By Ibrahim Shu'aibu
The Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) has commenced the inception and onboarding of Local Government Facilitators and Mobilizers under Component 2.1 of its project in Yobe State, with the Executive Director of Spotlight for Transparency and Accountability Initiative, Muazu Alhaji Modu, at the forefront of the community engagement drive.
The workshop, held in Damaturu on Monday, was organized by AGILE in partnership with Spotlight for Transparency and Accountability Initiative, marking a significant step toward strengthening community awareness, engagement, participation, and behaviour change across all 17 Local Government Areas of the state.
Speaking at the event, Muazu Alhaji Modu, Executive Director of Spotlight for Transparency and Accountability Initiative, revealed that the project is a consultancy outsourced by AGILE based on the organization's capacity across the 17 local government areas to conduct social and behavioural change communication around social norms preventing girls' access to 12 years of education.
"The whole concept is around how we can leverage our network across the 17 local governments to mobilize parents, teachers, community and religious leaders to support access to education across the state," Modu said.
He stressed the need for communities to understand that AGILE is not a foreign concept. "AGILE is not something imported from somewhere else. It is a Nigerian government initiative implemented by state governments, and this project is actually designed by the Yobe State government," he emphasized.
Modu disclosed that mobilizers and facilitators have been engaged across the 17 local governments but will not be deployed all at once. The pilot phase begins with seven mobilizers and seven facilitators drawn from seven LGAs Damaturu, Tarmuwa, Fune, Potiskum, Fika, Bade and Karasuwa with expansion to all 17 LGAs planned for the fourth quarter of 2026.
"The engagement with communities is expected to run over the next 22 months, targeting social norms and behavioural change around girl-child education in Yobe State",said Mu'azu.
Declaring onboarding training open,the Project Coordinator for AGILE, Abdullahi Dahiru Bula, outlined the three major components of the project.
He explained,under Component One, which focuses on providing safe learning spaces,the project is constructing 50 new secondary schools for girls in the state under sub-component 1.1, while sub-component 1.2 covers the rehabilitation of 225 secondary schools, comprising 150 junior secondary schools and 75 senior secondary schools.
According to him, under Component Two, which deals with enabling the environment, sub-component 2.1 the focus of the training concerns behavioural change communication, responsible for enlightenment, mobilization and sensitization of communities.
"Some of the factors that hinder the completion of secondary school education or even enrollment into schools have to do with the behaviour of some parents who feel it is not necessary for girls to be educated," Bula said.
He listed other sub-components under Component Two: 2.2a covers life skills training on personal hygiene, menstrual hygiene and livelihood skills; 2.2b focuses on digital skills, with desktop computers being provided to schools and teachers trained to step down digital literacy to the girls, while 2.2c is the Second Chance Education initiative establishing non-formal learning centres for out-of-school girls to learn literacy, numeracy and livelihood skills.
"Sub-component 2.3 provides conditional cash transfers as financial incentives to support girls in JSS1 and SS1 with school materials at transition periods," he added.
Component Three, according to the Coordinator,covers system strengthening under 3.1, building the capacity of education administrators to sustain girl-child education beyond the project, and 3.2, monitoring and evaluation, to ensure the project stays on track and deviations are quickly corrected.
The engagement with communities is expected to run over the next 22 months, with facilitators and mobilizers tasked with driving behavioural change at the grassroots level.
The pilot phase will focus on seven LGAs before scaling up to cover the entire state by 2026.
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