ABUJA, Nigeria. The Maryam Babangida National Centre for Women Development (NCWD) has been officially designated as the National Secretariat for the UNESCO REF Young Women in Agriculture (YWA) programme. The designation places the federal institution charged with the advancement of Nigerian women at the centre of the national effort to empower young women through agricultural innovation, skills development and sustainable livelihoods.

The decision gives the YWA programme an institutional home within the Federal Government’s own architecture for women’s development. It ensures that a campaign of national scale, mobilising 12 million young women across the six geopolitical zones, is coordinated through an established public institution with the mandate, convening authority and experience to sustain it.

Advocacy and approval

Plaidoyer et approbation

The designation followed sustained advocacy by Dr Mrs Elizabeth Egbetokun, UNESCO REF YWA National Advocate and then National President of the Police Officers’ Wives Association, who engaged stakeholders to align the request with Nigeria’s goals for women’s empowerment and agricultural transformation.

The Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of NCWD, Dr Asabe Vilita Bashir, formally approved the designation.

“This recognition by UNESCO REF is both an honor and a responsibility.”

Dr Asabe Vilita Bashir, Director-General, National Centre for Women Development

Dr Bashir affirmed the Centre’s readiness to assume the national mandate and to serve as a hub for innovation, collaboration and empowerment. She committed the Centre to ensuring that young women across Nigeria gain access to skills, mentorship and opportunities in agriculture and beyond.

Role of the National Secretariat

Rôle du Secrétariat national

As National Secretariat, NCWD will:

• Coordinate the national implementation of the YWA programme.
• Foster collaboration among government, development partners, the private sector and communities.
• Ensure the programme’s alignment with national and international frameworks for women’s empowerment and sustainable development.

What YWA delivers

Ce qu’apporte le programme YWA

YWA increases young women’s participation in agriculture through training, mentorship and access to modern technologies, contributing to food security, poverty reduction, economic diversification and community resilience. The economic rationale is compelling: the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates that closing the gender gaps in agrifood systems would raise global GDP by nearly US$1 trillion and reduce the number of food-insecure people by 45 million.

Significance

Portée

The designation marks a decisive step in the institutionalisation of the YWA programme. By anchoring national coordination in a federal institution dedicated to women’s development, UNESCO REF and NCWD have given the programme the continuity and public accountability that a mobilisation of this scale requires.

ENDS

ABUJA, Nigeria. The Read and Earn Federation for UNESCO (UNESCO REF), through Category 2.9 of The August Project (TAP), is working with global partners to deliver joint training for young people in the digital sector. Under the Strategic Intervention Programme X1 (SIP-X1) on the digital revolution, more than 120,000 young Nigerians will benefit each year.

Digital technologies are reshaping every sphere of economic and social life, from finance and commerce to education, health and public administration. For a country with one of the youngest populations in the world, the capacity of young people to participate in that transformation, safely and productively, will shape national prosperity for a generation.

Why digital capacity, why now

Pourquoi les compétences numériques, et pourquoi maintenant

Three developments make investment in digital capacity urgent in Nigeria:

• The pace of digitisation across public and private services.
• The expansion of mobile access, bringing millions of new users online.
• Proactive policy initiatives by the Central Bank of Nigeria to deepen digital financial services.

Each brings opportunity, and each brings risk. Without matching skills, user protection and good practice lag behind adoption, leaving new users exposed to fraud, misinformation and exclusion.

The programme

Le programme

SIP-X1 equips participants with the knowledge and skills to seize digital opportunities and to reduce digital risks, so that young people can adopt and adapt to the digital revolution responsibly. It is delivered through the Digital Technology Capacity Building (DTCB) programme, a core component of the TAP Project, which provides structured training and guidance for sustainable participation in the global digital economy.

UNESCO REF holds that early investment in training is essential, so that stakeholders and beneficiaries alike are prepared for fast-changing technologies rather than overtaken by them.

Significance

Portée

At a scale of 120,000 young people a year, SIP-X1 is designed not as a pilot but as a national contribution to digital inclusion. It complements UNESCO REF’s wider digital portfolio, including the GET EDUCATED pathway with the Global Learning Exchange and the ARDAI TIER I programme in artificial intelligence.

ENDS