Nigeria

UNICEF-Nigeria and its partners have used the Adolescent Kit for Expression and Innovation since 2017, to catalyze cross-sectoral programming responses for adolescents affected by the conflict North East of Nigeria. The Kit’s arts-based activities support adolescents’ psychosocial wellbeing and recovery as they learn new ways to express and understand their emotions, cope with their environments, and better engage with their communities after the trauma they have endured. Through Adolescent Circles, adolescents also build assertiveness and other skills, and engage as agents of peacebuilding and actors for development. The Kit is also used to support responsive and preventive services to survivors of gender-based violence and sexual exploitation and abuse, and with Boko Haram survivors to support them reconnecting with their communities.

In partnership with the Nigerian Ministry of Women Affairs, the Ministry of Education and partner NGOs, UNICEF-Nigeria provides training in the Adolescent Kit approaches and activities to service providers and community volunteers who support adolescents in safe spaces, IDP camps, host communities and newly liberated communities. Through programmes using the Adolescent Kit throughout Nigeria, many community leaders have become “adolescent champions,” promoting recognition among adults of the importance of engaging adolescents in community life.

To scale up the Adolescent Kit initiative piloted in the northeast in 2018, UNICEF-Nigeria has since undertaken extensive training and planning workshops with participants from across the country. The expanded Adolescent Kit initiative will reach adolescents throughout the country, utilizing new platforms, and with a strengthened focus on adolescent participation.

Learn more about UNICEF’s work in Nigeria. This link takes you to an external site.