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NIGERIA · ADVANCING GIRLS' EDUCATION

Every girl deserves the chance to finish her education.

Girls Thrive Network helps underserved girls remain in, return to, and progress through secondary education — especially when poverty, displacement, pregnancy, early marriage, or other barriers threaten to push them out.

10–17
Priority age group
Nigeria
Current focus
2026
Registered nonprofit
Enrolled Barrier hits Disengaged Re-engaged Completes school
WHY GIRLS THRIVE EXISTS

For many girls, leaving school is not one decision. It happens gradually.

Barrier

Poverty

School fees, transportation, supplies, food insecurity, and household pressures can make continuing education increasingly difficult.

Barrier

Displacement & Instability

When families lose homes, stability, or community support, education can quickly become interrupted.

Barrier

Pregnancy & Early Marriage

Pregnancy, young motherhood, and marriage can make returning to school difficult — even when a girl still wants to learn.

Barrier

Loss of Possibility

After enough disruption, a girl may begin to believe education no longer matters to her future.

Disadvantage should never become the limit of what a girl believes is possible for her life.

WHO WE SERVE

Underserved girls. Ages 10–17. Nigeria.

We currently focus on girls at risk of educational disengagement, interruption, or permanent school dropout.

We pay particular attention to barriers such as poverty, displacement, pregnancy, young motherhood, early marriage, household instability, gender-based barriers, and limited access to opportunity.

10–17
Priority age group
Nigeria
Current focus, with a long-term ambition across Africa
2026
Girls Thrive Network registered
HOW WE WORK

Prevent. Re-engage. Support return. Strengthen capability.

We are building an evidence-informed pathway that responds to the real barriers girls experience — not a collection of unrelated outreach activities.

01

Prevent

We work with girls at risk of disengaging from education before interruption becomes permanent. Through direct listening, guidance, mentoring, and early support, we aim to identify what is getting in the way of their learning.

02

Re-engage

Sometimes the first thing a girl loses is not her place in school — it is her belief that learning still matters. We help girls rebuild educational aspiration and reconnect learning to the future they want.

03

Support Return

Education should not end because a girl's life was interrupted. We are developing pathways to support girls whose schooling has been disrupted by pregnancy, marriage, displacement, instability, or other barriers.

04

Strengthen Capability

We help girls develop the confidence and practical abilities that support educational participation and future readiness — critical thinking, communication, problem-solving, life skills, digital creativity, leadership, and educational or career exposure.

OUR LONG-TERM APPROACH

Girl → Programme → Evidence → Policy

Our work begins with girls. Our ambition is to use what we learn from them to improve the systems affecting many more.

Girl

We begin by listening

We stay close to girls and understand the real barriers affecting their education. Their experiences must shape our work.

Programme

We design and test

We build interventions around the barriers girls actually experience. Every programme should have a defined problem, target population, intended outcome, budget, and measures of success.

Evidence

We measure what changes

We document what works and learn from what does not. Every meaningful project should leave behind more than photographs — data, girls' voices, learning, and evidence.

Policy

We earn our voice

As our evidence grows, we intend to contribute to stronger systems, better policies, and greater investment in girls' education — earned through evidence, not assumed.

WHAT MAKES GIRLS THRIVE DIFFERENT

Getting a girl into school is not enough.

We care about whether she can stay, learn, return after interruption, and progress toward completing her education. And we are not interested in simply telling girls to believe in themselves.

01

Stay Engaged

Maintain connection to learning even when life becomes difficult.

02

Navigate Barriers

Understand options, ask for help, and make informed decisions.

03

Build Capability

Develop practical skills, problem-solving ability, and confidence through action.

04

Act on Her Future

See education as connected to a future she can participate in shaping.

Our work begins with the girl, but it does not end with her. What we learn from girls should eventually help improve the systems affecting thousands more.

OUR CURRENT WORK

Beginning with listening.

Girls Thrive Network is newly registered, and we are intentionally building our programme model around evidence rather than assumptions. Our early community work will help us understand what is actually happening in girls' educational journeys.

Why are girls disengaging?

We want to understand what causes girls to lose connection with school and learning.

What causes interruption?

We will listen for the economic, social, family, gender, and environmental barriers affecting education.

What prevents return?

We want to understand why girls who want to continue learning are sometimes unable to return.

What helps girls move forward?

We will identify the support girls themselves say would make continuing education more possible.

LEADERSHIP

Who leads Girls Thrive Network

Oyin Akinsanmi, Founder and Executive Director of Girls Thrive Network

Oyin Akinsanmi

Founder & Executive Director

Oyin has a strong desire to help girls rebuild and find their way back from situations that are limiting their bright future — and to rekindle their love for education.

GIRLS AT THE CENTRE

Our work, in photos.

Moments from classrooms, distributions, and community outreach across our early programme work.

GOVERNANCE
CAC

A registered Nigerian nonprofit

Girls Thrive Network Lagos is incorporated by the Corporate Affairs Commission, Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Registration No.
9825631
OUR 2030 AMBITION

Direct impact. Credible evidence. Systems change.

By 2030, Girls Thrive Network aims to be a trusted Nigerian girls' education organisation with a proven pathway supporting underserved girls to remain in, return to, and progress through secondary education. We aim to contribute practical evidence and insight to the policies, systems, and investments shaping girls' education in Nigeria.

Direct Impact

Girls remaining in, returning to, and progressing through secondary education.

Credible Evidence

Documented outcomes, not anecdotes — what works, for whom, and why.

Systems Change

Insight that informs policy, funding, and investment decisions beyond our own programmes.

WHAT WE BELIEVE

Our work is built on three convictions.

"

A girl should not lose her education because life happened to her.

"

A disadvantaged girl should not internalize disadvantage.

"

Capability can begin before advantage arrives.

We want girls not only to return to school, but to return to possibility.

Help a girl continue her education.

Your support helps Girls Thrive understand and address the barriers pushing underserved girls out of education — and build pathways that help them remain, return, and move forward.