Sahara, Zuriel Oduwole empower African girls with film workshops

Published by

7 years ago

SAHARA Group and young filmmaker, Zuriel Oduwole, have announced a creative arts empowerment scheme for young girls.

Tagged ‘Empowering the African Girl Child’, the programme is being implemented under Sahara’s Grooming Film Extrapreneurs initiative.

The scheme involves 90 Nigerian, Ghanaian and Ivorian girls aged 13 to 19. It will see Oduwole, an advocate of girl child education and gender equality, facilitating filmmaking sessions for participants.

The programme, which started on January 8, will end on Wednesday, January 17.

Head, Corporate Communications, Sahara Group, Bethel Obioma, explained that the project is expected to drive the advocacy message for girls’ rights, highlight key issues affecting girls across the three African countries and equip the girls with the foundational skills required to become film makers.

“Our hope is that the initiative would inspire and replicate Zuriel’s success amongst other girls her age in Africa. Above all, Sahara Group is particularly passionate about the fact that the project would give traction to ongoing conversations and interventions geared towards the pursuit of Gender Equality and Quality Education, being Goals 4 and 5 of the Sustainable Development Goals,” he said.

Also speaking, Oduwole said she was hopeful that the success of the project would encourage more corporations to create partnerships with small groups to empower more girls across the globe.

“I like the fact that Sahara Group sees some value in what I am doing with Girls’ Education across the world, and just like the African proverb, if you want to go fast, go alone, and if you want to go far, go together. I think I have gone very fast in the last five years, since I started my project at age 10.

“Sahara has shown they are serious about girls’ education, so it’s easy for me to create a partnership, so we can do more together, for girls’ education in Africa, and also around the world,” said the teenage filmmaker whose self- produced movie was screened in a commercial cinema at the age of 12.