The United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, has underscored the importance of the ongoing implementation of the Girls Education Skills Partnership (GESP) by NGO, Sightsavers, describing the initiative as a practical and impactful intervention aimed at equipping girls and young women with disabilities with the skills needed to transition into sustainable livelihoods.

This was during a courtesy visit by prospective donors, who applauded the organisations for their commitment to empowering girls and adolescents living with disabilities.

The programme, funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and implemented by Sightsavers alongside other partners under the supervision and coordination of UNICEF, targets adolescent girls and young women with disabilities through mentoring, coaching, entrepreneurship training, digital literacy and employability support.

During the visit, Chief of UNICEF’s Lagos Office covering Southwest Nigeria and Lead of the Private Sector Partnerships Unit for Nigeria and Generation Unlimited Nigeria, Céline Lafourrière, commended the ongoing implementation by Sightsavers stressing that leaving no one behind remains a key priority for UNICEF.

According to her, girls living with disabilities face unique barriers, particularly when visual impairment is compounded by low levels of literacy and numeracy.

She said: “Girls living with disabilities are particularly important. Now, when people are living with a sight impairment, it becomes extremely difficult to get to them when they have low levels of literacy and numeracy.

“This programme has shown that it can be very practical, very much focused on the practice, whether it is about women wanting to become sellers on the market, or whether it is about young women trying to transition into the private sector.”

Lafourrière also lauded Sightsavers for its sustained intervention and commitment to improving the lives of persons with visual impairment, particularly young women.

“Sightsavers has been very good. They have this expertise of knowing how to teach young women living with a sight impairment and how to build the links within the partnership.”

She further stressed the need for stronger collaboration among development partners, government institutions, and like-minded organisations to ensure the long-term sustainability and expansion of the initiative.

Her words: “It’s a very important partnership because it brings together different partners, including the government, to make sure that we can work with girls to equip them with skills to support them to transition into dignified livelihood.”

Also speaking, Country Director of Sightsavers Nigeria, Professor Joy Shu’aibu, described the GESP as a special intervention focused on adolescent girls and young women with disabilities, noting that the programme is designed to boost their confidence, expand their opportunities and equip them for independent living.

Shu’aibu explained that the programme is specifically targeted at young girls, adolescents, and young women with disabilities, and is built around three major pillars.

According to her, there are three things that this programme seeks to do which are to ensure that they provide mentoring and coaching for girls and adolescent girls with disabilities who are still young so that they can become whatever they want to become.

“We want to encourage them, boost their self-esteem, and give them the options that are available for them as they grow in the future,” Shu’aibu stated.

She said the programme also focuses on entrepreneurship development for young women, enabling them to build sustainable businesses and support themselves and their families.

Her words: “We are also targeting young women to help them with entrepreneurship skills. So we are working with ITF that provides training for them on how to manage their business, how to keep their books, how to make profits, you know, and how to just understand what happens in the business world. Because our hope is that they are able to fend for their families.”

Shu’aibu added that participants are equally exposed to digital and employability skills through a computer-based learning platform known as Accenture, which helps them develop workplace readiness skills such as Curriculum Vitae (CV) writing, interview preparation and job-seeking competencies.

According to her, the organisation is also working with Organisations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs), to ensure fair and transparent beneficiary selection.

She disclosed that in Lagos, Sightsavers is partnering with Project Enable, while in Kano, it is working with the Kanawa Foundation, noting that the groups help mobilise and identify persons with disabilities within their communities.

She further explained that for adolescent beneficiaries, the organisation works with the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), to identify schools with students living with disabilities, while young women are selected through an open and transparent application process.

Giving their remarks at the event, some beneficiaries expressed appreciation for the intervention, noting that the programme had equipped them with practical skills and broadened their livelihood opportunities. They, however, identified low profit returns and difficult to sell products in their businesses as a major challenge, even as they acknowledged the positive impact the initiative has had on their personal and economic growth.