April 2023
The Initiative for Youth Support and Re-orientation (i4Youth) - a CSO working to improve the social welfare of vulnerable groups - has implemented the Second Chance Education and Entrepreneurship Support Project to address the psycho-social issues of SGBV. Survivors from six local government areas (Yabo, Bodinga, Sokoto North, Sokoto South, Gwadabawa and Wurno) benefited from the initiative.
Due to the growing number of SGBV cases in the state, i4Youth conceived the project to help in the reintegration of survivors back to the society and address the rising number of school dropouts.
The project was implemented on a quarterly basis carrying out activities such as providing financial literacy, basic numeracy, and entrepreneurship skills trainings to survivors. This enabled the beneficiaries to acquire basic education and vocational skills.
To date, a total of 300 youth groups, community-based organisations and other community structures have been trained on issues, perspectives, challenges, and best practices for tackling the SGBV. Two hundred and forty survivors (40 each drawn from the six LGAs) were selected from an existing database of GBV survivors in the state. They were trained on reintegration including psychosocial support and livelihood/skill acquisitions for them to be self-dependent/reliant and become useful members of their communities.
In addition, 217 survivors are currently undergoing financial literacy, numeracy, and entrepreneurship skills training at designated centres in the six LGAs. At the end of the training, over 200 GBV survivors will be certified by the State Agency for Mass Education and placed at appropriate levels to continue their educational pursuits. Additionally, vocational trade based cooperative societies will be established and registered to facilitate easy access to credit facilities and other forms of support for sustainability beyond the funding cycle of the ACT programme.
“The trainings, mentoring, coaching and peer learning platforms offered by ACT have significantly transformed our organisation and helped us to successfully implement the Second Chance Education Project.”
Dr Ibrahim Kangiwa, Executive Director, i4Youth
