Nigerian Association of University Women
Economic Empowerment of  Adolescent Girls and Women Through Skills Acquisition

The Nigerian Association's income generating project for unemployed, unskilled or partially educated women provides skills training in dressmaking and beadwork. Its objective is to provide economic independence for girls and young women who dropped out of school because of teenage pregnancy or due to the fact that their families could not afford to keep them in school.

Each year 25 trainees are recruited - 20 for dressmaking and 5 for bead stringing.   Once they have completed their training period, women are able to produce finished garments as well as necklaces, bangles and beads.  The project has great impact on the communiities it targets, empowering women who have had little or no formal education, enabling them to set up small businesses for themselves.  It is a self sustaining activitiy - women are singled out from each group of trainees to become trainers for the next group.  The project will initially be carried out in Abeokuta, with NAUW volunteers from Aleokuta and Lagos working as trainers.

During 2008 over 100 adolescent girls benefited from this training programme.  Finance is still a problem and the project is still actively seeking donors to help with the purchase of sewing machines for newly trained women.