Can Life Skills and Digital Training Unlock Better Futures for Nigeria’s Adolescent Girls?

The study finds that life-skills training improved key knowledge among adolescent girls in northern Nigeria, but broader gains in education, economic activity and empowerment remain limited. Weak digital-training delivery, delayed computers and uneven participation show that infrastructure, teacher capacity and implementation quality are critical to turning skills programmes into lasting development outcomes.

Nigeria's push to equip adolescent girls with life skills and digital capabilities is showing early signs of progress, but a World Bank study suggests that weak infrastructure, uneven implementation and limited participation could prevent such programmes from delivering their full development impact.

The research evaluated 8,223 adolescent girls across 270 public secondary schools in Kaduna, Kano and Katsina. Schools were divided between those offering life-skills training, those combining life skills with digital literacy, and a control group. At the midline assessment, researchers successfully tracked 8,191 girls, with attrition of just 0.4%.

The challenge is substantial. Around 29% of Nigerian women aged 15–24 had no formal education in 2024, while 62% had some secondary education. Among women from the poorest households, secondary-school completion was only 3%. Upper-secondary out-of-school rates among girls were estimated at 30% in Kaduna, 39% in Kano and 50% in Katsina.

Life Skills Improve Knowledge, but Wider Change Takes Time

The life-skills programme used school-based safe spaces where girls could learn about education, communication, self-confidence, reproductive health, menstruation, gender-based violence, financial literacy, climate change and decision-making.

More than 92% of schools assigned to the treatment groups reported delivering life-skills activities. However, only around 39% of girls reported directly participating in safe-space life-skills sessions, highlighting a gap between programme availability and individual exposure.

Despite this limitation, the intervention generated measurable knowledge gains. Life-skills training increased climate-change knowledge by around 3%, knowledge of school-related gender-based violence by 2%, sexual and reproductive health knowledge by 9%, and menstruation knowledge by 2%.

But knowledge gains did not yet produce major changes in education or economic outcomes. Researchers found no statistically significant overall effects on school retention, personal initiative, communication, self-esteem, self-efficacy, economic activity or marriage.

For policymakers, this means short-term knowledge improvements should not be confused with long-term empowerment. Changing decisions about education, employment, earnings and marriage may require longer and more intensive support.

Digital Education Exposes the Infrastructure Gap

The digital-literacy component highlights an equally important challenge. Only 38% of schools assigned to the combined programme reported delivering digital training, while just 21% of girls said they received both theoretical and practical instruction.

Implementation varied sharply. Around 63% of targeted schools in Kaduna delivered digital training, compared with 37% in Kano and 24% in Katsina.

A major constraint was the delayed deployment of computers in Kano and Katsina. Without functioning equipment, students could not receive the practical training required to build meaningful digital skills.

Kaduna nevertheless offered an encouraging signal. Girls receiving the combined programme there recorded an approximately 10% improvement in the multidimensional digital-literacy index. The result should be interpreted cautiously because it was not robust to all statistical adjustments, but it indicates that stronger implementation can improve outcomes.

For governments, the lesson is straightforward: computers, trained teachers and practical learning opportunities must be available when digital programmes begin, not months later.

Development Partners Need to Finance Delivery, Not Just Design

The findings have important implications for the World Bank and other international development partners investing in girls' education, digital inclusion and economic empowerment.

Funding curriculum development alone is unlikely to be sufficient. Digital and life-skills programmes need functioning equipment, teaching materials, trained instructors, reliable delivery systems and enough classroom time.

Development partners could therefore link financing more closely to implementation indicators such as student participation, hours of practical training, functioning computers, teacher readiness and completion rates.

The research also points to the potential of peer learning. Direct participants recorded stronger knowledge gains, while smaller improvements among some non-participants suggest information can spread between students. Governments could use structured peer networks to expand programme benefits more efficiently.

At the same time, policymakers should avoid overloading schools. Adding multiple interventions to institutions already facing teacher shortages and resource constraints can weaken implementation rather than strengthen it.

Digital Skills Could Become an Economic Opportunity

The implementation gaps also create opportunities for private-sector stakeholders. Technology companies, telecom operators, education providers and social enterprises could support affordable devices, connectivity, offline digital-learning platforms, teacher training, equipment maintenance and locally relevant educational content.

However, simply supplying computers is unlikely to solve the problem. Hardware can remain underused when electricity, maintenance, teacher capacity or practical training is missing.

Public-private partnerships could instead combine equipment with installation, maintenance, training and performance monitoring. Governments and development partners could also consider contracts that reward providers for functioning systems and verified student participation rather than equipment delivery alone.

The wider economic case is significant. Giving adolescent girls stronger digital capabilities could eventually improve access to further education, entrepreneurship, digital financial services and employment. But the study's short-term findings show that these benefits cannot be assumed simply because training has been introduced.

The next phase of research will be particularly important. Longer-term follow-up should reveal whether early improvements in knowledge and digital capabilities eventually affect schooling, marriage, employment, earnings and economic independence.

For Nigeria and its development partners, the central message is clear: investing in adolescent girls remains important, but implementation quality determines whether spending becomes meaningful development impact. Scaling programmes should therefore focus not only on how many schools are covered, but on whether girls actually receive sustained, practical and high-quality training.