Her Tuition, Her Voice is a joint initiative of the Embassy of Finland in Abuja, Nigeria and She Forum Africa. The initiative is aimed at supporting indigent girls from grassroots communities gain high-order thinking and quality action learning education. The education campaign was launched in Nigeria at an online event convened to mark this year’s International Day of the Girl-Child on 11th October, 2020.

Ms. Inimfon Etuk, Founder, She Forum Africa says the “Her Tuition, Her Voice” initiative seeks to cast the spotlight on the need to encourage and support the enrolment of more girls in school, with a focus on indigent girls. “We want to raise and fund Secondary School Tuition for 25 indigent girls from grassroots communities in Nigeria in this initial phase. The choice of 25 is to commemorate the 25 Years Anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action – the global agenda for advancing the rights and empowerment of women and girls, everywhere, in the most practical way. 25 Girls out of over 10 million out-of-school children in Nigeria feels like a drop in the ocean but we have to start somewhere until we can leave no girl behind. Education is a fundamental human right which provides a foundation for growth and development. It is indispensable for the achievement of sustainable development. We are only able to empower girls, combat climate change, fight inequality and end extreme poverty if all stakeholders, including our business sectors, commit themselves to advancing the education goal. It is time to prioritize on this important goal and bridge identified access-to-learning gaps. To bridge this gap, it becomes imperative to address the major economic hindrance to the enrolment of more girls in school: their Tuition/Education.”

Speaking on the initiative, the Ambassador of Finland to Nigeria, Dr. Jyrki Pulkkinen says the equality of women and girls has been a political priority for tens of years in Finland. Since the independency of Finland 103 years ago, the equal opportunities of women and right to education of girls has been a self-evident value and human right for all the Finns. “However, we also know that for many Girls, the year 2020 in particular has not exactly been a celebration, especially in Nigeria and the rest of Africa. 25 years since the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the progress for adolescent girls has not kept pace with the realities they face today. With over 10 million Nigerian children reportedly out of school, and the girl-child holding the shorter end of the stick, COVID-19 has additionally reinforced many of the existing gaps.

For us at the Embassy of Finland, the International Day of the Girl-Child coincides closely with our independence day that is on 6th of December. The two months between these two dates give us the possibility to extend our joint efforts to provide schooling and learning for indigent girls in Nigeria. As the pandemic has made it very difficult for the embassies to celebrate their independence days in business as usual, we have decided to connect these two important days together with a joint campaign with She Forum Africa, to address the challenges the girls are facing in education in Nigeria.

In the coming days, we will be knocking on your doors and provide more information on partnership possibilities to seek your buy-in and secure your commitments to this laudable campaign. The campaign and celebration will culminate in a virtual webinar validating our joint contributions and achievements on Finland’s Independence Day Celebration on 6th of December. We commit to doing our part and call on all our friends and associates to lend their weight to the “Her Tuition, Her Voice” Campaign so that together, we can ensure that the girl-child has her voice but most importantly, that she can use that voice”.

Modality

To operationalise this target, we have identified and partnered with an academic institution/Service provider with a tested and dedicated priority focus on indigent students. We want to see 25 indigent girls enrolled in school for the new school year. You can make this happen.

About our Target Service Provider: The KNOSK N100-a-day Secondary School, Kuje Nigeria is an existing public-private school designed for children from low income families. For N100-a-day/30 cents a day, school children get books, uniforms, one meal a day and the girls get monthly sanitary pads.

The KNOSK is offering children from low income families, quality action learning education that equips young people from low income families with the knowledge, skills and resolve that they need to break the cycle of poverty. While students can pay as low as N100-a-day, this amount sums up to only a fraction of what it cost to access education at the KNOSK School. The difference is sourced for publicly through social media crowd-matching campaigns where people opt to either co-sponsor a child by matching that child with any amount of choice. Some individuals and organizations opt for full sponsorship of an indigent child who is currently unable to afford the N100-a-day School fees.

The full sponsorship covers the child’s termly school fees of N66,000. (sixty-six thousand Naira only). For the three terms in one academic year, this figure comes to N198,000.00 (one hundred and ninety-eight thousand naira only). To see one child, safely through school for 6 years of Secondary Education, this figure comes to N1,188,000.00 (one million, one hundred and eighty-eight thousand naira only). This does not take into consideration expected economic changes.

What does the termly school fees of N66,000./child Cover: Tuition, Books and stationeries, School Uniform, Daily Lunch and Sanitary Pad.

We do not want to reinvent the wheel, the KNOSK Model is a tested solution that is silently bridging the poverty gap to open up access to education for indigent families. With more assured support, they can do more.

HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT?

Her Tuition, Her Voice TARGET for Phase 01: Raised Funding to cover the 6 years Secondary School Tuition of 25 indigent girls, estimated at N29,700,000.00 (Twenty-nine million, seven hundred thousand naira only). 25 Girls out of over 10 million out-of-school children in Nigeria feels like a drop in the ocean but we have to start somewhere until we can leave no girl behind.

Subscription Plan for interested partners:

Fund Her Tuition for one School Term only N66,000.00
Fund Her Tuition for 1 School Year (to secure 3 school terms) N198,000.00
Fund Her Tuition for one School Term only N594,000.00
Fund Her Tuition for 6 School Years (to secure her full Secondary Education) N1,188,000.00

Subscriptions may be multiplied along the lines of preferred number of girls and/or number of School Years/girl subject to organizational or individual preferences.

Our target for Phase 01 represents a practical, low-hanging fruit and realistic route to deliver impact in the most meaningful way for indigent girls. These modest efforts will also enable us contribute to achieving SDG 4 (Quality Education), SDG 10 (Reduced Inequality) and SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals).

TO DONATE:

Global: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/hertuitionhervoice

Within Nigeria:

Account Name:           SHE FORUM AFRICA INITIATIVE

A/C Number:               0066987591

Bank:                           Sterling Bank

Sustainability Plan: The Campaign will leverage other related International Observances and convened activities to roll out renewed calls for subsequent phases of the Campaign.

Adolescent girls have the right to a safe, educated, and healthy life, not only during these critical formative years, but also as they mature into women. If effectively supported during the adolescent years, girls have 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. (source, United Nations).