LYNX Nigeria, or Linking the Youth of Nigeria through Exchange, has been working for over 17 years to support and empower low-income children and youth to build their communities and the nation. They strengthen schools and communities by engaging public schools and out-of-school youth in cooperative projects and opportunities, including social and financial enterprises.
Established by Nigerian college students in Boston, LYNX takes a uniquely holistic approach to their programmes in order to help youth understand their role in society. They do so by teaching them the tools to engage and excel through an integrated learning approach to history, culture, and community service. They also engage parents to build intergenerational learning, encourage learning from elders, and ensure that benefits are felt across the community.
Partnership
Aflatoun has been partnering with LYNX Nigeria since 2005, and they now implement the Aflatoun curriculum, as well as digital content from Aflateen and Aflateen+. In 2014, they implemented the Aflatoun Child Rights Cooperatives Project, funded by the Global Fund for Children and EMpower, where primary school children in Ondo State were taught about financial education in the context of cocoa farming and how they can be self-reliant, responsible citizens.
They also implemented a similar project, the Aflatoun Child Rights Cooperative in Kaduna and Enugu state. Funded by the EU Delegation in Nigeria, this taught students and teachers the Aflateen curriculum, with a focus on student advocacy for child rights and the creation of social enterprises in 18 schools.
In 2016-17, they implemented the Youth Engagement for Peace Project in Jos, Plateau state, which trained 100 out-of-school youths in the Aflatoun Peace curriculum, provided mentorship support for vocational skills, facilitated their enrollment back in schools, and trained them to be peacebuilding advocates across six communities.
Further, Aflatoun International and LYNX Nigeria partnered to advocate for the necessity of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS). Launched in 2012, this initiative engaged commercial banks to assist with the development of public financial literacy and trained them on child and youth-friendly products and services. It also produced a national Financial Literacy curriculum that was integrated into primary and secondary education in 2017, and piloted in Lagos and Kastina state.