Give 200 Children in Rural Nigeria an Education!

Since 2019, the ACE Charity Safe Space in a rural community in Sokoto State, Northern Nigeria, a non-formal learning centre, has catered to the educational needs of out-of-school children aged 6-11 for a combined period of nine (9) months every year. The beneficiaries of our safe space are children who due to socio-economic, cultural and even gender biases have never had the opportunity to access formal education. The children are taught three core subjects: Literacy, Numeracy and Social Skills by a qualified and trained resource staff based on a curriculum developed by us in line with the national curriculum. Classes are held on the weekends to ensure the children can attend the classes consistently as most of them have to assist them with house chores and farm work during the week. To measure the progress and impact of the safe space on learning outcomes, every child takes baseline and endline assessments based on pre-established indicators for measuring success administered at the beginning and end of each learning cycle, outside regular clase exercises and homework.

Project Highlights!

This year’s learning cycle commenced in April with 30 children; 19 girls and 11 boys enrolled. The high number of girl beneficiaries is a positive outcome, as many girls in rural communities often do not have the opportunity to access any form of education.

The baseline assessment administered at the beginning of the session showed that 50% of the beneficiaries could barely identify sounds, alphabets or numbers. However, over the course of the learning cycle, there has been significant improvements as the majority of the children can now add single digit numbers, spell three letter words as well as combine sounds to pronounce words. In order to keep the children engaged, the facilitator introduced the use of audio-visual learning aids such as playing short clips related to the topics about to be taught, which helps spark the curiosity of the children. Also, for older children who have to watch their younger siblings we encourage them to bring them along so that they don’t miss out on their lessons and we keep the little ones engaged with either games, stories or even lessons.

With our commitment to ensuring that underserved children in rural communities have the opportunity to acquire basic literacy knowledge and necessary social skills to enable them thrive in society and your support, we know we can continue to make a difference in the lives of the children we serve.

Kindly support our work by donating during the upcoming LittleXLittle campaign from the 18th-22nd of September where donations of up to $50 get a 50% match from GlobalGiving and sharing why you choose to support us with your community of family and friends.