We can’t believe it’s two years already! Two years of centralizing girls’ voices, thinking on our feet, actively engaging with stakeholders and leading gender transformative advocacy in the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria.
What started out as an initiative to make schools safe for only senior secondary school learners ended up impacting all learners in the FCT. The scope of the project quickly changed at the demand of the FCT Education Secretariat to engaging both government and private ownedprimary schools, junior secondary schools, senior secondary schools and tertiary institutions. We rolled up our sleeves and built collaborative power to directly engage 9,436 learners, trained 89 Education stakeholders, worked with 30 civil society organizations and 104 stakeholders.
With funding from the African Women Development Fund (AWDF) and partnership with the FCT Education Secretariat, our advocacy led to the development of the sexual violence reporting and management framework for more than 2,000 schools in the FCT, education stakeholders built capacity and the confidence to respond to cases of school related sexual violence and the Sexual Violence Action Committee (SEVAC) was established.
Sexual violence is one of the most devastating forms of gender-based violence, leaving deep physical, emotional, and academic scars. While it can occur anywhere, its impact is especially harmful within school environments. For years, the absence of a coordinated reporting and response system in FCT schools meant that many cases were handled inconsistently, putting thousands of learners at risk. This lack of structure often resulted in: traumatic experiences for survivors, declining academic performance, school absenteeism and dropout, and low self-esteem and emotional distress.
Stakeholders in the FCT came together to celebrate the milestone achieved on this project, deliberated on the challenges and shared lessons learnt throughout the implementation cycle. The close out and the learning dissemination meeting held on Friday, 31st October 2025, at the Abuja Enterprise Agency hall, Jahi. The stakeholders in attendance included the management team of the FCT Education Secretariat, FCT Secondary Education Board, FCT Universal Basic Education Board, school administrators, educators, parents, learners, civil society organisations, and the media. They reflected on the project’s milestones, lessons learned, and mapped actionable next steps for sustainable the change recorded.
A key highlight of the event was the multi-stakeholder panel session with representatives from the FCT Secondary Education Board, FCT Universal Basic Education Board, FCT Quality Assurance, civil society, and learners as they reflected on the progress made, the lessons learned and the gaps that remain. The entire event was moderated by 15years old Jessica Nuhu from Government Secondary School Garki.
In the Director Special Duties words “We own the Framework. It is not loaded on us. It is what we have gathered from the school environment that is properly documented there... Whnwe had our training some weeks ago, we made a commitment. The Permanent Secretary reemphasized, she said we are going to weed off all FCT schools of all sorts of sexual violence and we are going to strengthen the capacity of all our gender desk and gender-related officers at levels within our school system. But I think Teenage Network needs to be highly commended. I have seen resilience. I have seen commitment. I have seen doggedness and I have have seen expertise. I have never worked closely with an NGO that really surpassed my imagination” .
We are closing out with great joy, looking back with gratitude. This is not a goodbye, it is a see–you–later because we will continue to hold the government accountable to implementing this framework and to ensuring that all our schools are safe!