Written by: Bernard Otu Assim-ita
From July 9 to 11, 2025, the Yar’Adua Hall in Kaduna became more than just a venue for dialogue, it became a staging ground for bold commitments and community-powered accountability in education. The KADA EduPACT International Summit, hosted by the Kaduna State Government, brought together education stakeholders across sectors to co-create a new vision for learning in the state. With the theme “Strategic Visioning for Educational Transformation: Developing the Kaduna State Education Model,” the summit aimed to shift Kaduna’s education response from fragmented interventions to a unified, inclusive, and data-driven system that puts learners, especially girls and vulnerable children, at the centre.
Dignitaries at the Flag-off of the summit
For Education as a Vaccine (EVA), the summit was not just a platform—it was an opportunity to ground policy conversations in the realities of girls who are too often spoken about, but rarely spoken to. Through its Malala Fund-supported, ALL IN: Fostering accountability for girl education project in Kaduna, EVA has worked with adolescent girls, communities, and accountability groups to tackle the structural barriers that keep girls out of school, including poverty, harmful gender norms, lack of SRHR access, and weak implementation of policies. At #EduPACT 2025, this work found a new stage, and a listening audience.
“I thought I was the only one,but I met others through EVA who had been silenced too, and we started to speak together.”- Sadiya Shared
The breakout session titled “Voices from the Field” became a defining moment. Two of EVA’s Girl Advocates, Sadiya and Khadija, took the stage not as subjects of charity but as agents of change. Sadiya recounted how she was forced to leave school due to early marriage pressures and economic hardship. Her journey from silence to strength, made possible through EVA’s mentorship, safe spaces, and community-based peer networks, resonated deeply with attendees.
Khadija’s testimony focused on how her lived experience became the fuel for advocacy. She now leads awareness activities in her community, pushing for stronger SRHR education, policy reforms, and the re-entry of out-of-school girls. She addressed the room with clarity and courage:
“Don’t draft policies about us without listening to us first. We know what we need: safety, dignity, and a chance to go back to school, and stay there.” – Khadijah highlighted at the summit
Their voices moved the room. Decision-makers, civil society actors, and development partners were visibly impacted. As one Ministry of Education official remarked, “They didn’t just speak, they shifted the room. This is what accountability looks like.”
Solomon Ogwuche, Program Manager, EVA ICCS Unit
Beyond individual stories, EVA’s Program Manager, Solomon Ogwuche presented the strategic framework of the Malala Fund-supported project. The presentation underscored EVA’s focus on addressing the root causes of girls’ exclusion from education and ensuring that re-entry is not just about enrollment but retention and dignity. Through community-led approaches, EVA works to return out-of-school girls to the classroom, promotes gender-responsive education budgeting, and integrates sexual and reproductive health rights into learning environments. These efforts are embedded in transparency, youth leadership, and local accountability structures, ensuring that policies do not stay on paper but translate to action in schools and homes.
The alignment between the summit’s six reform pillars, ranging from gender inclusion and equitable access to system resilience and digital transformation, and EVA’s work was undeniable. Whether it was Governor Uba Sani’s declaration that education is the cornerstone of Kaduna’s development agenda, or the commitment to reintegrate over 300,000 out-of-school children, the summit echoed the core of EVA’s advocacy: that reform must be rooted in the lived realities of those most affected. The Governor’s words struck a chord.
“Let us produce timelines, budgets, and accountability frameworks that will outlive political cycles and truly reflect the hopes and dreams of every child in Kaduna State.” –Governor Uba Sani’s speech at the summit echoed.
His words reinforced not only the urgency of reform but also the political will behind it. When combined with UBEC’s strong endorsement of foundational learning, technology integration, and inclusive education systems, it becomes clear that there is a growing recognition that grassroots actors like EVA are not optional—they are essential to achieving real, lasting impact.
EVA’s participation extended beyond the stage. At the exhibition area, our booth became a hub for collaboration. One particularly impactful engagement came from the Association of Persons with Disabilities, who explored how EVA’s approach to school re-entry could also support girls with disabilities in hard-to-reach project communities. These conversations represent more than networking, they reflect a shared belief that education reform must leave no girl behind, regardless of her ability, background, or circumstance.
“For us, partnership doesn’t just mean logos on a banner,it means shared vision, shared resources, and shared accountability.”– Mercy Abalaku, EVA program officer on the Malala project said as she hosted patrons at the booths.
The summit also served as an affirmation of EVA’s broader thematic areas: gender equality, SRHR integration, youth accountability, and inclusive education. It affirmed that supporting adolescent girls to return to school is not a standalone act of advocacy but part of a larger struggle for justice and structural change. As UBEC Executive Secretary Aisha Garba reiterated in her address, “No child must be left behind.” Her call for curriculum renewal, technology integration, and responsive teacher training underscored what EVA has long advocated: that inclusion must be designed into systems, not added as an afterthought.
The KADA EduPACT Summit culminated in the development of a comprehensive Kaduna Education Development Roadmap, outlining long-term targets for system-wide reform. For EVA, this roadmap is both a challenge and an invitation. It is a challenge to continue holding power accountable and an invitation to scale up grassroots-led interventions that are already working. As the summit ends, Kaduna’s commitment to transforming education is stronger, but transformation will only be meaningful if it reaches the girls in the margins.
Kaduna still has over 650,000 children out of school, and girls make up the majority. Every school re-entry supported by EVA, every safe space created, and every budget tracked by our accountability groups brings us closer to the just and inclusive future we’re fighting for. Our Girl Advocates reminded the entire summit that education reform isn’t abstract policy, it is personal, urgent, and worth every investment.
Program Officer, Mercy Abalaku and some of the girl advocates we work with on the Malala supported ALL IN: Fostering accountability for girl education at the #KADAEduPACT summit 2025
Because no reform is complete until every girl is seen, heard, and included. EVA’s work doesn’t end with a summit. In the coming months, we will continue to scale our interventions, deepen partnerships, and support policy implementation rooted in community realities. We are committed to working with the Kaduna State Government, development partners, and local actors to ensure that the commitments made at EduPACT 2025 translate into concrete, measurable change.