Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc (FMN) is driving gender equality and transformation through its Women Network and Girls in Action initiative.
In commemoration of the 2022 International Day of Girl Child, the Network, under the Girls in Action programme visited girls at the Apapa Senior Secondary School and impactfully activated a growth mindset shift through education, advocacy, empowerment, and other meaningful conversations and activities.
Girls in Action is an FMN Women Network (FMNWN) initiative geared toward the education, enlightenment, and human capacity development of the girl child.
The Girls in Action project is a strategic and direct response to the ever-widening gap of gender inequality in Nigeria and across the world. The programme seeks to provide girls with the required education, information, skills, and some pragmatic assistance for their various needs at different phases in their lives.
This mandate aligns with the 2022 theme for the International Day of the Girl Child ‘Our time is now—our rights, our future ’ a practice and progressive campaign designed to address various challenges faced by girls in our today’s world and to promote girls’ empowerment and rights protection.
The programme took off at the Apapa senior secondary school, Lagos, and was driven by key spokespersons and impact lead for the Network. Over 200 girls from the school experienced a new level of education, and gender-specific narratives designed to keep them informed, confident and focused as they surmount various barriers to the attainment of their dreams.
The team also gave out Golden Penny food products and free packs of reusable sanitary pads with in-person training and education on how to care for the pads.
This proactivity is expected to go a long way towards curbing unsafe and unsanitary menstrual practices and saving parents the additional costs made in the monthly purchase of sanitary towels.
Speaking on the idea behind the Girls in Action Initiative, Olasubomi Sofowora, the chairperson, of FMN Women Network, Olasubomi Sofowora, noted that, “Girls around the world continue to face unprecedented challenges to education, physical and mental wellness and the advent of covid-19 has worsened these existing burdens.
“However, when girls are inspired, given the right opportunities, and supported to realize their human rights, they can reach their potential and create a better world for themselves, their communities, and the world at large.
“Therefore, to ensure that the girl children are well-oriented and prepared on how to respond to these environmental changes, the FMNWN created the Girl in Action initiative.”
Also commenting on the expected impact of the Girls in Action Initiative, the Lead, Strategic Planning and Implementation, FMN Women Network,Grace Beredugo said, “According to the WFP Gender Policy and Strategy report, Gender inequality is a major cause and effect of hunger and poverty in the world.
“As a matter of fact, it is estimated that 60 per cent of chronically hungry people are women and girls, thus FMN Plc, through the Women Network is directly addressing this gender parity gap to ensure that women are meaningfully contributing to the growth of the economy,” she pointed out.
The FMN Women Network over the years has been driving sustainable growth and changes in Nigeria to ensure that the SDG goal of attaining Gender Equality in the nearest future is actualized.
