Role of youths in achieving MDGs &

post 2015 development agenda

Will Nigerian youths speak up for
women?

Adebayo Alonge
Agenda
Introduction
- Adebayo Alonge
YALI Key Learning Points
The MDGs
- Progress analysis
Imperatives to empower women
- Role of Nigerian youths
Initiatives
Conclusion
Introduction: Adebayo Alonge
UI-trained professional
pharmacist
MBA from Lagos
Business School
Mandela Washington
Fellow in Business at Yale
Runs a social business
distributing medicines in
Lagos and Ibadan
Strongly believes that
improving healthcare in
rural areas will improve
rural livelihoods

Washington Fellowship Key Learning Points
From Yale
Every business must have a theory of change that
defines why it exists
Washington Fellowship Key Learning Points
From UN
Keep girls in school-this is the best defense against
abuse for women and the kids they have
Washington Fellowship Key Learning Points
From Presidential Summit
The single-best measure of whether a country
succeeds or not is how it treats its women
The MDGs- Progress Analysis
Goal
Promote gender equality and empower women
- Glass ceilings limit increase in numbers of women in decisive roles in business and politics
Target
Progress
Achieve universal primary education
-60% of 126 million illiterate youths are women
-23% of poor rural girls complete primary school
Improve maternal health
-Maternal mortality reduced by 45% as
against 75%
- Nigeria accounts for 14% of global
maternal deaths
Target
Progress
Imperatives to empower women
- Role of Nigerian youths
Achieve universal
primary education

Adopt a primary
school
Promote gender equality
and empower women

Sponsor girls to tertiary
institutions
Write to your parliament
to propose legislation
supporting generous
parental leave and the
establishment of work-
based child and elderly
care facilities
Campaign for political
parties to have quotas
reserved for female
candidates
Speak out in public
against any female
molestation you observe
and advocate for stiffer
penalties for rape





Improve maternal health


Volunteer to teach
secondary school
students about sexual
rights, reproductive
health and advocate
for the set up of
teenage-counseling
centres in primary
health centres
Write to your
governor to set up
maternal and
childcare centres in
every local
government of your
state





Initiatives
Lusoy is donating half-a-million naira to
1. Set up The young capital for
entrepreneurial girls initiative to fund
businesses of rural girls aged 15-20 years

2. Donate period kits to 50 girls aged 10-15
years in two rural secondary schools
Both projects will run in Lagos and Ibadan

What will you do?

Conclusion
Africas future lies-with those women-run businesses,
with those girls attending university, and with emerging
leaders like us who are making those dreams
possible. And the question today is how all of us will
steer Africas course to embrace that future. And we all
know the ripple effects we can have when we give our
girls a chance to learn. We all know that girls who are
educated earn higher wages. Theyre more likely to
stand up to discrimination and abuse. They have
healthier children who are more likely to attend school
themselves. Its up to us all to create the better future
we desire and use our relentless energies to get the
impossible done!