DURHAM, NC — Building on the successes and lessons learned from the Four Pillars PLUS girls’ education projects in Kenya and Benue State, Nigeria, FHI 360 has been awarded a new three-year grant by the GE Foundation to address unequal gender norms through education in communities in Cross River State, Nigeria. 

The Four Pillars PLUS project provides a comprehensive approach to girls’ education through mentoring to boys and girls on gender equality, life skills and empowerment; scholarships for boys and girls; community mobilization around girls’ education; and teacher professional development, with a focus on gender sensitivity in the classroom. In Cross River State, the Four Pillars PLUS project will follow a cohort of secondary school girls and boys through their graduation from secondary school. The PLUS component of the project will focus on improving the reproductive health of adolescent girls and boys and on ensuring child-friendly learning environments by reducing school-related gender-based violence and strengthening the capacities of the primary health centers that service the project communities. Project activities will cut across the areas of education, gender, health and social protection, which comprehensively affect educational achievement, health outcomes and equitable gender norms. 

The Four Pillars PLUS project, which is designed to enhance girls’ decision-making power through education, is co-funded by Johnson & Johnson Corporate Contributions. FHI 360 is excited by the potential offered by this partnership between the GE Foundation and Johnson & Johnson.

For more information on our work in Gender, visit www.fhi360.org/gender.

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