News & Reports
eFLHE: GPI Calabar Train More Teachers
As part of the Federal Government’s policy on Family Life and HIV/AIDS Education implementation in schools, Girls’ Power Initiative (GPI) Calabar Centre held a three day training for secondary school teachers in Calabar to equip them with the needed skills for the implementation of the E-FLHE programme in the state.
Trainers, Isu Okpa and Ndodeye Bassey help teachers in the Learning About Living (LAL) training of teachers in Calabar 8-10 February, 2011.
The goal of the E-FLHE training was to equip teachers in Cross River State with skills and information on E-FLHE; and the objectives included assisting young people acquire ICT skills; equipping young people (through the teachers) with information using ICT to assist them to make informed decisions about their sexual health; improving discussions and information on Sexuality/Family Life and HIV Education and reducing socio-cultural tendencies that may lead to reluctance in discussing these issues; and increasing gender equality by offering positive alternatives.
Group photograph of teachers and trainers participating in the Learning About Living (LAL) training of teachers in Calabar 8-10 February, 2011.
Topics facilitated during the training were:
- Gender Roles by Isu Okpa
- Goal Setting by Ndodeye Bassey
- STI/HIV/AIDS by Ndodeye Bassey
Ford Foundation Visit GPI Benin
Ford Foundation with an interest to record the progress of Girls’ Power Initiative, get further insight into her current programs, sustainability plans and meet her functionaries, visited the GPI Benin office.
The team was received by the coordinator of GPI Edo State Grace Osakue, 9 members of Staff, 2 GPI girls and 3 Graduates of the Organisation was led by the Program officer for sexuality and reproductive health and rights West Africa, Prof. Friday Okonofua and comprised of Margaret Hempek, Director, Sexuality and Reproductive Health and Rights New York, Eka Esu Williams, Program Officer, Sexuality and Reproductive Health and Rights South Africa and Vanita Nayak Mukherjee, Program Officer, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights India.
There was an interactive session and Grace Osakue gave an overview on Girls’ power Initiative. She thanked Ford Foundation for their continuous support to the organization since 1997 and initiated self introductions. The program staff and unit heads present enlightened the team on their areas of expertise and the projects, activities and interventions they were currently undertaking. This enlightened the team on the work the organization was doing and the diverse areas she was currently working in as well as the programs successes and challenges.
During the session, the big question raised was on impact evaluation and the cost effectiveness of the GPI program. Some graduates of the program were present to answer pertinent questions and Prof Friday Okoknofua reiterated the importance of a proper comprehensive and detailed evaluation of the impact of the GPI program.
Eka Esu Williams agreed on the superiority of quality over quantity in assessing the cost effectiveness of the program and applauded the idea of the organisation having specific short term activities and programs that connect outcomes with figures and numbers while still maintaining the in depth 3 year sexuality education, life management, human rights, and Gender sensitivity training for empowerment which is the core of GPI’s programming. This training has the greatest impact on the beneficiaries as a result of its long term nature and consistent interaction although it may not seem cost effective in relation with the number of graduates produced and the resources employed in training those graduates.
Prof Okonofua thanked GPI Benin for the reception, applauded her successes and encouraged her to keep taking the initiative and continue the good work she was doing in Nigeria.
It was a mutually satisfying visit as all the questions raised were satisfactorily answered. Grace Osakue gave a vote of thanks and group photographs were taken to document the auspicious event.
Family Life and HIV/AIDS Education: GPI hosts Project Management Committee in Calabar
GIRLS’ POWER INITIATIVE (GPI) NIGERIA, on Feburay 3, 2011, hosted a one-day meeting of Cross River State Project Management Committee (PMC) of Family Life and HIV/AIDS Education (FLHE) at its National Headquarters in Calabar. The well-attended meeting, organized by the Cross Rover State Ministry of Education in collaboration with One World UK, was called to discuss the implementation of FLHE programme in Cross River State of Nigeria.
Attending the meeting were representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the state Ministry of Education, the All Nigeria Conference of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPPS), Secondary Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Cross River State Agency or the Control of AIDS (SACA), Federal Ministry of Education, Association for Reproductive and Family Health (ARFH) and the media.
The PMC meeting had five main objectives: to inaugurate new members into the management committee; to acquaint these new members with the PMC’s terms of reference; to evaluate FLHE implementation in schools; to identify challenges inhibiting the smooth operation of the management committee; and to develop checklist for monitoring of the project. All the objectives were met.
Presentations at the meeting included: The Role of PMC in the implementation of FLHE/EFLHE in Cross River State Secondary Schools given by Mrs. Ninka Takon, the Director of Schools, Cross River State Ministry of Education; Monitoring and Evaluation of FLHE in Cross River State Secondary Schools, given by Professor Bene Madunagu, Chair of GPI Executive Board of Trustee and Coordinator of GPI, Calabar Centre; and Monitoring and Evaluation of the effective implementation of FLHE in Cross River State by Barrister Francis Oyije.
Mrs. Takon, Director of Schools and Team Leader, Critical Mass in HIV/AIDS in the Cross River State Ministry of Education, who welcomed the participants to the meeting also gave the vote of thanks at the end. She thanked everyone for taking time of out their very busy schedule to be part of the meeting and through their useful contributions, made the event a huge success.
Report by
Emilia Eyo
Collaboration with the ministry of education: GPI Donates curriculum to commissioner
A team of staff from Girls’ Power Initiative (GPI) Calabar Centre on 18th of January 2011 paid a courtesy visit to the Honourable Commissioner Cross River State Ministry of Education, Professor Offiong E. Offiong. The team which was led by Professor Bene Madunagu, Coordinator GPI Calabar Centre thanked the Honourable Commissioner for taking time out from his busy schedule to receive the GPI team. She went ahead to say GPI was very grateful to the Ministry for nurturing a fruitful partnership towards sustaining the Family Life and HIV/AIDS Education in the state.
Prof. Bene Madunagu donating sets of the "It's All One Curriculum" to Prof. Offiong E. Offiong, Hon. Commissioner for Education, Cross River State.
In his response, Professor Offiong pointed out that CRS is one of the leading states in Nigeria in terms of disseminating information on Family Life and HIV/AIDS Education and curriculum development in the state. He confessed that this was achieved with the active partnership with GPI.
Professor Bene Madunagu donated some copies of the “It’s All One Curriculum” to the Cross River State Ministry of Education through the Commissioner who thanked the organization and pointed out that the donation was a symbolic and unique gesture. He pledged that the Ministry will support GPI in all her activities.
Barrister Frank Oyije a staff of the Ministry thanked GPI once again for all the contributions so far in all the activities in the ministry especially during the trainings of teachers and students in state schools.
Report byComfort Ikpi
Facilitator, GPI Calabar Centre
GPI Benin Train More Teachers On E-FLHE
In continuation of her efforts to expand the implementation of the electronic version of the Family Life and HIV/AIDS Education curriculum in schools in Edo State, Girls’ Power Initiative (GPI), Benin City centre held a two-day training for more teachers from selected schools in Edo State.
Declaring the workshop open, the HIV/AIDS Desk Officer of the Ministry of Education, Dr. Uyi Oni-Ekhoe said this training is in line with the Ministry of Education programmes to ensure that there is more HIV/AIDS awareness in secondary schools in Edo State.
While thanking GPI for organizing the training and collaborating with the Ministry Education, Dr. Uyi Oni-Ekhoe told the participants that the eFLHE has been integrated into various subjects like Home Economics, Basic Science, Social Studies, Physical and Health Education etc. This training is aimed at equipping the teachers with the necessary skills to enable them teach the different topics in the curriculum more effectively. She therefore urged the teachers present to take the training seriously.
The next session was facilitated by Ese Amadasun, during which he gave background of LAL/EFLHE, types of activities, as well as how to prepare for a LaL lesson.
The session on Monitoring and evaluation was facilitated by Dr. Uyi Oni-Ekhoe. Using the various evaluation tools, Dr. Uyi Oni urged the participants to be attentive during the training so as to be able to acquire the needed skills that can help them during teaching sessions in their various schools, saying that both GPI and the Ministry of Education will be paying regular visits to their schools to see how they are using the eFLHE.
The next session was on computer appreciation skills. This session created room for the teachers to learn basic computer skills and also how to upload the Learning about Living (LaL) package into the computer. This session generated more interest and enthusiasm on the part of the teachers because lack of computer skills is one of the major challenges they will face during the eFLHE implementation in their various schools.
In order to further build up the skills of the teachers on how to use the eFLHE, Toyin Bakare and Blessing Ehiagwina facilitated the sessions on STIs HIV/AIDS and Communication. This sessions were to serve as an example to the teachers on how they can use the LaL cd and manual in their various schools.
The next session was micro teaching this each participant were given a topic to facilitate. These practical sessions gave the teachers opportunity to demonstrate all they have been taught and also show how they will use the eFLHE in their various schools.
At the end of the training, Learning about Living CDs, DVDs, Manuals as well as MyQ and MyA posters and handbills were distributed to the participants.
In attendance were teachers from 5 secondary schools, representatives of the State Universal Education Board (SUBEB) and Ministry of Education.
Skills Training at the Calabar Centre
The first phase of GPI skills training programme for the year 2011 for the benefit of adolescent girls at the Calabar Centre of GPI took place on May 5th and 6th 2011.
GPI alumna and resource person, Ukeme, teaches GPI girls beading of flower vases, hand bags and hair ruffles in Calabar on 5-6 May, 2011.
The aim of the skills training is to increase the capacity of the GPI girls to acquire economic and management skills. It is hoped that being encouraged to develop specific talents and skills will help them to resist sexual abuse or exploitation as well as developing the creative abilities and providing them with an activity to make productive use of their leisure time.
For this year’s event the skills learnt were Artwork and Beading. Approximately 145 girls took part on each of the two days of the training. The report of the training was compiled by Jennifer Benton, a volunteer staff and Emilia Eyo, a regular staff of GPI, Calabar Centre.
GPI holds Strategic Planning Workshop Abuja
Girls’ Power Initiative (GPI), Nigeria held her Strategic Planning Workshop from 14th to 18th November 2010 in Abuja, the country’s capital. The meeting had in attendance 42 participants from the four centres of GPI in Nigeria, namely, Asaba, Benin, Calabar and Uyo. The participants included facilitators, support staff, coordinators and GPI girls.
The workshop had the following objectives: to review, adjust, validate the mission and vision statements, and focus of GPI to make them consistent with the changing environment; to review, validate and prioritize the critical issues to be addressed by GPI in the next 5 years; to clearly define and prioritize the actions to address the issues identified; to review and consider the implications and demands of the data and knowledge gathered including the external environmental analysis in formulating the strategy. Emphasis will be placed on broad, strategic “big picture” issues/considerations over the next 5 years. The focus will be on the GPI’s vision, mission, strategic objectives and programme thrusts as well as institutional development goals.
The workshop started with an opening remark by Grace Osakue, the Coordinator GPI Benin centre who welcomed participants. She hoped the workshop would provide space for participants to interact, learn, participate actively as well as give honest suggestions during discussions. Participants took time to introduce themselves while stating their delights and fears.
Delights were: exposure to trainings and self development; Connections with young people and leadership skills to lead young girls; Access to correct information which has helped in coping with every day’s challenges; Opportunity to use the GPI platform to change and impact positively on lives of people, especially young people; and being able to impart information to girls and assist them take informed decisions.
The fears included: the fact that many localities are yet to be reached due to lack of funding; inability of GPI graduates to meet up with the expectations of the programme after graduation; the inadequate interest and responsiveness by some parents of GPI girls; and limited funding and funding fatigue
Participants had the following expectations: Being able to accomplish each task on the agenda at the end of each day; Being able to come up with new GPI activities at the end of the workshop; Being able to find fund raising strategies to raise money for the organization; and Learn at least one new skill.
The workshop featured various presentations, including: GPI’s journey so far; review of GPI’s Mission, Vision and Values; report writing and Documentation Techniques; review of GPI’s activities; development of Objectives, Verifiable Indicators, Means of Verification and Assumptions of each activity; Budget and Fundraising; GPI Strength Weakness Opportunities and Threats; and ICT components of GPI
The workshop also featured various group work, discussion and brainstorming sessions that gave rise to the following outcomes:GPI’s Mission, Vision and Value were reviewed and below is the consensus agreed on:
Reviewed Vision: A team working with passion and commitment, upholding feminist ideology with integrity and responsiveness while promoting equal opportunities for all.
Reviewed Goal: Promote the Sexual and Reproductive Rights and development of the full potentials of the girl child in Nigeria.
Reviewed Value: A team working with passion and commitment, upholding feminist ideology with integrity and responsiveness while promoting equal opportunities for all.
Old Mission retained: To empower adolescent girls with accurate information on their sexuality, human rights; life management and leadership skills from a gender perspective for social action.
During a session on GPI’s journey so far, participants highlighted some achievements of GPI over the past 16 years:
• Production of 1st GPI training manuals on comprehensive sexuality Education for adolescents and reviewed it over the past years.
• Various researches on Trafficking and Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
• Expansion of GPI outreach programmes to private and public secondary schools
• Gained ECOSOC (Economic and Social Council) status
• GPI increased her visibility by expanding into 2 more states (Akwa Ibom State-Uyo Centre and Delta State-Asaba Centre)
• GPI runs the GPI Television Programme in Benin, Asaba and Calabar; GPI on Air
• Formulation of GPI Alumnae Association
• GPI participated in various exchange programmes in Mozamgbique, Kenya, etc
• GPI signs a Memorandum of Understanding with Cross River and Edo States Ministries of Education
• GPI Increased awareness/influencing the successful legislation on bills against FGM and trafficking in girls and women.
• Produced the GPI Sexuality Series on growing up issues for young people from Series 1-Series 7
• GPI Calabar and Benin builds and moves to her permanent sites
• GPI was awarded by World Association on Sexuality in 2007
During a Session on Review of GPI Activities, all the GPI activities were agreed to be very effective and useful in reaching various targets in the community with information on Sexuality, Gender and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights. They went ahead to mention new activities should be introduced. Some of them are:
• Recreational activities like sports.
• Establishment of Information Communication Technology centres that would include instructional communication technology
• Mobile Counseling
• Annual Camp for GPI girls from all the centres in Nigeria
• Impact assessment of all the GPI programmes
• GPI founder’s day
• Recreational centre for GPI girls
• Income Generating Activities
• Fully functional and equipped resource centre
• Annual staff retreat
• The use of social media in mobilizing
During the session on ICT, participants said they had been using tools including: Computers/laptops; Internet services - e-mail, websites; Projectors; Mobile phones; Social media – facebook, hi 5; and Information Education and Communication (IEC) materials.
To achieve the following objectives: Easy communication - Send reports to other centres; access useful information that is relevant to GPI’s work; reach out to a larger community with information materials on Sexuality, Gender and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights; get a wide range of feedback to assist GPI improve on her activities; give up to date information to beneficiaries as well as funders; it makes networking with other NGOs easier; it has developed staff skills in the area of computer appreciation; easy and more participatory facilitation; easy mobilization of young people for campaigns; and advertisement of GPI activities
Since ICT is crucial to GPI’s work in this era it was agreed by participants to add the following ICT tools: Facebook; Blogs; Youtube; Skype; Twitter; and 2Go
GPI staff expressed gratitude for such a wonderful forum to interact with each and learn useful skills during the workshop. Some outputs of what participants learnt are:
• Learnt what Strategic Planning is and is not
• Being able to derive objectives from an existing problem
• Learnt how to develop a log frame
• Learnt the important elements of report writing
• Learnt about Verbs that should be used and not used when developing objectives
• Learnt the five “Ws” and one “H” of reporting
The session on strategies and activities enabled us gain more information on the activities going on in other centers, talk about their challenges as well as make useful suggestion on how best to improve on it.
The workshop ended with a written evaluation by all the participants using questionnaire method, a vote of thanks on behalf of all staff by Elizabeth from GPI Benin. She thanked members of GPI executive Board for the space provided for GPI staff in the country to interact and share ideas on how to continue affecting girls and women lives positively in the Nigeria. She wished everyone journey mercies back home while Prof. Bene Madunagu Coordinator, GPI Calabar centre thanked all participants for contributing to the success of the workshop by participating actively in all sessions and resource persons for taking out time to prepare for their presentations, noting it had assisted in generating very useful deliberations. She hoped there will be another gathering for GPI to share this kind of sisterly love and wished everyone a safe journey back home.
Report by Emilia Eyo, Facilitator, GPI Calabar Centre
GPI Calabar holds Parents/ Daughters/Teachers Forum
On Sunday, March 6, 2011, Girls’ Power Initiative (GPI) Calabar centre held a forum for parents, teachers & the adolescent girls who are the primary beneficiaries in the GPI programme at the GPI Calabar office, Anyamurau Residential Estate, Atimbo, Calabar. The programme was an avenue for the above-mentioned category of persons to meet and deliberate on the challenges encountered while relating with each other and empower them with tips on how to build a healthy parent/daughter/teacher relationship.
The forum, which was also used to mark the International Women’s Day had as its theme “Equal Access to Training on Science and Technology: A Necessity for Nation Building” drawn from the global theme “Equal Access to Education, Science and Technology: A Pathway to Decent Work for Women.”
The specific objectives of the programme were:
- To enhance parents/teachers/daughters communication and relationships
- To create a safe space for parents and daughters to interact with one another
- To provide opportunity for parents and teachers to interact with GPI programme staff and have a better understanding of the GPI programme
- To mobilize the support of parents and teachers for GPI programme.
A total of 362 participants were in attendance. The table below shows a breakdown of attendance, comprising of parents of GPI girls, teachers from some of the secondary schools GPI works with, GPI girls and staff.
The event featured panel discussions by parents, teachers and GPI girls on the impact of GPI on the lives of their daughters/wards and difficulties encountered in trying to communicate sexuality issues effectively; song, drama and a game to ascertain how well parents/daughters know each other.
In her opening remarks, the Coordinator of GPI Calabar Centre, Prof. Bene Madunagu welcomed all the parents and daughters as well as the GPI girls to the forum, which she said is to create an avenue for parents to share their experiences and challenges in trying to relate with their children. She noted that the forum was held to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the International Women’s Day, celebrated every year on the 8th of March pointing out that the global and organizational themes were an assurance and a call to action for parents and teachers to ensure that they train their daughters in a way that they will develop the skills to be able to access better choices of science and technological education and careers.
Panel Discussion
The panel comprised of two parents, a teacher and 2 GPI girls. They were Mrs. Lydia Ogbeche and Hon. Edet Archibong for parents; Mrs. Roseline Ito representing teachers while Angela Ogbeche and Blessing Francis represented GPI girls.
Issues addressed by the panel centered on the positive or negative changes observed in their daughters/students after joining GPI and the difficulties or challenges encountered in discussing sexuality issues comfortably with their daughters and students (for parents and teachers), while the two GPI girls shared their level of comfort in discussing issues of sexuality with their parents.
Output from panel discussion:
- Impact of GPI on daughters/students’ lives:
All two parents and the teacher testified to the positive impact of GPI in their daughters/students’ lives. The positive transformation they all observed were increased self-esteem as seen in the change from timid to bold, positive attitudes and improved relationships with others such as show of respect to parents and other elders, good personal hygiene and development of public speaking skills.
For instance, Mrs. Angela Ogbeche, one of the parents said “I have been able to see a lot of remarkable changes. In terms of attitude, she is very respectful now, very bold and outspoken. Before now, when they are visitors in the house, she withdraws into the room but now, she sits with them and discusses intelligently with them”.
Also, the teacher, Mrs. Roseline Itor described the positive change in girls who join GPI as a ‘Sharp contrast’, saying “Before now, they were mostly unkempt, behave unruly and recalcitrant in school. As a school counselor, I got to observe that those of them who joined GPI started to maintain good personal hygiene and above all, they can stand anywhere and represent you and you can be assured they will do very good.”
However, one of the parents, Hon. Edet Archibong observed that along with the positive changes in his daughter’s life, some negative attitudes exhibited by her include sluggishness and indolence, sleeping a lot and not taking initiative. He appealed to GPI to try to change these aspects of his daughter’s life.
- Ability to discuss comfortably with parents on sexuality issues:
The two GPI girls shared that as a result of GPI, they had developed a good comfort level in discussing issues of sexuality with their parents, compared to the time they had not joined GPI. When probed on the most recent sexuality issue they discussed with their parents, Angela, 13 years shared thus “I asked my dad a question on how long it takes a man to produce sperms. He told me he wasn’t sure of the answer, but promised to research the answer on the internet for me. He did so and gave me the answer in a few days time.”
- Difficulties in trying to discuss sexuality issues:
Most of the difficulties shared by parents centered on a low comfort level in discussing such issues with their children and how to give age-appropriate information to their children when they ask questions on sexuality issues. For instance, a parent shared thus, “when my son was six years old, he saw a woman who was pregnant and asked me why the woman’s stomach was so big and when I responded that it was because she had a baby in her womb, he wanted to know how the baby got in there. I was at a loss over what to tell him but I just told him that a baby enters the womb when mummy and daddy sleep together on the same bed.”
Also, another parent from the audience shared how she found it difficult to answer a question from her six-year old nephew who wanted to know why her son had hair under the armpit and in the pubic region and he did not. According to the parent, till the day of the forum, she had not been able to answer the question, but rather, she branded the little boy a witch for asking such a question.
For GPI girls on the other hand, Angela said she did not have any difficulty discussing with parents about sexuality issues, while Blessing said she still faced difficulties trying to address the problem of gender discrimination in her home.
Value added by the moderator and other facilitators:
- Need for parents to provide accurate, age-appropriate information to their children when they ask questions on sexuality issues and make use of teachable moments when they arise. Thus, parents should not shy away from answering their children’s questions’; else they provide grounds for such children to seek information from unreliable sources.
- Need for everyone to address parts of the body by their correct, biological names and do away with such tags like ‘private part’. This will help to improve comfort level in discussing such issues.
- Fathers were urged to be more regular and consistent at home so as to build a close bond with their children, and by so doing, encourage/create avenues for open communication.
Game:
A game titled “How well do you know your parent or daughter?” was introduced. The essence of the game was to foster healthy parent/daughter relationship through communication and getting to know each other better. One family, a mother and her daughter were used to play the game while other parents and daughters observed.
The game revealed that the mother did not know much about her daughter for example; she did not know who her daughter’s best friend was, her favourite subject in school and other little details about her daughter. On the other hand, the daughter answered all questions concerning her mother correctly, showing that she had good knowledge of who her mother was.
Parents/daughters were therefore encouraged to improve relationships at home by getting to know each other better.
General comments from parents
- Mrs. Janet Moses, a business woman expressed appreciation to GPI for providing accurate information on sexuality issues to her daughter. According to her “when my daughter was younger, I used to tell myself that she’s still very young; that when she gets older, I will tell her the things she needs to know, but that was because I didn’t know how to go about it. Am so happy that GPI is helping me express everything she needs to know to her”
- Similarly, Mrs. Francisca Archibong said, “I want to thank GPI for the information they have given to my daughter especially on menstruation and personal hygiene such that when she started menstruating, she was not uncomfortable about it, but rather, she was informed and knew exactly what to do.
Report By: Isu Okpa (GPI staff), Jennifer Benton (Volunteer) and Brenda Offiong (Intern)
GPI Calabar
GPI Asaba Train girls on computer skills
Girls’ Power Initiative (GPI) Asaba, as part of her efforts in empowering adolescent girls into healthy and self reliant females in our society, organized skills development training for her center girls on the 12th of March 2011 at the GPI conference Hall, Asaba.
A Resource Person and some GPI girls during the Electricals Training.
The objective of the training was-
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To assist girls in developing life management skills that will ensure they become economically self-reliant.
- To ensure that girls who have no previous knowledge can learn these skills and be talented in it.
- To empower more female computer engineers in our society.
The co-ordinator in the person of Ehita Ikoghode-Aikpitanyi in her opening remarks explained the objective of the training to the girls, which encouraged every one of them to pay attention and asked question in areas they need clarification and also the need for continuous practice of skills learnt.
The expectation of the girls was as follows:-
- To become a computer literate and a future computer engineer.
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To learn about computer engineering and computer set-up.
- To be able to master the training and be a computer literate.
- How to dissemble and assemble a computer.
- To be able to mount different part of a computer to work.
- To learn about computer and how to repair it.
The resource person for the training was Mr. Christain Ikechukwu from Extotec Computer Institute Asaba, Delta State.
Report by Priscilla Iyeke