In a bid to empower young people, the Youth Empowerment Foundation (YEF) organized a multifaceted event under its Goal project, encompassing a quiz competition, media forum, and graduation ceremony for over 100 secondary schoolgirls in Ibadan. The Goal project, initiated in 2010, focuses on reproductive health, HIV/AIDS prevention, life skills, football, and martial arts, impacting selected secondary schools in Lagos, Ibadan, and Abuja.

YEF, a youth-focused non-governmental organization, has played a pivotal role in training over 100,000 young girls in gender-based violence, life skills, and human rights since 2010, with extensive work in Ibadan spanning 13 years.

St. Anne’s School II, Molete, Ibadan emerged as the winner in the quiz competition, followed by United Missionary Comprehensive College, Molete Ibadan in second place, and Queen of Apostles, Oke Offa, Oluyoro, Ibadan securing the third position.

Iwalola Akin Jimoh, the Executive Secretary of YEF, highlighted the Goal Program’s focus on teaching life skills, leadership, financial literacy, hygiene, and health during the one-year course. The program aims to cultivate a generation of girls who, after completing the training, act as peer leaders, imparting their knowledge to other girls.

Jimoh emphasized that the quiz competition serves as a networking event, bringing together girls from various schools undergoing the Goal program. This event not only facilitates interaction and the exchange of lessons but also serves as a tool to monitor the girls’ progress and ensure knowledge sharing. Furthermore, she highlighted the sports aspect of the project, providing opportunities for girls to choose between football and taekwondo, each imparting valuable lessons such as team building, cooperation, and self-defense.

The foundation’s success lies in the ability of program graduates to return to their secondary schools, passing on the knowledge acquired and perpetuating the cycle of empowerment.