18,000 Nigerian girls benefit from $465,000 ‘mercy corps’ project

No fewer than 18,00 Young Nigerian Girls between the ages of 16 and-19 years have so far benefited from the $465,000 ‘’Mercy Corps’’ mentoring and empowerment project which began in 2013 to date, Mercy Corps, School-To- Work Adviser, Abiose Harun has said.

Haruna told Journalist on Tuesday at a Joint and Intimate gathering among Nigeria’s Financial inclusion pioneers in Abuja.

‘’This is a project called, ‘’The accelerating Skills’’ through training and skill building, this is the project the Master Card is funding for us presently in four States of Kano, Kaduna, Lagos and FCT, Abuja, in this first phase,, our focus is on young Nigerian girls that are out of school, marginalized girls between the ages of 16-19 years, we build their skills in Entrepreneurship and for their Economic Empowerment, we then give them grants to start their business’’.

Mercy Corps is a leading global humanitarian agency, saving and improving lives in the world’s toughest places, it has been implementing the Accelerating savings and strengthening Entrepreneurship through Training and Skill [ASSETS] project, which seeks to improve the economic status of marginalized adolescent girls through enhanced skills, knowledge and access to financial services.

According to her, ‘’One of the things that the Master Card has been able to do through their funding is to set-up these young girls in business, but we are also looking on how these girls can be financially included, being part of the formal sector, through this project, we’ve been able to open accounts for them, we also have enrolled them for the National ID card, so when they get profits from their business, they pay such to their accounts.

She sated that so far, the project has been very successful because one can now see a lots of young girls coming into business as they are now having full confidence.

‘’One of the ways we have been creating access to financial services and ensuring financial inclusion is supporting project beneficiaries to enroll for the national ID cards, in collaboration with Master Card who share our vision, we have been able to provide identification and access to a wide range of financial tools and services’’

She said, ‘’Mercy Corps is not actually doing the funding but that it it gets funds from Donor agencies such as Master Card, Coca-Cola, UK Department for International Development while we go out to do the skills training, mentor ship and enlistments.

Earlier, the Country-Director of Mercy Corps Nigeria told Journalists the organization is giving better attention to Adolescence girls, their Economic Empowerment, conflicts resolutions like the Farmers and Herd’s Men clashes in the Middle Belt, Financial Re silence and that of Humanitarian Services.