..shares initiative’s achievements at UNCWS67 Conference in New York
Wife of the Governor of Ondo State and Founder, BeMore Empowered Girls Foundation, Chief Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu, has stated that the initiative had trained over three thousand five hundred girls in Ondo State and beyond, within the five years of its establishment in Solar Technology, ICT and other entrepreneurial skills.
She noted that majority of these girls were from rural economically and educationally disadvantaged backgrounds, saying that the target of the initiative was to equip the girl child with knowledge in technology
and other life enhancing skills to facilitate her competiveness in the global knowledge economy.
The Ondo First Lady made the assertions while speaking on “BEMORE: Technology and Exposure for Rural Girls”, at the official Nigeria side event tagged “Leveraging Innovative Approaches to Drive Empowerment and Education Outcomes for Nigerian Women and Girls”,holding at Millennium Hilton Hotel, Manhattan, New as part of the ongoing UN Commission on the Status of Women 67 Session(CSW67)’s conference in New York, USA.
Mrs. Akeredolu,who led delegate from Ondo State to the event, disclosed that, so far so good, total number of 1000 solar home systems had been distributed to girls living in rural off-grid communities in Ondo and Imo States and 2000 laptops distributed between 2017-2022 to Girls who participated in the Bootcamp.
“For two weeks every Summer, we provide individualized experiences that develop a strong conceptual understanding of information technology, solar installation, entrepreneurship and other life enhancing skills. BEMORE Girls are nurtured in an environment where curiosity is encouraged, creativity is expected and risk taking is rewarded, to build confident, focused, and budding entrepreneurs and change makers”. She said.
According to her, ICT and Solar technology formed the primary focus of the initiative, by applying formal and informal teaching methods to help them learn in ways that develop their critical and independent thinking skills, social skills, creativity and self-identity.
She highlighted major achievements of the initiative to include increasing number of girls reading STEM courses in Nigerian universities, young business owners, and award winning young leaders who are ready to take on challenges in their domains.
She hinted that, the initiative also encouraged TEAM BELIEVE among the girls, as five BEMORE Girls from Batches 2017 & 2018 built Nigerian first birth registration application- BCReg.
Speaking on sustainability plan for the project beyong her husband’s tenure, the Ondo First Lady appealed for financial support from International donor agencies, Corporate Bodies, and well meaning Nigerians at home and in diaspora for the building of BEMORE Centre, which its proposed site had been procured and commissioned.
Story Credit; Mary Agidi
Special Assistant on Media.
JATS Online News 