The Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has commenced an 18-month digital inclusion project targeting 25,000 women and girls in Bauchi and Kano States, with a focus on digital literacy, online safety and entrepreneurship.\n<\/p>\n
The project, titled \u201cAddressing the Gender Digital Divide and Expanding Business Opportunities for Women and Girls in Northern Nigeria (Agenda-WINNIG),\u201d is designed to equip beneficiaries with skills that can improve their participation in education, business and the wider digital economy.\n<\/p>\n
Speaking at a stakeholder engagement in Bauchi, the project\u2019s Programme Manager, Fatima Babakura, said the initiative commenced in February 2026 and is expected to run until July or August 2027, with particular attention to women and girls in rural and underserved communities.\n<\/p>\n
She said the project has three major components: basic digital literacy and online safety, computer-based testing (CBT) coaching for secondary school students, and digital entrepreneurship training for women and girls.\n<\/p>\n
According to Babakura, 15,000 women and girls are expected to receive training in basic digital literacy, online safety and digital hygiene. Another 5,000 final-year secondary school girls, particularly those preparing for the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) examination, are being targeted for CBT coaching to strengthen their computer skills and readiness for computer-based examinations.<\/p>\n
An additional 5,000 women and girls will receive digital entrepreneurship training focused on using online platforms to market products, reach more customers and expand their businesses into the digital marketplace.\n<\/p>\n
The project is therefore expected to support both digital participation and economic opportunities by helping women and girls develop practical skills for education, online business and access to wider markets.\n<\/p>\n
Babakura said the stakeholder engagement was organised to identify barriers limiting women\u2019s and girls\u2019 participation in the digital space and gather recommendations that could improve implementation. She added that recommendations from engagements at state and federal levels would also contribute to a policy brief on addressing the gender digital divide and expanding access to digital opportunities.\n<\/p>\n
CITAD Programme Officer and Head of the Bauchi team, Mujahid Ibrahim, said the organisation was engaging communities across the state to better understand the challenges women and girls face in accessing and benefiting from digital technologies.\n<\/p>\n
He said CITAD was working with community-based organisations and local networks to mobilise beneficiaries, particularly those in hard-to-reach communities. The project is being implemented across all 20 local government areas of Bauchi State, with community mobilisers helping to identify and reach potential beneficiaries.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe use the network of community-based organisations and partners in the communities to mobilise beneficiaries, after which we go to the communities to conduct the training,\u201d Ibrahim said.\n<\/p>\n
He said the project had already reached its targeted number of beneficiaries in Bauchi, while implementation of the different interventions was continuing.\n<\/p>\n
CITAD\u2019s August project update also showed continued expansion of the programme, with 73 training sessions conducted across Kano, Bauchi, Itas and Jama\u2019are during the month, reaching 5,112 women and girls. CITAD said this brought cumulative participation from May to August to 9,889 for the 15,000-person digital literacy component. (Citad<\/a>)\n<\/p>\n Ibrahim described the stakeholder engagement as productive, noting that participants provided recommendations on how to strengthen the project. He said stakeholders had been consulted before implementation and were being engaged again to review progress and provide further guidance.\n<\/p>\n The stakeholders include government institutions, community leaders, information technology organisations, civil society groups, community-based organisations, traditional and religious leaders, lecturers, financial institutions, private-sector actors and development partners.<\/p>\n Ibrahim said their involvement was important because of their roles in education, capacity building, financing, knowledge acquisition and community development.\n<\/p>\n He said the broader objective of Agenda-WINNIG was to strengthen women\u2019s digital inclusion and entrepreneurship by equipping beneficiaries with relevant skills and improving their access to opportunities in the digital economy.\n<\/p>\n The project\u2019s focus on digital entrepreneurship is particularly relevant to women-led businesses, as online platforms can provide additional channels for product marketing, customer acquisition and participation in wider markets. The initiative also seeks to reduce barriers to digital participation among girls preparing for further education and women seeking to benefit from technology-driven economic opportunities.\n<\/p>\n The stakeholder engagement forms part of CITAD\u2019s wider activities under Agenda-WINNIG, which seeks to address the gender digital divide while promoting digital literacy, online safety, CBT readiness and entrepreneurship among women and girls in Bauchi and Kano States.\n<\/p>\n