Jigawa Girl Researchers advocates for more support to girls
From Mika’il Tsoho, Dutse
The Jigawa Girl Researchers has called on general public to prioritize girls issues by giving them more support to achieve their desired dreams in life.
The call was made in a poem delivered at the launch of Girl-Led Research called “Shifting the power: advancing girls- led research” conducted in Nigeria and Sierra Leone by Baba Azimi Foundation and Teenage Network, both women led organizations in Jigawa and Abuja supported by ActionAid Nigeria and UK.
Barrister Aisha Sulaiman Jahun, the founder of Baba Azumi Foundation (BAF), explained that, the research aimed at understanding what girls issues were and how they could be addressed.
She said, 12 girls were selected and trained as researchers in Jigawa, the girls developed the research questions, issues, respondent categories and mapped the stakeholders as well as the locations for the research in Dutse and Gwaram LGAs .
“The girls presented some major findings to the research which were focus on girls issues like lack of access to education, opportunities for development and resources, low menstrual health programmes , restrictions of free time for girls due to high burden of domestic chores, child marriage, mental health issues, violence issues i.e rape and harassment”, she stated.
The founder of BAF added that, the findings were traced and rooted in norms and practices which fundamentally support unequal treatment of boys and girls, viewing girls choices, issues and even dreams as insignificant, undermining girls and overtaking their power in every aspect of their lives.
Barrister Aisha then urged the general public particularly parents, policy makers and other stakeholders to prioritize girls issues and supported them to achieve their dreams for better development.
