Representatives of the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative global project, targeted at eradicating Gender Based Violence (GBV), on Monday, received Family Life Health Education (FLHE) and Life Skills facilitation manual for possible implementation of the project in Nigeria.
The FLHE manual was conceptualised and presented by Education Today for Sustainable Development Initiative (ETSDI) in Abuja and developed for the non-formal education sector in the country.
Mrs Hadiza Doray, the Head, Spotlight Initiative Nigeria Programme Management Unit (PMU), said that the project is a 500 million EURO project involving 25 countries, including Nigeria and it needed a workable guide for implementation.
The FLHE manual not only contains the modules for learning life skills but will also help users in the area of reproductive health.
Doray said “women and girls need life skills that would ensure they were self reliant and help them to be assertive in situations that could lead to GBV.
“We will be working very closely with CSOs and the PMU to pay monitoring visits to the field, and part of the things we will be assessing is whether this material has been distributed and used.
“We will also be assessing if the beneficiaries’ capacities are being developed and to which level the manual has helped reshape their capacities to fight GBV.
“We will assess if the manual has helped them acquire life skills, competencies and helping them know their rights and responsibilities.”
Earlier, Mrs Glory Brendan-Otuojor, the Head of Programmes, ETSDI, said the FLHE and Life Skill Facilitation manual was developed with support from UNESCO to enhance non-formal education across the country.
According to her, the manual became imperative because non-formal education curriculum existing in the country does not accommodate teaching of FLHE and life skills.
She added that it was prepared to provide easy learning skills and enable facilitators to teach the modules with ease, and according to local needs and interest.
She added that it had to be reviewed and validated by relevant stakeholders as it was already being implemented in Ebonyi and environs.
The implementation of the Spotlight Initiative project is being piloted in six states of the country, namely; Sokoto, Adamawa, Ebonyi, Lagos, Cross-River and FCT, for the next four years.
The initiative, with focus on Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) is aimed at bridging the gap and eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls, be it rape, exploitation, assualt, and other forms of violence against the female gender.
