Empowering 250 Young Women in Nigeria

They Are Now Voices Where There Used to Be Silence! How Personal Agency Is Empowering High School Girls to Dream Big in Tech.

Through a powerful collaboration between World Pulse, Women Inspiration Development Center (Osun State), and Menitos Charity Foundation (Lagos State), a bold vision was set: to train 600 high school girls to use their growing edge as a spiritual compass in empowering them to pursue big dreams in technology despite societal and personal limitations.

The Mission

In many parts of Nigeria, technology is still seen as a profession "meant for men." This initiative aimed to break that stereotype by equipping young girls with the mindset and tools to chart their own path regardless of background, financial status, or social expectations.

Our Experience

From the 303 girls reached by Women Inspiration Development Center in the last two weeks.

242 girls (80%) initially believed they could not pursue careers in technology due to limiting beliefs such as:

• “My parents are not rich.”
• “I am being raised by a single parent.”
• “I cannot compete with men in the tech field.”
• “I won’t pass the necessary exams.”

These were not just excuses, they were deeply held fears, shaped by real challenges and a lack of visible female role models in tech.

The Transformation

The girls were taught to recognize these limiting beliefs and shift their focus. They were trained to:

• Start where they are and grow organically.
• Keep their vision as their compass, not their challenges.
• Focus on possibility, imagination, and strategic thinking instead of problems.

The result was inspiring:

• 181 girls (60%) expressed readiness to pursue careers in technology.
• 97 girls (32%) were considering it seriously.
• Only 25 girls (8%) still held back from venturing into tech professions.

What We Learned

This experience made it clear:
Girls in Nigeria are not staying out of tech because they lack the ability, they are staying out because they’ve been made to believe it’s not for them.

This is why personal agency is crucial in the empowerment of girls and women across all spheres of life. When girls are taught to believe in themselves, silence turns into voices, and hesitation becomes bold vision.  We are looking forward to more collaborations to scale this project. We have 22.9 million girls in Nigeria that falls under the age 25 years. They all need personal agency, they need your help

Links:

• https://www.worldpulse.org/story/from-silence-to-voice-how-personal-agency-is-guiding-girls-into-tech-70935

As we reflect on 2024, we are deeply grateful for the remarkable progress made at Women Inspiration Development Center (WIDC) This year has exemplified the power of collaboration, and shared determination to transform the lives of vulnerable adolescent girls in Nigeria.  Through Obama foundation fund from Girls Opportunity Alliance, we were able to train 20 NGOs leaders from 10 organizations from seven states in Nigeria to take agency development to the population of vulnerable adolescents they were serving and these alone has translated to helping 4,320 vulnerable girls to find their voices and discover their powers to live their dreams.

Through our efforts this year, about 12,000 girls were sensitized to protect themselves from every form of domestic violence, have education on mensuration and 500 were supplied with sanitary pads. We supported 101 girls in vocational training in the year 2024. We are supporting 7 girls presently in court on rape cases, 2 girls were rescued from human traffickers and were still at our center having vocational training in tailoring that will settle them for life.  A girl with pregnancy as a result of rape is doing well in our center with her baby and preparing to go back to school. Our advocacy for gender equality, life skills, sexual and reproductive health rights, and early childhood development has positively impacted 10 rural communities.

Through many of our efforts this year, wife battering in the communities around us is reducing drastically because survivors were getting justice. There is more reporting of cases of rape because survivors are now sure of support, getting justice and the issue of naming and shaming survivors are going down as a result of our awareness campaigns.

During the Giving Tuesday, 2024, we joined others in the world in giving to humanity as we gave the gift of books to 5,600 students of high schools in our community.

This year also, Women Inspiration Development Center joined Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All (CSACEFA) continue to work with Child Protection Network in Nigeria.

None of these would have been possible without our dedicated team, partners, your donations  and the dedication of the population and community we are working with

• The 2024 full annual report (PDF)