Blog – Page 2 – Girls Education Mission International

GEM International trained teachers in Plateau-South

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IN continuation of its ‘Linking Teachers Welfare with quality and standard’, the Girls Education Mission International (GEM), has trained over seventy teachers and supervisors drawn from six Local Government Areas in Southern Senatorial Zone of Plateau State. The organization in collaboration with the Plateau State Universal Basic Education Board, funded by TY Danjuma Foundation organized the

training tagged; “2021 Teachers Training Plateau State” at the Headquarters of Shendam LGA from Monday April 12 and ended Friday April 16, 2021.

Speaking shortly after the Closing Ceremony, the Executive Director of GEM, Mrs. Keturah Shammah, described the training as enriching and impacting because participants were trained in some of the school curriculum and how to protect the rights of learners in schools.

She said, “looking at the present condition of education, we discovered that the quality of education is gradually going down and we thought it is important for the Teachers’ capacities to be built for effective and better learning and performance of Learners.

“We were able to train them on effective use of Modem curriculum of the Universal Basic Education and digital literacy. They were also trained on how to protect the rights of learners and how to conduct themselves as teachers and role models to their fatherland”, Shammah highlighted.

She, however, expressed concern that the level of digital literacy of teachers in Southern Zone was not encouraging and called on the government to ensure that the capacity of teachers in the zone was properly built in that aspect, because out of the participants, only a few of them have this knowledge.

GEM in collaboration with PSUBEB through TY Danjuma Foundation, have similarly carried out such trainings for over sixty Teachers in Northern Senatorial Zone of the state from October 5 to October 9, 2020 and donated over six hundred textbooks, while this recent one in Southern Zone, a number of White Boards were donated.

On his part, the Program Officer Mr Otache John Emmanuel, who is also the Monitoring & Evaluation Officer, called on Government, Civil Society Organizations and spirited individuals to support GEM in their quest to change the daunting educational narrative of the country and these children by equipping teachers.

At the UN CSW65, Girls Education Mission International sings global statement to protect women’s civic freedom to enhance their public life.

Across the world, women who are civil society actors, journalists and activists have achieved significant gains while at the same time facing significant hurdles.

Recognizing the victories of women in civil society, it is important that we too call for the barriers to their work to be removed once and for all.

The theme for this year’s 65th United Nations’ Commission on the Status of Women, is Women’s full and effective participation and decision-making in public life.

Girls Education Mission International delegates at the Virtual 65 UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW65) together with with other 272 civil society organization call for change to the civic space barriers facing women around the world, by signing a Global Statement, demanding change and recognition for women in civil society who defend our human rights!

Read the full statement

GEM International at UN Multi-Stakeholder Hearing – Accelerating the Realization of Gender Equality and the Empowerment of all Women and Girls.

In context of the emerging and existing gaps in the realization of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. It’s obvious that “important gains have been achieved as more girls are in school than ever before and more countries have reached gender parity in educational enrolment; the global maternal mortality ratio has decreased significantly, and the proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel increased over the past decade”.
However, “in recent years progress has been uneven and even stalled in some areas. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to halt or reverse the gains of decades of collective effort on gender equality and the empowerment of women. Across every sphere, from health to the economy, security to social protection, women and girls are disproportionately affected”.

In support of the critical role that women and girls play in building resilience and recovery efforts in both the rapid response and the long-term. Girls Education Mission International is mobilizing to accelerate progress and achieve systemic change. One way of bringing this forward is the participation in the multi-stakeholder hearing which is aim to take stock of the outcomes and recommendations of the 25-year review processes, including the sixty-fourth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. The multi-stakeholder hearing which was held virtually on 21st July 2020 provided an opportunity for GEM tree delegates to exchange experiences, lessons learned and good practices among different stakeholders, through inter-active dialogues, to advance the full, effective and accelerated implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.

Participants.

The multi-stakeholder hearing brought together representatives States Members of the UN of the United Nations and members of the specialized agencies that have observer status with the General Assembly, intergovernmental organizations and entities that have observer status with the Assembly. In addition, parliamentarians, representatives of non-governmental organizations in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council, invited civil society organizations, national human rights institutions, academic institutions, and the private sector.

In effort to taking concrete action, Girls Education Mission International has launched an emergency response appeal fund to enable girls recover better. Donations towards this effort can be made using this link

https://www.globalgiving.org/fundraisers/34794/

Watch the recording of the even on webtv.un.org with interpretation in 6 official languages.

GEM International attends Virtual Consultative Presentation of the 2020-2023 Midterm Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF/FST)

As part of our public policy advocacy with the Government on gender-responsive budgeting, on 10th July, 2020 Girls Education Mission International attended a Virtual Consultative Forum hosted By the Honorable Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed alongside Prince Clem Agba – minister of State Budget and National Planning and DG budget – Dr. Ben Akabueze. The consultation which was basically a presentation of the 2020-2023 Midterm Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF/FST) had the presentation of the Finance minister in the followings areas:
1. The implication of global and domestic development on Nigerian Economy:
2. Update on 2020 Revised Budget which was accented by the President earlier today.
3. Overview of 2020 Fiscal outcome (Jan-May 2020).
4. 2020-2023 underlying assumptions during macroeconomic parameters and targets.

Here are concerns drawn from the MTEF/FSP Paper presented by the Honorable Minister of Finance Hajiya Zainab Ahmad Shamsuma.

1. Real GDP declined from 2.55% in 4th quarter of 2019 to 1.87% in the 1st quarter of 2020.

2. Nigeria real GDP is now projected by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) to contract by 42% in 2020 as against the previous projected growth of 2.92%.

3. 2nd & 3rd quarter 2020 GDP growth are projected to be negative, which means that economy will lapse into a second recession in 4 years.

4. Total number of unemployment people increased from 17.6 million in 4th quarter 2017 to 20.9 million 3rd quarter 2018.

5. The above signals a serious challenge on the Nigerian Economy.

Details of the full presentations can be found through this link. https://www.budgetoffice.gov.ng/…/hmfbnp-mtef-fsp-2021-2023…

But there is hope! Yes! There is hope for the girl child as Girls Education Mission International works hard to making life better for Girls amidst the economic and social danger through a COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund.

You may wish help get girls recover better by making a generous donation to our fundraiser using this link

https://www.globalgiving.org/fundraisers/34794/

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GEM International Year 2019 in Photos

Thank you for the incredible year 2019!

Happy New Year! Happy start to our Decade of Possibilities. Greetings on behalf of all of us at Girls Education Mission International. What an incredible year we leave behind us! The Year 2019 took us around 16 States in Nigerian including the FCT Abuja and one State in the Sierra Leone. Together, we mobilized, inspired and speed up our mission to have reached out to over 10,000 people. The momentum is huge. There is much more in store for the onward journey of always soaring aspirations and inspiring actions. Our Decade of Possibilities is in our hands and we are starting now as we swing into the New year in a good note.