2019 Girl Day: TASHERI Supports Empowerment Of 100 Kaduna School Girls

Photo: Students of GSS Barnawa, Kaduna with inscription promoting girl’s education/:/ 

A non-governmental organisation, Touch A Heart Social and Economic Rights Initiative (TAHSERI), at the weekend began empowerment of 100 girls drawn from Government Secondary School (Girls) Barnawa, Kaduna South local government area of the State, as part of activities to commemorate this year’s international day of girl.

Sharing her experience, a young female entrepreneur and public speaker, who believed in power of productivity in girls, Prisca Policarp said, the empowerment intervention would go a long way in supporting the beneficiaries not to relent in their pursuance to acquire education. 

She said, “we are here to celebrate our girls who have so much potentials in them. They really need people to help them to know they can do more. Many of them don’t know their worth.

“We want to inspire them to be great in life. They should know nothing can hinder them from achieving their goals in life except themselves. It is just a movement that should not die.

“I grew up with my mother’s sister and I know what it means when girls education was not given top priority because I was there. I was absent in school severally because of financial support even as one of the best in my class.

“Money is always a challenge. in some schools, the new entrant will be asked to bring #1,000 for registration, #100 for PTA. They will buy their books and sow uniforms. But, as little as one may think the money is, that’s enough for so many children to drop out of school. So, this empowerment programme will go a long way in solving some of these issues,” she added.

Earlier, Director of Programmes, TASHERI, Hephzibah Victor said, the idea of empowering the selected girls, under One Girl, One Pen, One Goal campaign, was to see how her organisation in partnership with others, could empower one girl at a time.

To her, “for every girl to meet her destiny, to speak out and giving her power through education to fight for the right of other girls is the utmost.

“So, we are marking this year’s international day of the girl by way of giving them a right to education because every child deserves the best of everything including quality education.

“We are speaking on issues of sexual abuse, helping them acquire a skill and discussing the concept – girl-child.

“What actually prompted the idea is violent issues around girls. Issues like rape, excessive home chores, trafficking, torture. We also want to put smile on their faces,” she said.

Relatively, 2019 International Day of the Girl themed: “GirlForce: Unscripted and Unstoppable”, UNICEF and partners are expected to bring together programming, advocacy, communication, fundraising, and public engagement elevating progress for and with girls.