Make Haste for the Girl Child: Why Community Systems Are Important

Augustine Okere and Hyeladzira James Mshelia

Like most developing countries, data for policy planning remains a daunting task. This becomes more cumbersome when data in areas of education, health and public goods expected to guide intervention persists despite advancements. So when UNESCO Institute for Statistics released the SDG 4 Mid-term Review as part of the 2023 Global Education Monitoring Report, it indicated that progress for the SDGs since 2015 “has been far too slow” for education outcomes in least and developing countries.

For out-of-school children, while this number fell to 9 million globally, it significantly increased in sub-Saharan Africa by 12 million with the exclusion of girls in some cases contributing to such an increase.

To contextualise this further, progress in completion rates in some countries, outweighed and was faster than progress made for the reduction of out-of-school children from 2015- 2022. In Nigeria, World Top 20 estimates that Nigeria ranks among the world’s top 20 countries (at 18th with about 30 million out-of-school), while the UNICEF Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), 2021 maintains that this number is significantly lower at 10 million. Whatever estimates are taken, it is apparent that there are still existing challenges associated with out-of-school children in Nigeria, with the data disproportionately skewed towards the girl child in areas like Bauchi State in North Eastern Nigeria

One of the legal frameworks for child education obligates every state in Nigeria to ensure the provision of quality education to its citizenry. Specifically, Section 15(1) of the Child’s Rights Act of 2003 stated that “every child has a right to free compulsory and universal basic education and shall be the duty of the Government of Nigeria to provide such education.”

However, for a lot of girls in Nigeria, this right remains a promise yet to be fulfilled despite significant investment by the government at all levels.

The Bauchi State Government, for instance, has made some progress by increasing education allocation to 16.1% of its 2024 budget (i.e N48 billion -29 million USD) from the usual 12 percent. At the federal level, the Vice President insists that the government’s strategy is to constantly increase allocation to the educational sector to 12 percent (i.e. N1 trillion – $608 million) of public expenditure.

The federal government has also urged sub-national governments to do more than the 12 percent annual budget allocation to education. Girls’ access to free and high-quality education is severely hampered by corruption, poor management, and persistent underfunding in critical areas including teacher preparation, rural school coverage, and basic literacy materials. Funds meant to provide resources and upgrade educational facilities can often be diverted, leaving many rural schools with little support and unable to satisfy even the most basic needs.

Beyond financial and administrative concerns, cultural traditions complicate the situation. Many cultures still view early marriage as more important than girls’ education, which forces many young girls to drop out of school before they have a fair chance. Another factor is parental neglect, which frequently occurs when families must make difficult financial decisions and girls’ education is not usually prioritised. Then there’s the problem of teacher shortages. Even when schools are accessible, finding dedicated and qualified teachers is a struggle in these areas. Without well-trained educators, the quality of learning suffers, and girls are the ones who lose out.

The future of reducing out-of-school children and how it impacts girl child education also depends on the quality of community participation in existing transparency, accountability and constant community engagement systems to monitor and provide important feedback to the matching resource commitment made by the government at all levels.

Using available resource allocation data, simplifying budget information, and re-echoing the roles and responsibilities of existing community governance systems represent the hands-on contribution communities can make to girl child education.

Over the past twelve years, Connected Development (CODE), through its Follow the Money initiative, has played a major role in advocating for and tracking public capital spending in health, education, and environmental projects across Nigeria’s rural communities.

This initiative is rooted in the belief that transparency and accountability in governance are essential for real, sustainable change, especially in underserved areas. Follow the Money has focused on fostering participatory governance, a collaborative approach where communities have a say in how public funds are used.

Working closely with local governance structures and the government, the initiative has empowered citizens by equipping them with knowledge on budget allocations and spending. By creating platforms for open dialogue, Follow the Money bridges the gap between community members and decision-makers, ensuring that rural voices are heard and that public projects are not only implemented but also monitored to meet the needs of those they aim to serve.

CODE has continued to champion a more inclusive approach to governance, making it possible for communities to hold the government accountable and take active roles in decisions that impact education, particularly across four LGAs in Bauchi State. This 3-year campaign funded by the Malala Fund conducted engagements with School Monitoring Teams which include School-based Management Committees (SBMC), Parents Teachers Association (PTA), community leaders, school principals and CBOs, and the State Ministry of Education and Budget and Planning to unpack how community accountability systems are responding to strides made by the government in the educational sector. Engagement showed how accountability mechanisms like the citizens’ budget, pre-existing community feedback systems, and a robust local partnership model currently exist in Bauchi State.

Although not fully operational, these systems have the potential to support the reduction of out-of-school children (including girls) in the state. For instance, Citizens Budget which is a tool for open budget which curtails corruption and allows for community oversight, has gained popularity since 2018.

This tool represents an essential aspect of Open Government Partnership (OGP) of which Bauchi State signed up to in 2022 to reduce trust deficit levels between citizens and government. With improved capacity provided to states finance and budget directors to develop SFTAS (State Fiscal Transparency,  Accountability and Sustainability), an increasing number of states have developed and uploaded their citizen budgets. While the Bauchi State government has taken this step forward by developing its 2024  Citizens Budget (and a Hausa version of this document), community systems awareness and utilization of this information for resource oversight (on girls’ education) is deplorable.  Surveys and interactions with community education sector stakeholders in 4 LGAs in Bauchi State showed that only less than 30 percent of teachers and 20 percent of school administrators had seen this citizen budget despite it being publicly available (i.e. online). 

This is despite the State Ministry of Education instilling a “community concentric circle engagement” mechanism after the first state-wide Education Summit with the child at the center of it.  We also found out that only a small percentage of people (23-29%) mostly mothers are aware of how education funds are used in their communities. This is quite concerning because Parents need to know how money is spent on education to hold schools accountable and ensure funds are used properly to benefit their children’s education.

Other systems like reporting and redress mechanisms and community collaboration with LGA authorities were also gauged.  However, these mechanisms look very effective and strategic on paper but might have failed to serve their purpose since community levels do not engage with them to provide relevant oversight, often because people in the community might still lack the empowerment and awareness they need in order to engage these systems. Ideally, true and active participation means that people in a given community should be knowledgeable about their education problem, and they should identify the needs for their solution. The case community systems in Bauchi State in terms of lack of awareness and information of the existence of community participation is reflected in some other parts of Nigeria. Because of this, the issue with education remains unaddressed, and the number of out-of-school children (particularly girls) might be increasing in number.

We cannot afford to wait any longer. The girls of Bauchi and across Nigeria are being denied the right to dream, to grow, and to shape their futures. Every single day that a girl remains out of school, her chances of a brighter, more prosperous life diminish. This is far more than an educational crisis, it is a human rights crisis. If we continue down this path, more than 500,000 girls will face a future without the education they require to escape poverty and uplift their communities. The cost is borne not only by the girls and their families, but by Nigeria as a whole. A nation’s strength is in its people, and by letting girls fall behind, we weaken our own potential.

This is our call to action, a time to rally around the cause of the girl child with urgency and unity. Government, civil society, religious leaders, NGOs, and communities must join forces to dismantle the barriers that stand in the way of girls’ education. We need to build stronger accountability systems within our communities, ensuring that education for our girls is prioritized, resourced, and protected. It is not enough to create policies but we must actively work to build environments where these girls can learn, thrive, and aspire to greatness.

The future of Bauchi and Nigeria depends on our actions today. The fight for girls’ education is about more than policy or programs. It’s about giving each girl the opportunity to dream, to achieve, and to contribute to a stronger Nigeria. We cannot let these dreams fade into oblivion. The potential of an entire generation is at stake, and every day we delay, we risk losing the brilliance that these girls could bring to our society. Can we truly afford to turn away any longer? Now is the time to act, to uplift, and to ensure a better, brighter future for all.

Okere is a Research Associate at Connected Development while Mshelia is  the Assistant Director, Programs and Community Engagement, Connected Development