WEPBI, Graça Machel Trust train 10,000 girls as change agents in Nigeria

The Women Empowerment Education and Peace Building Initiative, WEPBI, has launched a Pan African Adolescent Movement in Nigeria, aimed at raising over 10,000 girls that would become change agents in their society.

The programme focus is to create young girls who can speak for themselves, posses them with education and leadership skills that will make them become leaders in their communities.

The Executive Director of WEPBI, Mrs. Ijeoma Oguadimma, while declaring the workshop open, on Saturday, said that time is coming when women would become leaders of Nigeria and would be charged with decision-making responsibility, hence the adolescent movement to catch them young.

She challenged the initial 124 girls of ages between 10 and 24 to understand that they would be going far in life, and begin to believe in themselves.

Oguadimma said that, "WEPBI envisions a society where women and girls are not merely beneficiaries of change but active architects of peace, progress, and nation-building."

She noted that the launch marks the birth of a transformative movement that places the voices

of adolescent girls at the center of Africa's future.

"Through this partnership with the Graça Machel Trust, we aim to equip young girls with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to lead, innovate and influence decisions that shape their lives and communities.

"As we take this bold step together, may this movement ignite a new wave of leadership, resilience, and hope among our young girls, ensuring that their dreams are not deferred but fully realized," Oguadimma stated.

Senior Programme Officer, Adolescent Girls Movement - Graça Machel Trust, Dalreé de Lange, who came from South Africa stated that Graca Machel, the wife of South Africa's first black president, Nelson Mandela, is an activist for women and children, and advocates for rights of young girls.

"It's not about helping women when they are grown, but before they grow, so that when they grow, they can stand for themselves," Lange said.

WEPBI communication officer, Ogechi Ewo, noted that as a woman-based organization, WEPBI work for women and girls, trying to catch girls young into the academy where girls are taught national transformation, leadership and politics.

"We want to reach out to girls that don't have voice in their communities. We encourage them, train them on leadership and let them know that leadership is not for a particular gender."

Ewo disclosed that the girls between the ages of 17 and 24 years go to the fields to train other girls in the communities.

"We're the first to partner with Graça Machel Trust and implement the programme in Nigeria. The programme is equally in Rwanda, Tanzania, Gambia and Mozambique where there have been success stories from those countries. 

"Earlier than the trainings, the girls were timid, could not speak for themselves, they remained in their shelves, but now they can go out and express themselves very well," Ewo said.