Fellow: Iretiola T. Adebayo-Olubi

Grant Year: 2019

Location: Nigeria

Organization: Foundation for Moral Value Reorientation (FMVR)

Project title: Advocacy for Inclusion of Digital literacy & Values-Learning Among Prisoners in Nigeria with Special Focus on Female Prisoners

Project summary: There is a high recidivism rate among female inmates in Nigeria’s prisons and most of these women have limited access to opportunities that provide them with financial independence. In a patriarchal society like Nigeria, even the most economically-empowered women still earn 14% less than their male counterparts. The Foundation for Moral Value Reorientation (FMVR) is working to prepare female inmates for the modern workforce so that they can become economically independent when they leave prison. Many former female prisoners end up back in the prison system within 12 months due to unemployment, social stigmatization, drug abuse, and further criminal acts. In 2018 national prison laws that banned all forms of electronic gadgets in prisons were lifted, which now makes it possible for FMVR to advocate for the inclusion of digital literacy programs in Nigerian prisons to propel women into the modern-day workforce. Specifically, FMVR will advocate for the Office of the Controller-General of Nigerian Prison Services to publicly commit to and support the establishment of digital literacy and value reorientation centers in all 240 prisons nationwide by May 2020. Once successful, more than 1,300 women who pass through the Nigerian prison system annually will build and enhance their digital literacy skills and be able to improve the economic and social outcomes in their own lives.