Girls Voices Initiative conceived a documentary film project to profile girls' education experiences and the impact of early marriage on girls' education. The documentary film, 'Take Me Back To School' profiled the stories of 3 adolescent girls in Galadimawa Community of Kaduna State in northern Nigeria. The girls' stories show how factors like hawking and early marriage could impact girls' education. And the documentary film advocates for girls' education as a strategy to stop early marriages of girls. The documentary production engaged girls in rural communities in Kaduna State as well as girls in international schools in the Federal Capital Territory and strongly advocates for delaying girls’ marriage so they can complete their education. The documentary also advocates that the Nigerian Government must provide more secondary schools in the rural communities to prevent girls from being out of school and prone to early marriage.
The documentary film, 'Take Me Back To School', is an advocacy tool to support development initiatives towards the promotion of girls’ education to prevent the early marriage of girls. The documentary film has been screened in some communities and continues to screen to inspire girls and to empower women and other key influencers to positively influence their communities to enrol more girls in school.
Girls Voices Initiative sought to promote creative audio-visual resources that project girls’ voices on issues affecting them, and the documentary film, 'Take Me Back To School', was one way to amplify girls’ voices on the issue of girls education in northern Nigeria. Increased advocacy for quality education for adolescent girls is important as education remains the strongest alternative to early marriage of girls. Exposing girls to quality education empowers them to improve their life chances, actively engage the development sectors of society and better manage their homes when they eventually get married and start their families2.
Educate girls, don't marry them off! This is the first step in changing Nigeria! Changing the world!
Take action! Take girls back to school!
Our girls unite their voices to demand #TakeMeBackToSchool
2 Gender in Nigeria Report, 2012 Improving the Lives of Girls and Women in Nigeria. British Council Nigeria, 2012.