Written by: Bernard Otu Assim-ita
Across many communities in Nigeria, conversations about girls’ education often happen in the margins, overshadowed by economic hardship, household priorities, or deep-rooted social norms. But what happens when these issues take center stage, quite literally?
In Sabon-Gari Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Education as a Vaccine (EVA), with support from the Malala Fund’s Fostering Accountability for Girls Education (FAGE) project, is leading a unique advocacy effort that turns stories into tools for transformation. Through a Participatory Community Drama Performance, EVA is working with girl advocates, community actors, and community champions to shift perspectives and ignite dialogue around one of the most pressing issues in the region: ensuring that every girl can access and complete quality education without interference
Despite increasing national attention to education access, girls in many communities still face significant barriers to schooling. From early marriage to unpaid debts, these issues aren’t abstract—they are woven into the daily lives of families. Traditional awareness campaigns often miss the mark in such contexts, especially when delivered without nuance or cultural grounding.
That’s where drama comes in—not just as performance, but as participatory advocacy.
“I feel happy and it encourages me that one day I will achieve my aims and objectives and make me to encourage other people and draw their attention to education”-Naima Ahmad
By combining the power of storytelling with local participation, EVA is helping communities surface the often-unspoken realities of girls’ education, while also giving them tools to imagine and model alternatives.The process behind the performances is as important as the performances themselves. Working across four wards in Sabon-Gari LGA, the project engages:
- 5 community actors selected to participate and act as role models for positive behavior change.
- 20 adolescent girls were previously trained under EVA’s education programs.
- 4 commissioned scriptwriters, each crafting stories grounded in local experience and language.
These efforts culminate in performances held across the four wards, allowing the messages to reach people where they live, work, and gather. But the engagement doesn’t stop at the stage. Following each performance, facilitators guide reflective conversations and town hall dialogues—creating space for parents, spouses, and community leaders to reflect, share, and commit to action.
To extend the reach and impact of the campaign, EVA is adapting these performances into a 13-part radio drama series. Each episode draws from real-life stories and data gathered through community engagement, offering compelling narratives that explore the intersections of education, household debt, gender roles, and structural inequality.
Produced in collaboration with local studio specialists and voice actors, the series will air on Kaduna-based FM stations and is projected to reach at least 25,000 listeners. The episodes are complemented by online sharing and community discussions, targeting an additional 3,000+ people through EVA’s digital platforms.
By airing these episodes in local languages and placing them within relatable storylines, the project ensures accessibility, relatability, and resonance, especially for parents and guardians whose choices directly impact girls’ education pathways.
The goal is not just awareness, but accountability. Through these performances and radio episodes, EVA seeks to: Foster more positive parental attitudes toward girls’ education. Encourage commitments from parents and guardians to keep girls in school, even amid financial hardship. Surface and document community-level insights on behavioral, attitudinal, and systemic barriers. Influence local education advocacy and policy recommendations based on real data and lived experience.
In fact, through post-performance surveys, EVA expects that at least 40% of audience members will express a greater willingness to support girls’ education, whether by enrolling a daughter in school, delaying marriage, or challenging harmful gender norms. The radio series also provides a long-term, low-cost method to keep the message alive, ensuring continued reach even after the mobile performances end.
As rehearsals unfold and scripts are finalized, there’s a palpable energy among the girl advocates, community volunteers, and facilitators. This is more than an arts project—it’s a collective call for change. By putting real community voices at the center, EVA is fostering more than awareness; it is building a movement—one story, one performance, one conversation at a time.
“”It makes me feel that the girl child should have equal freedom to education, just like the male child. When girl children are educated, the whole world is educated. This will lead to fewer illiterates in the nation.”-Ahmad Hafsat
The first episodes of the radio drama will begin airing soon. EVA invites everyone—parents, leaders, educators, and young people—to listen in, reflect, and join the growing movement for education justice. Because when communities tell their own stories, they don’t just inform—they transform.