Lagos endorses SKY Girls movement to empower teenage girls

By Onome Amuge

The Lagos State Ministry of Education has endorsed SKY Girls, a pan-African movement committed to empowering teen girls within the ages of 12-19, following its expansion to Nigeria.

The official launch party and press conference of the movement was held in Lagos recently, attended by Folashade Adefisayo, Lagos State commissioner for education. It was hosted by media girls, Alex Unusual and Amiola Aguda and gave SKY the opportunity to share with Nigerian girls its core messaging, “Be true to yourself”.

The messaging is anchored on the susceptibility of teenage girls to bow to peer pressure. The beneficiaries join the movement by taking the SKY pledge which encourages a commitment by the girls to be “true to myself” and choose what they do and don’t want in their lives.

Through SKY’s formative research, the movement found that social connection is one of the most relevant processes of development, while peer pressure is a big challenge in their everyday lives. This has led to the development of SKY as a broad resilience building and empowerment movement, led by the SKY Girls brand, that encourages adolescent girls to make positive choices for themselves, and be more confident in navigating peer pressure.

Speaking at the SKY Girls Nigeria launch, Adefisayo commended the programme for the laudable feat and encouraged young girls and their parents to take advantage of the various opportunities tied to the initiative.

“It is impossible to quantify the magnitude of importance of such a programme in today’s world. The odds are often stacked against young girls in developing countries, but here, SKY is showing the girls while still in their formative years how to be more confident and make positive decisions that would potentially set their lives towards the right trajectory,” the commissioner said.

“I invite parents and guardians to avail their teenage girls the chance to be a part of this programme. We might not be able to change the world in an instant, but we can do so one girl-child at a time,” she said.

Elaborating about SKY, Adenike Odutola, general manager operations, 7even Interactive for SKY Girls, explained that the girl-focused movement is fuelled by its desire to reduce the worrying uptake of tobacco amongst adolescent girls by reaching girls through multiple online and offline channels, from magazines, social media, radio, TV shows, feature-length films, school clubs and community events.

Odutola explained that within this platform and through role models, SKY integrates tobacco messaging in such a way as to make ‘NOT SMOKING’ the aspirational choice.

In addition, she noted that SKY Nigeria will seek to increase the financial inclusion of the teenage girls and young women and this will include messaging around financial decision-making, education and knowledge, to improve the girls’ and their families’ overall future life skills.

“Teen girls are at a stage when their attitudes and behaviours are in flux, and they look to their peers for guidance. This means the girls themselves can play a crucial role to prevent harmful behaviours before they begin and support each other to make positive choices,” Odutola said.

“This is why we have adopted a for-girls-by-girls model that amplifies girls own voices and provides peer-to-peer support,” she said.

Speaking about the community’s vision, Alice Railton, SKY Girls market lead for Ghana and Nigeria, said that SKY Girls, which has received funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation since 2013, has recorded tremendous success in other African countries where it operates.

“Our goal is simple, to strip the aspirational value from smoking while enhancing and inspiring the girls towards more positive behavioural patterns,” Railton said.

“The programme has been independently evaluated and proven to be effective at delivering against empowerment outcomes including decision-making,self-confidence and enhanced social support,” she said.

SKY Girls has expressed confidence that the movement within Nigeria would eventually lead to more self-assured, tobacco-free and financially literate teenage girls who make better informed decisions leading to a better life for themselves and their families.

The movement was initially launched in 2014 in Botswana and is now also active in Ghana, Kenya, Cote d’Ivoire and Zambia.