The Kogi State Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) project has begun distributing ATM cards to 12,112 beneficiaries in its second cohort.
The initiative aims to support adolescent girls through direct financial empowerment, using the ATM cards to facilitate the disbursement of cash transfers designed to improve school attendance and retention rates among secondary school girls in the state.
The distribution of ATM cards to 12,112 second-cohort beneficiaries serves as a critical step in the programme’s effort to mitigate the economic barriers that frequently prevent young girls from completing their basic education.
The AGILE project is a World Bank-assisted intervention focused on improving learning outcomes and increasing access to secondary education for adolescent girls across several Nigerian states, including Kogi. By providing direct cash transfers to families, the project seeks to reduce the financial pressure that often leads to girls dropping out of school.
Direct cash transfers to boost girl-child education
The use of ATM cards for this second cohort is intended to ensure transparency and security in the disbursement of funds. By utilising digital banking rather than manual cash handling, the project aims to minimise the risk of diversion and ensure that stipends reach the intended recipients directly.
The 12,112 girls receiving cards in this phase were selected based on specific criteria established by the project to target those most in need of educational support. This rollout follows the successful implementation of the initial cohort, indicating an expansion of the project’s reach across different local government areas within Kogi State.
Beyond the direct financial support, the AGILE programme includes components aimed at improving school infrastructure and teacher quality to create a more conducive learning environment for girls. The project is designed to address both the economic and systemic reasons for low female enrolment in secondary schools.
Local stakeholders and community leaders have been involved in monitoring the commencement of the exercise to ensure compliance with the project’s guidelines. The success of this second cohort’s distribution will influence the scale and timing of subsequent phases of the programme.
Project management teams are expected to continue the distribution exercise across the remaining designated locations to ensure all identified beneficiaries in the second cohort receive their cards.
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