastructure and facilities in the health sector of Nigeria but also revealed the reality of the dilapidation and poor funding of the education sector. Aside from the...
Girls and Women
No one has been completely immune to the impacts of COVID-19, although some groups have felt these impacts more acutely. Our recent coverage has highlighted COVID-19’s impact on girls and women: girls’ education is under threat; maternal and reproductive care is being compromised; women’s and girls’ unpaid work is increasing; and we’re seeing elevated rates of intimate partner violence.
Here, we spotlight three different women-led grassroots organizations that are identifying COVID-19’s unique impacts on women and girls and are responding...
Megan Gieske is a storyteller and photographer based in Cape Town, South Africa.
In South Africa, women are at risk.
South Africa has one of the highest rates of violence against women and girls in the world, and a femicide rate that is five times the global average, with an estimated 12.1 in 100,000 victims each year. South Africa’s gender-based violence statistics (GBV) are equal to a country at war.
South Africa held its yearly 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence,...
Africa launches the largest trials of treatments for mild and moderate COVID-19 cases, mayors join forces to tackle gender inequality, and UK cuts its aid budget. Plus, a look at which countries have gender-balanced cabinets.
Here are six crucial stories you may have missed this month.
Africa’s largest COVID treatment trial launches
A network of 13 African countries joined forces with global researchers to launch Africa’s largest clinical trial of potential COVID-19 treatments. The Anticov study aims to identify treatments for mild...
Edith Esinam Asamani-Wasie, a GPE Youth Advocate in Ghana, is weighing in on the realities of gender-based violence, especially during COVID-19, and the steps everyone can take to achieve gender equality.
The pandemic has socioeconomically affected more girls and women than boys and men. First, despite progress, there is still a gender disparity in access to education. The pandemic led to the closure of schools and movement of most physical classes to virtual platforms, where there is a gender digital...
Six years ago, 276 schoolgirls were kidnapped by armed men from their school in Northern Nigeria.
For such a horrific event, the identity of the girls was missing from the narrative. In the days and weeks following the tragedy, even as the story of their kidnapping found its way into the global consciousness via the “Bring back our girls” campaign, when it comes to the girls — who they were, what they liked, how they lived — they became a...
Megan Gieske is a storyteller and photographer based in Cape Town, South Africa.
On Steve Biko Street, taxi horns blare and horse carts trot down Gugulethu’s busy main road. But over a high wall, a woman has grown an oasis of green in the highly-developed, urban landscape of Gugulethu, where almost 100,000 share just 6.42km² (or 2.5 miles²) of land.
It’s here in Gugulethu where Nomonde Kweza, or “Mama Nomonde,” is reclaiming her agricultural heritage, and teaching her community to support...
Megan Gieske is a storyteller and photographer based in Cape Town, South Africa.
Ingrid and Enersh, two teenage girls in white button-downs, maroon jumpers, grey skirts, ankle-length socks, and matching black shoes, chat by the roadside on their way home from school. They hold backpacks that hang heavy on their shoulders with books and homework. The brilliance of their smiles stand out vividly against the afternoon light — young, hopeful, and full of promise.
Ingrid and Enersh are two of the...
Olaoluwa Abagun is an activist and founder of the Girl Pride Circle. Here’s her story about how COVID-19 has impacted girls in Nigeria, and her hope for the future.
For many young girls across Nigeria, their classrooms and schools have served as safe spaces – where they can interact with their peers, learn critical skills, and express their hopes and dreams without fear.
Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated the closure of these safe spaces with very limited alternatives for learning...
Falling on 11 October, International Day of the Girl Child is a United Nations day that brings attention to “girls’ rights and the unique challenges girls face around the world.” Empowering young girls early in life can give them the “potential to change the world — both as the empowered girls of today and as tomorrow’s workers, mothers, entrepreneurs, mentors, household heads, and political leaders.”
However, as we’ve seen with previous health crises, COVID-19’s lingering economic and social impacts on...