Keeping communities at the center of development

February 1, 2021

By Semere Solomon

5 min read

When designing and implementing solutions for sustained growth, development programs depend on a strong foundation that brings together clear plans, stakeholder engagement, policy frameworks and many other strategies. Regardless of the duration, size and scope of a program, it should be geared towards sowing the seeds for sustained growth, allowing others that follow it to build on its accomplishments.

At the center of this foundation are the communities the program seeks to serve. Approaching programming with a community-anchored approach is a crucial piece in ensuring a program’s success.

Only by collaborating with communities can development professionals uncover facts, disprove assumptions and validate a theory of change.

No one is better placed to characterize the local situations, pinpoint problems, single out priorities, and identify local solutions to local problems in an effective way than the community itself. Communities know what works for them, how interventions can advance their own strategic interests and how to work efficiently in the local context. Community-driven development projects usually deliver public investments to poor people faster, cheaper and better. Building trust matters if this partnership is going to work.

These conversations will pave the way for a stronger partnership that responds to the real (not assumed) needs and aspirations of local communities.

A teacher leads class in at at adolescent girls learning center. — A teacher leads a class at an adolescent girls learning center in Bauchi state, Nigeria. Photo by Erick Gibson.

In Nigeria, the USAID-funded Northern Education Initiative Plus (NEI Plus) has engaged communities to expand education opportunities for tens of thousands of students. The project aims to strengthen the capacity of governments in two states to provide greater access to basic education — especially for girls and out-of-school children — and to significantly improve reading outcomes for school-aged children and adolescents. One piece of its holistic approach is the establishment of non-formal learning centers that serve students not enrolled in the formal school system.

Non-formal education has long been instrumental in addressing the educational and psycho-social needs of out-of-school children and adolescent girls. For NEI Plus, what stands out is the extent to which the project has put the communities at the center.

This community-based effort starts with a thorough mapping exercise in collaboration with community structures (both traditional and contemporary), local government entities, and local civil society organizations to get to know where the need is most felt. Once a community has been identified to host a non-formal learning center, the project consults with community members and leaders to:

Identify who should be enrolled in this center with an emphasis on girls’ enrollment
Determine the location of the center giving due consideration to safety issues
Determine the type of infrastructure (temporary structure, classroom, tent, religious institution compound, etc.)
Identify who should serve as the teacher or learning facilitator and set criteria for their selection
Select members of the Center-based Management Committee (CBMC)
Specify which days of the week and hours (for example, taking into consideration market days, harvest seasons or religious occasions) are suitable for children to attend
Identify local craftspeople who could train students on in-demand labor skills in their locality
Determine the community’s contributions to the center, which includes in-kind and monetary support and monitoring

This process ensures that centers are ready to operate successfully and generates a sense of ownership and responsibility among the community. NEI Plus has established 5,600 non-formal learning centers across Bauchi and Sokoto states with a student population of around 270,000.

Facilitating these important conversations are Community Coalitions, which are instrumental in bringing together diverse interest groups such as community and faith-based organizations, traditional and religious leaders, prominent personalities in the localities, and representatives of women and youth groups. NEI Plus established 20 Community Coalitions to drive engagement and create a platform for leaders to advocate and provide for the needs of out-of-school children and adolescent girls.

Children raise their hands in a reading camp classroom in Ethiopia. — A lively reading camp in Addis Ababa, led by a volunteer community literacy leader. Photo by Jim Huylebroek. Photo by: Jim Huylebroek

Community partnership and leadership is also expanding access to educational opportunities in Ethiopia. The USAID-funded READ II program aims to improve the reading proficiency of 15 million children by boosting the quality of literacy instruction and student support. There, communities are similarly mobilized around local reading camps, which are led by youth volunteers. READ II, in collaboration with seven local NGOs, has mobilized 11,656 youth volunteers, called Community Literacy Leaders, and established 5,938 reading camps across the country. Click here to take a 360-degree tour of a reading camp.

An outreach campaign mobilized communities to promote a culture of reading. In addition to identifying youth volunteers, local communities have succeeded in providing space, making in-kind contributions, and maintaining the camps. The camps have become fun and engaging spaces for children to practice reading outside of school with the support of facilitators.

Outside of education, community-anchored development can strengthen economic growth and expand opportunity. Access to financial institutions is a major hurdle for many communities and individuals, and for women in particular. The Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) leads grassroots-level interventions that promote community engagement and ownership in strengthening women’s economic opportunity and engagement. BRAC takes a business approach to ending poverty, using social enterprise models to recover costs and accelerate impact at scale.

Through this model, people excluded from the formal banking system (due to lack of assets that usually make people eligible for loans) can access a myriad of financial services such as credit, savings and microinsurance products with the support of microfinance. This practice creates a suitable environment for families to build assets and reduce vulnerability to shocks such as health emergencies or natural disasters amongst others. Collateral-free loans are released exclusively to individual women through a group setting, known to BRAC as village organizations.

This platform, comprising 15 to 25 women, helps them come together to deposit their installments and savings, share information and improve financial awareness through training and market support. Using this mechanism, BRAC has succeeded in impacting the lives of 5.6 million active borrowers (87 percent of whom are women) by disbursing $4 billion in 2018. For these women, this has been a life-changing opportunity.

From a much broader developmental perspective, beginning with an anchor in the community is vital to advancing on the journey to self-reliance. When development goals — in education, economic growth, health, and more — are so interconnected, strong community roots ensure programs can complement one another and meet the real and present needs of the people they serve.

Without listening to the poor, we can’t alleviate poverty; without listening to the uneducated, we can’t expand education. For projects to be effective and sustainable, communities should be brought to the center. It is not an option, but a requirement.

Semere Solomon is a Senior Director with the Africa Center at Creative Associates International.

Timeline: Creative supports quality education in Nigeria

January 11, 2021

Q&A: Responding to COVID and remote learning in Nigeria

December 14, 2020

6 min read

When Nigeria’s schools closed in March due to COVID-19, teachers and students — like many around the world — left their classrooms unsure of when they would be able to return.

The USAID Northern Education Initiative Plus program (NEI Plus) — which has worked to strengthen access and quality of basic education through new and engaging teaching approaches and learning materials, teacher training, nonformal learning centers and more — was faced with the challenge of protecting the progress and learning gained over five years as students faced an indefinite time out of school.

In this Q&A, NEI Plus Chief of Party Nurudeen Lawal breaks down how the program responded to the pandemic and the lessons learned over the past several months.

At the onset of the pandemic, how did the NEI Plus team respond?

Nurudeen Lawal: You know, you dive into something and you don’t even know how big it is. But we had a very good start, because immediately we understood that of course we are in a pandemic, and the best thing to do is to ensure that people are safe.

So, the first thing that we did even before we had the first case in Nigeria was to organize awareness sessions for staff about it and give regular updates. And we ensured that this information was cascaded down to our beneficiaries through SMS and WhatsApp.

Not long after we had the first case in Nigeria, we decided to close the non-formal learning centers that we operate with local civil society organizations at the end of March. We have 1,600 non-formal learning centers with about 50 learners each, so we suspended activities and sent the students home with homework. The government closed the public schools as well, and then we closed our offices and commenced working from home.

We developed a contingency plan with activities that we call pivot activities that helped to mitigate the pandemic and at the same time made sure that project activities continued. These were targeted at making sure that learners continued to learn from home and that the beneficiaries get sufficient messages on how to protect themselves from the effects of the pandemic. We did this with a vigorous communication strategy through social media, through SMS and through WhatsApp in English and Hausa. We also supported the state governments in helping them look at their own contingency plans to see how well it responds to remote learning and prevention from the pandemic.

We also started looking into strategies of radio programming, TV programming, IVR (interactive voice response) lessons and how we can continue our activities in terms of helping community structures such as women’s groups and community coalitions to be able to pass on messages of prevention and mitigation of the pandemic.

As a matter of fact, at the very onset of the pandemic, a video was made of children washing their hands, and that video went viral and was used by our partner project in the Northeast, was televised and sent around on WhatsApp and social media.

I can say that in the height of the pandemic we are able to also continue a major activity: the development of new materials in Igbo and Yoruba for early grade readers in primary grades 1, 2 and 3. Working virtually, we were able to develop a large number of texts stories and vocabularies in both languages. This was a great achievement for us during that period.

How did the project use media to keep students and teachers engaged while they were out of school?

Nurudeen Lawal: Importantly, reducing learning loss was addressed through regular use of the radio and TV programs. We developed materials for remote learning, which are all based on the teaching and learning materials that we use in classrooms, called Let’s Read! in English and Mu Karanta! in Hausa. We developed scripts for radio, TV and IVR based on these existing materials. The IVR messages run for six to seven minutes. They were sent to parents and teachers and reached more than 11,000 people within the first few months. We also infused social emotional learning and COVID-19 prevention tips and information.

We also kept the teachers engaged in continuous professional development through SMS and WhatsApp so that when they resume school, they will be ready and they wouldn’t have themselves lost what they know.

I also want to add that at the federal level, there were resources available online. The federal Ministry of Education opened several online portals for learners.

A family works in their school books and follows along on the radio. — A father supports his children in following along in their school books as they listen to an educational program on the radio. Photos by Nura Faggo.

How is the project helping students get back to classes safely?

Nurudeen Lawal: We developed a checklist for resuming the non-formal learning centers that includes, for example, how students are organized. We used to have 50 students at a time, and now they are divided into three clusters to keep class sizes down. We’ve also provided handwashing stations.

In addition, we created a school reopening framework document and we supported the governments in observing schools resuming in Bauchi and Sokoto states and were able to give them feedback on what we have observed. We were able to hold meetings with them to share the framework and ensure they focus on not just prevention of the pandemic from spreading but also how to gain back the lost learning time that the children have experienced.

Looking back on the past several months, what are some of the lessons learned?

Nurudeen Lawal: There are lots of lessons learned around remote learning during this period. And for me that is something for future research: What are the gaps that we saw in trying to run remote learning during a pandemic? What resources were not available? One thing was that of course we had not trained teachers to be able to develop or support remote learning activities. So, it was quite challenging. Teachers became emergency radio teachers and TV teachers, and everything was deployed in response to the situation. But I think we responded to the situation perfectly. We had the minds of the learners engaged during that period and understood that they can learn from home and should not spend the whole time playing. We were also able to provide them social emotional learning activities that kept them mindful and that helped their general psychological wellbeing.

A nonformal learning center classroom — A teacher leads class at a nonformal learning center with new COVID-19 protocols in place, including masks and fewer students.

I think that one of the greatest lessons learned is also that from now on, when we plan to have remote learning content and face-to-face content, making blended learning standard for education activities moving forward.

I also think that in terms of learning, we need to support governments in ensuring that they have in place remote learning framework. We need to understand that when we program, we need to program in parental support for learning. This could bridge a big gap in remote learning programs. The project depended on community outreach materials, whereby parents were engaged to really support their children. The radio program and the other blended approaches could be much more successful if parental support for learning is further emphasized. We need to come up with approaches whereby parents can to some extent provide enabling environment in terms of discussing with the child what they have learned, playing games or doing activities together, providing radios at home for the kids or making a phone available for instructional messages to the kids.

Another lesson is how much we can actually achieve working online. We see that we can engage our local partners online to the extent possible. We also saw how much we can achieve working from home. We were able to do so much, and I see that as the way to go in the future.

USAID’s Trade Hub announces its first co-investment partnership with Nigerian rice company

December 14, 2020

5 min read

The USAID West Africa Trade and Investment Hub is partnering with Nigerian company WACOT Rice Ltd. to expand its base of rice farmers, with significant emphasis on creating programs that elevate youth and women in its network of growers.

The Trade Hub’s co-investment grant of $1.5 million will directly support WACOT’s $8.6 million investment in its Argungu Outgrower Expansion Project, which aims to onboard more than 5,000 new rice farmers, providing them with supplies and training to cultivate their land. WACOT expects that the investment will lead to a 50 percent increase in yield for the farmers, allowing them to reinvest profits in critical areas to expand their production and improve livelihoods.

“The overall impact is to enhance yield per hectare and help farmers better their livelihoods,” says Habiba Suleiman, Strategy and Business Development Manager at WACOT, which is a subsidiary of Tropical General Investments Group. “I’m so positive that this is a step in the right direction.”

Funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Trade Hub is forging unique public private partnerships to unlock capital, create jobs, and catalyze sustainable economic growth in the region. With a major priority to increase food security amidst a rapidly growing West African population, the partnership with WACOT Rice fulfills a core pillar of the Trade Hub’s mission and USAID’s goals in the region.

“The U.S. government is pleased to partner with the private sector in Nigeria to develop market-driven solutions and sustainably improve food security by supporting local rice production,” says USAID Mission Director Anne E. Patterson. “With this new co-investment partnership, smallholder farmers in Kebbi State can increase yields and improve the livelihoods of their families.”

WACOT rice mill — WACOT Rice has the largest rice mill in Africa. Photo by: WACOT Rice Ltd

Meeting local demand, improving food security

Rice is a staple for Nigerian families, who consume more than 7 million tons per year. In what is now known as Nigeria’s “Rice Revolution,” during the last several years Nigeria has gone from importing the majority of its rice from Asia to producing most of it in local paddies.

Though local demand is far from met, companies like WACOT are working to transform arable land into opportunities for communities to enter the rice value chain. Keeping food production local for staples like rice strengthens economies, reduces its reliance on imports and alleviates the environmental impact of the broken global food supply system.

This co-investment grant ties directly with one of the Trade Hub’s major goals: to bolster food security and Nigeria’s self-reliance. Feed the Future, the U.S. government’s initiative to reduce global hunger, funds the Trade Hub’s deal with WACOT. Feed the Future works to increase the poor’s access to nutritious food and transform the agricultural sector.

“Food security is key because of the very serious poverty in these communities,” says Suleiman. “This cycle continues repeating itself. Smallholders are usually the owners of half a hectare of land they inherited, and the farm labor is the wife and children with no mechanization which leads to harvest losses.”

Harvest losses are a critical pressure point for the rice value chain in Kebbi state. According to WACOT, rice farmers lose significant amounts of rice each growing cycle because of the lack of technical knowledge, access to roads and milling and storage facilities and quality inputs. Its Argungu Outgrower Expansion Project plans to stem unnecessary loss of rice through providing high-quality agricultural inputs such as hybrid seed and fertilizer, training and direct access to the market.

Importantly, WACOT also guarantees “offtake” at the end of the harvest, meaning farmers won’t be short-changed by not being able to sell their rice at fair market prices if demand fluctuates.

Technological innovation is another piece of the puzzle in increasing food security while ensuring producers aren’t left behind and are fully integrated into the rice production system. To maintain transparency and good communication between the farmers and the company, WACOT offers access to rice growing apps and employs its Agricultural Management System to track smallholder farmers’ activity, offering timely direction on agricultural practices and monitoring production.

“In terms of their earnings, [this project] helps them send their kids to school, to access better livelihoods, to access better healthcare and to have better nutrition,” says Suleiman.

WACOT rice africa — Investing in the Argungu Outgrower Expansion Project will lead to an additional 20,000 tons of harvested paddy produced.

Investing in women and youth

Because of cultural barriers and other constraints, women and youth are often left out of economic expansion activities in rural areas. In its Argungu Outgrower Expansion Project, WACOT is placing a strong emphasis on elevating these vulnerable populations.

Of the new farmers the project will onboard, 50 percent will be women and 70 percent will be youth. In communities in Kebbi state, youth usually don’t have access to land because ownership is typically determined through inheritance. WACOT will work with youth to bring them greater access to jobs and farming opportunities in their network, aiming to reduce youth unemployment in the region.

“We go down to the grassroots [level] and ensure that these people are empowered for life,” says Suleiman, referring to the skills development WACOT offers its growers.

One of the Trade Hub’s objectives is to dedicate 50 percent of the jobs created through its grants and partnerships to women, closing the gender gap in the workforce in the region.

“Having a strong gender inclusion component in the first grant we announce is a great step for us,” says Chioma Adiele-Okpara, the Trade Hub’s gender specialist, who is developing strategies to include women’s inclusion elements in all of the Trade Hub’s co-investment grants.

Looking ahead

With its first grant designed to impact farmers in an under-resourced state in Nigeria, the Trade Hub is setting the tone for future investments and partnerships. Hand in hand with WACOT’s initiative, the Trade Hub’s mission is to catalyze sustainable economic growth that reaches those at the bottom of value chains as well as competitive businesses.

“We are glad to be partnering with a company that has a track record of impacting thousands of rice farmers,” says Michael Clements, the Trade Hub’s Chief of Party.

NEI Plus and Nigerian government launch “Big Books”

November 19, 2020

Engaging the private sector for stronger, more dynamic education

November 2, 2020

5 min read

A teacher stands in a class full of students in Nigeria. — Increasing coordination with the private sector could help reduce strain on the public education system. Photos by Erick Gibson.

Education is a social investment aimed at shaping the present and the future. Like other investments, it should abide by the rules of a market that demands quality, relevance, durability and reasonableness of price in order to be attractive and appealing to its users.

In low-income economies, the public sector often struggles to meet its mandate for delivering quality education. Weak systems and opaque operations (and sometimes corruption) contribute to this situation.

Engaging the private sector and private schools and leveraging their strengths in the delivery of education — while adhering to government-set standards — could help bridge this gap, strengthen education and ultimately lead to better learning outcomes for students.

In many places, it is clear where the public sector isn’t living up to expectations for education, as the private sector takes on an increasing share of education delivery. In Nigeria, for example, the 2015 National Education Data Survey showed that private schools account for 28 percent of primary school enrollment in the Southeast and 40 percent in the Southwest. According to Development and Cooperation, 33 percent of Kenya’s primary schools are private, and so are 15 percent of all secondary schools. In these cases, private schools’ prevalence can be attributed to several factors, including struggling ministries, unmotivated teachers and teaching professionals, crumbling infrastructure, lack of teaching learning materials, limited funding and loose relationships between the government and communities.

These are compounded by the fact that ministries do not have a clear policy on how to engage with other education providers. The result is obvious: the rapid deterioration in the quality of education provided by the public sector, creating opportunity for the private sector to fill the gap.

When properly implemented, the private sector’s engagement in education boasts dynamism. It is incentive-driven. It is agile and creative. It can easily adapt to changing market demands or circumstances. And, above all, it has the potential and frequently the means to deliver education as a social commodity to society.

However, there are risks to allowing private schools to operate and expand without regulation. Private schools without sufficient oversight can operate at sub-standard level or even be unsafe. Classroom instructors may not have the requisite qualifications to teach, may not follow the national curriculum or administer standardized tests. They might suffer from scarcity of textbooks, teachers’ guides, supplementary reading materials and teaching aid materials.

And, if solely driven by profit, private schools can promote inequity and marginalize lower-income students. In Somalia, according to UNICEF, the majority of education services are run privately and operate on a fee system under a weak government structure. Without regulation, the result is predictable: poor quality of education.

A man and woman review printed education materials. — Facilitating partnerships with printers is one potential route to increased private sector engagement.

Engaging the private sector

How can public education systems work with the private sector in a meaningful way without losing their important oversight responsibilities? This calls for a new approach.

Governments should create space for all education stakeholders including the private sector to become involved, including in the formulation of education policies, standards, strategic plans and regulatory framework from the outset and on a continuing basis. Above all, governments should be supported by putting in place strong regulatory mechanisms and quality assurance systems for education, not just for the benefit of public schools but private schools as well.

Bilateral and multilateral funding agencies could support governments to understand the benefits of public-private partnerships and assist in the development of tools and mechanisms for how to better engage the private sector. They can also encourage the private sector to invest in education while holding governments accountable for creating better-regulated education systems.

Higher education is where private sector engagement is highly sought after. Investing in higher education can be an expensive venture, and running or managing higher education also requires a greater degree of sophistication. The private sector should be encouraged to take partial ownership of the sub-sector to facilitate access to higher education for students who want to continue their studies. Continuing education through non-residential means such as online learning is also a space in which the private sector has great potential. Additionally, privately owned institutions for higher learning could be sources of innovation driven by cutting-edge research.

Strengthening private schools

As governments create space for the private sector to get involved in public education, the public sector can also work to strengthen private education.

Governments can offer a variety of support to establish and advance high-quality private education, such as simplifying and facilitating licensing for private entities, religious organizations and other interested parties that want to offer education while adhering to government-set regulations.

The government could provide land or other facilities for education delivery. It can encourage the private sector to set up training institutes to train teachers and other education professionals who have the desire to work in private or public schools.

Governments should also provide supervisory oversight to private schools to ensure quality.

Encouraging investment and partnerships

Encouraging outside investment and partnerships with other private sector companies can also strengthen the quality of education.

Governments can facilitate dialogue between private schools and banks to increase access to financing and microcredit to support school improvements and encourage easy access to loans for private school operators or other businesses interested in investing in education. Governments could also partner with and incentivize private publishing houses to make teaching and learning materials available to a wider audience at an affordable price.

By supporting the establishment of private and community school associations, governments can help them bargain collectively with banks, publishing houses, and even the government itself.

It is in the interest of making this social service available to the widest possible segment of society, especially children and youth, that the public sector has to engage or provide space to the private sector to take part in it.

This will first create an opportunity to allow more resources to be allocated to education as well as ease the financial burden the government will have to shoulder in delivering education to a wider segment of the society. Second, it will encourage creativity or innovation, enabling education to be more responsive to the evolving skilled labor needs of the market and society in general. And third, more competition will promote improved quality of education services in the future.

Semere Solomon is a Senior Director with the Africa Center at Creative Associates International.

Nigeria: 18 and learning to read

October 22, 2020

1 min read

Aisha married as a teenager before ever attending school. Now, after her divorce, she is learning to read for the first time through an adolescent girls learning center supported by the USAID-funded Northern Education Initiative Plus in Bauchi, Nigeria.

Nigeria: Sports empower girls in Northeast Nigeria

September 17, 2020

1 min read

In Maiduguri, girls have few ways to build self esteem in safe spaces. But a renewed emphasis on girls’ athletics is changing that. A Girls for Peace initiative, sponsored by USAID’s Nigeria Lake Chad Basin program, donated equipment and facilitated a sports tournament for young women in three schools in Maiduguri.

The Nigeria Lake Chad Basin program is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Office of Transition Initiatives.

Nigeria: Virtual reading competition keeps kids engaged

September 16, 2020

By Adebisi Adetunji, Janey Fugate and Christiana Ogbe

2 min read

The U.S. Agency for International Development’s Northern Education Initiative Plus hosted a virtual reading and writing competition for kids in Nigeria’s Bauchi and Sokoto states. In the video above, two of the winners share their entries and their hopes for the future.

Over 250 students submitted recordings of themselves reading essays they wrote, responding to prompts about what they want to be when they grow up, what they love about school or their experience staying at home during the pandemic. Encouraging families to continue reading with their kids and prioritizing their children’s education has been a challenge for educators worldwide since schools closed, but even short-term initiatives like this can give parents goals and keep up learning momentum at home.

Finding creative ways to reach families is critical for several reasons. Development practitioners fear that in places like Nigeria, where early marriage is common for young women, recent gains made in advancing girls’ rights to education and equality will diminish the longer schools are out. In Bauchi and Sokoto states, literacy rates were already very low and the number of out of school children was above average.

But by sharing stories like this and the winners’ entries, kids can set a positive example for their peers about the power of literacy.

“Reading helps me to know more about my community and enables me to support them,” said Idris A. Idris, a finalist from Bauchi.

Part of the “whole child, whole teacher, whole school” approach, involving parents at every step is essential to transforming a culture around reading and education. When asked about the impact this competition had on her child, one finalist’s parent said:

“It will allow my child to read very well, and I will try my best to see that all my children go to school up to the university level.”

In other efforts to respond to the coronavirus pandemic, NEI Plus partnered with UNICEF in Bauchi state and the World Bank in Sokoto state to develop radio lessons that reached over 500,000 students in primary and non-formal learning centers. Also, the Initiative produced Interactive Voice Response (IVR) messages for Early Grade Reading instructions in Hausa and English. Over 11,000 participants, including parents and teachers, received seven different IVR lessons with their wards in Bauchi and Sokoto states.

Nigeria: Non-formal schools give children a jump start

September 15, 2020

1 min read

The U.S. Agency for International Development’s Northern Education Initiative Plus project in Nigeria is opening non-formal schools in rural areas to keep kids learning and prepare them for a formal education. Students like Khadija are a testament to the need for these schools and the power of learning.

The Northern Education Initiative Plus

Funded by USAID, the five-year program strengthens the states’ ability to provide quality education—especially for girls, orphans and children enrolled in nontraditional schools—and improve children’s reading skills. NEI+ works in Bauchi and Sokoto states, using its “whole child, whole teacher, whole school, and whole system approach.” This approach addresses critical supply and demand factors that affect learning, teaching, management, parental participation and responsiveness to children’s needs.

Q&A with Nigerian youth activist Zara Kareto

August 7, 2020

6 min read

Zara Kareto lives in one of the most challenging places for women in West Africa. In the Nigerian city of Maiduguri, the epicenter of the violent extremists Boko Haram, women are often the victims of abuse and kidnappings, as well as bearers of a more pervasive norm of gender discrimination. Women like Zara face an uphill battle to exercise their rights.

But she has picked up the torch for gender rights and equality in her city. Through her advocacy, professional work with an international NGO and an unflinching determination to create safer spaces for girls, she’s organized and led various social media campaigns to combat issues like child trafficking and gender-based violence.

COVID-19 has added a layer of complexity to her work, she says, as extremists have discredited public health messaging and exploited the pandemic to both increase kidnappings and foment an already pervasive distrust of the government.

As a graduate of the USAID’s Office of Transition Initiatives-sponsored “North East Intellectual Fellowship Program,” she honed her advocacy and social media skills that help her to continue her efforts on behalf of girls and women. She was profiled in a short video called “Nigeria: Social media street fighter overcomes hostility when promoting women’s rights,” which was produced in April 2018 by Creative for USAID/OTI.

Creative’s Senior Director of Communications, who produced and directed the video, followed up with Zara in July 2020 with the 28-year-old about her enduring commitment in the face of great personal risk and her ongoing work to address the roots of gender discrimination, whether as a mentor or social media activist.

One of your priorities has been elevating women and their voices. Are you continuing your social media advocacy for women since your fellowship ended? If so, tell us a little about it.

Zara: Absolutely! I never stopped my advocacy for women and girls because it was never about the fellowship, but rather something personal that I am passionate about. The fellowship showed me the right ways to do the advocacy through capacity building on content development, countering negative narratives, peaceful engagement and communication.

Globally, women are being oppressed. However, this can differ from one location to another. In places like where I live, women find it difficult to express their needs, participate in decision making and, even worse, are sometimes severely abused. So, my social media advocacy continues to focus on young girls’ education, on the empowerment of women and girls through giving them access to information to make their own choices, the fight against gender-based violence and the promotion of gender equality.

As a result of my advocacy on social media, I currently have a network of highly supportive feminists, including men and married women. They have served as a reference for anti-feminists on social media who accuse single women of being tyrants against societal norms and culture.

One area the fellowship focused on was developing counter-messaging against Boko Haram and ISWAP. Are you continuing that focus and how has it changed?

Zara: Yes, I am still promoting women and girl’s inclusion in peacebuilding and preventing and countering violent extremism (PCVE) processes. However, the complexity of the insurgency is something that keeps changing with time. Due to one-on-one discussions and the social media campaign I carry out, people in my network are more aware of the important roles of women in peace processes and the disadvantages if neglecting that reality.

I had also met a few PCVE advocates whom I am currently supporting to mainstream gender in their activities. Although, my thematic area even during the fellowship was ‘promoting support for gender and social inclusion in Northeast Nigeria.’ Initially, there was so much resistance and push back on the content I produced with regards to PCVE due to its sensitivity from the community and cautious warnings from family and friends (for my safety). But now, people are learning to live with our contents and sometimes even supporting the course.

What have you done to counter misinformation by violent extremists about COVID-19? Is it working?

Zara: As an advocate, both on social media and in the community that I live in, I’ve kept informing people on the impacts of COVID-19 and the preventative measures and guidelines outlined by the World Health Organization. We have a culture of not allowing young people to live independently before marriage, so I’ve spoken to directly to them about the importance of protecting their aged parents (especially those with underlying conditions) and other loved ones since we live in communal households in the NE. Also, I’ve talked about the the weight of trauma and regret they might end up carrying if they infect anyone who loses his or her life because of negligence.

What and who were your inspiration for your advocacy work? Where do you find strength and passion to continue doing your work daily despite the discouragement and the potential threats?

Zara: My underlying motivation and inspiration are a love for humanity and a passion for issues that affect women and girls! The utter act of being the voice of the voiceless is euphoric. Because I met women and girls who had appreciated me for being bold, I want to speak on their behalf. It’s not just about social media posts to me, it’s about being empowered, reaping the benefits of empowerment and wanting others to have the same or even more. When looking at the history of feminism, I know that someone fought for me in the same way, and so I have a strong desire not to let the labor of the heroes and heroines of feminism go in vain.

What are some of the tools and techniques that are needed in North Nigeria for advocates like yourself to ensure effective advocacy and advocates’ safety at the same time?

Zara: Young people are often victims of exclusion. Due to societal norms and our culture, their opinions do not matter even if issues belonging to their lives are being discussed. But young people need to understand that they are not just victims but actors and can play a vital role in forming the solution to the problems.

Advocates need skill sets and capacity building to materialize their ideas. Mentorship programs are also key to young people. For example, I have seen a group of passionate young people who aspire to be writers. But they lack proper mentorship, support and supervision. Additionally, the threats individuals are exposed to for standing up for a cause, such as countering violent extremism and gender equality, discourage people from contributing more. Young people’s safety has to be prioritized in order for more passionate and intelligent voices to be heard.

Do you think social media has had a positive role in improving Maiduguri?

Zara: Of course. For all its potential to mislead, social media also gives room to counter bad narratives and convince people of the truth. Social media, to a large extent, gives people a platform and freedom to express themselves and their ideas. It also serves as a source of news.

One major challenge is that only a small percentage of the population can afford smartphones and data. So we also need more in person-mentorship for girls and women. I have a group of young girls in my community that I am mentoring to understand the issues that surround us. I have also started an NGO with the mission of educating our communities on different thematic areas such as gender, communication, education and climate change.

Are you optimistic about the future for Maiduguri?

Zara: I am optimistic because, over time, people are becoming more resilient and united against the insurgents. Awareness of the insurgents’ harmful ideologies is gaining ground. However, to achieve and maintain lasting peace, I believe that there is the need to address the root causes of violent extremism, such as poverty, illiteracy, environmental degradation and injustice.

Nigeria: Women for peace platform

July 23, 2020

1 min read

The Nigeria Lake Chad Basin program’s Women for Peace Platform trains women to identify and address challenges in their communities. This leads to greater social cohesion and reduces vulnerabilities to violent extremists. The program is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Office of Transition Initiatives.