Report of the implementation of project skill development for out-of-school girls through non-formal education

Abstract

The Project was initiated in 1979 as part of the activities of the African Training and Research Centre for Women towards promoting the advancement of African women, and their fuller participation in the development process of African countries. It was in direct response to a pressing need as expressed by member States themselves, to step up programmes and services to cater to the growing number of untrained, and unemployed out-of-school population in African countries, of whom girls form a sizable proportion. They include those youths who have completed the first and second levels of formal schooling but have not had the opportunity for further training to acquire employable skills; those who have dropped out of school before completing the required level(s), as well as the large illiterate group who have no hope of ever attending formal schooling. The Project is also in line with the Monrovia Strategy for the Development of, Africa and the Lagos Plan of Action, both of which mention the out-of-schoolers and drop-outs as among those segments of African populations which require special development efforts.