According to UNESCO’s Making Education a Priority in the Post – 2015 Development Agenda report, there are still about 57 million children of primary school age, including 31 million girls, who are not in school due to financial, social or physical challenges.

Due to cultural beliefs, poverty, gender stereotypes, religion and early marriage – education has not been a priority for girls. The gender gap in primary education remains significant. This is especially apparent in northern Nigeria where the enrolment ratio of girls to boys ranges from 1 girl to 2 boys and 1 to 3 in some states.

Oando Foundation prioritizes the needs of the girl child across all programme interventions. Specific intervention areas include:

• Voices of the Girl Child Campaign (VoGC): Effectively documented the educational challenges of the Nigerian Girl child in their own voices, across 23 states in Nigeria, advocated for the girl child at various local and international platforms. The Foundation also revised its strategy to increase girl child inclusion.
• Code Club for Girls in partnership with Theirworld UK: Designed to empower girls in Oando adopted schools with technology skills through creativity and learning. The curriculum was developed in partnership with Theirworld UK, Kano and Codecademy. 60 girls are benefitting under the pilot project in Lagos State.
• Oando Scholars Programme: Prioritizes the girl child in its scholar selection and award process. From inception, 618 female beneficiaries representing 55% of total scholars on the scheme.
• Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH): Lack of privacy for the girl child due to inadequate facilities to support WASH needs, especially during their menstrual cycle is a key challenge. The Foundation continues to support WASH needs in adopted schools through provision of portable water supply, wash bays, and toilets
• Enrolment of Out of School Children (OOSC): 7,659 girls mobilized and enrolled in OF adopted schools across 9 northern states in the 2017/2018 academic session, in collaboration with the relevant state agencies and the School Based Management Committees (SBMCs).
• Safe Spaces for the Girl Child: Oando Foundation supports safe spaces for the girl child in local communities as an active member of the Safe Spaces Technical Working Group (TWG) of the Girl Hub Nigeria (GHN) and the Population Council Commission.