This past spring, ChildVoice’s Nigeria team hosted an intern, Luciana Chumacero, a recent postgraduate who recently completed her master’s degree in the UK and is passionate about helping victims of exploitation and human trafficking. This marks the first time ChildVoice has hosted an intern in Nigeria. Luciana spent a month working with staff members, focusing specifically on helping to improve our monitoring and evaluation methods, especially tracking long-term outcomes. She took time out from her busy study schedule to talk with ChildVoice about her experiences and observations, including how strongly dedicated the Nigeria team is, as well as some of the challenges they face. Got to {URL} to read highlights from our conversation with her.
CV: What interested you in doing an internship with ChildVoice?
Luciana: I was raised in a very Catholic family where it was very much normal to help the most underprivileged. I think I’ve always had that mindset since I was a kid, and I feel that's a very Christian mindset overall—of helping individuals—and I decided to study international development because of that reason, because I kind of realized that my thing is to help people. But I just didn't know exactly in which area I wanted to help individuals.
I did my undergraduate studies at the University of Sussex, so when I started doing my Master’s [thesis] in economic development in Manchester, I decided to do it on human trafficking in Nigeria and Vietnam. I remember just praying to God, saying, like, I really want to focus on this, like I really want to focus on victims that have suffered from exploitation—of any forms of exploitation—and I always had that on my mind. So, while I was doing research, I focused on exploitation and human trafficking. I started reading about ChildVoice and the work that they actually did in Nigeria, and I was like, “This is very similar to what I have been writing in my dissertation, and I would really love to contribute.”
CV: Did you go to all three of our operational locations in northern Nigeria?
Luciana: Yes, I went to Mubi, I went to Labondo, and I went to Malkohi—all of the three locations that ChildVoice works. I didn't spend too much time in Mubi because obviously it's a bit of a security issue.
CV: What were the beneficiaries like? Did they differ among our locations?
Luciana: I would say that the beneficiaries in Mubi, compared to the ones in Labondo and Malkohi, are completely different in the way that they approach things. I think the students in Labondo and Malkohi are more reserved, while in Mubi the gratitude is on a different level than the ones that are already in Yola.
In terms of the classes, I was there during the month that they were doing cultural and gender-based violence classes. The cultural one I couldn't understand much about, because obviously they were speaking in Hausa, so it was a bit of a problem. But in Labondo, they had a cultural afternoon where they had traditional foods and things like that. They did traditional dances and other stuff for the rest of the week. It was just about learning about local cultures and other cultures so that they can accept each other. Because obviously it's a refugee camp, so you have people from such a big country and so diverse.
As for the gender-based violence classes, of course I feel that that was a great thing, but I saw some challenges. They need to get a bit more training on gender, because they aren’t aware what gender-based violence is. I was interviewing the boys—I did focus groups with boys—and the boys mentioned to me about how they didn't know what gender-based violence was. One boy said it is when someone has more money than you—like if a man has more money than you, he has more power than you. I explained to him that's not gender-based violence; that gender-based violence is completely different—like forced marriages.
CV: Did the Nigeria team do THRIVE training while you were there?
Luciana: Yes. The THRIVE project is a beautiful project. It's very entertaining and dynamic—the way that they do the moon bracelets. I think it's just a very nice way to learn about something so natural, right? I feel that it's a big thing when you're a woman, and there's a lot of stigmas around it. And I think the way the case workers deal with the stigmatization is very good—the way that they deal with it—because these girls have a lot of shame because of what they have gone through. The staff talks about this stuff with no shame. I think it makes the students feel safe. And obviously these girls have never learned what a period is, and they just know that it happens naturally because it just happens. Some of these girls don't even have knickers, and with these THRIVE pads, they don't need to have them. It's very practical.
I saw how caseworkers did the lessons. The girls were giggling and laughing, because obviously it's an uncomfortable topic. The THRIVE pad is like a diaper, right? And the case workers were putting the thing on to demonstrate how to use it.
CV: One of the primary goals of THRIVE is to help girls stay in school and complete their education. Did you see evidence that our students value completing school?
Luciana: I have loads of projects—but one of the projects was improving the success indicators that they measure in Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E).
So, they have six success indicators, which are: economic development, spiritual development, psychosocial development, education, physical health, and relationships. I asked the girls what their goals are, because I wanted to adapt their goals with our goals. I feel that success for me is completely different from a successful girl who is in a completely different context. You can't compare. I might see success in economic development as one thing, but she might see economic development as something completely different.
So I wanted to see how they saw these goals—the success indicators—and adapt them to what the staff wants to achieve for them. Because they are the ones who know the most. And I feel that the thing that came up the most when I asked them what matters to them, what their goals are—I think the main thing that a good 90% of them answered—was school.
They said school was the most important thing. And when I asked what challenges would affect them in achieving their goals, they also said the same thing: not going to school. Not finishing their education. I feel that it’s just very much ingrained in their minds—the importance of education. And the staff was telling me that a challenge is getting them to that point, because these girls think that their only role in this world is getting married to a guy and that’s about it.
So, this was the main thing that came up. Like, 90% of the girls in aftercare and current beneficiaries said the same thing to me—including the boys. All of them were like, “Education is important. I need to finish my education,” or, “I want to go back to school,” if they had dropped out.
I don’t know if that’s a consequence of the THRIVE project or of the overall lessons they’re getting from ChildVoice, but it’s definitely a behavioral change—the fact that they see education as something important. So that’s something I was able to track.
CV: Your internship project was focused on improving aspects of our M&E processes, right?
Luciana: Yeah, my project was to help figure out tools for measuring the long-term impact. That was my main project, and my other project was about the success indicators I mentioned—developing the success indicators a bit more, which is like what I'm doing now. It’s very gratifying because I feel that we are able to grasp data that we weren’t able to do before. And not only that we’re able to collect better data, but we will also be able to identify behavioral changes, which I feel has been very difficult for M&E to do.
CV: While you were there, you got to meet Hassan and his family. (Ed. Note: Hassan is the son of Hadiza, one of our students in Nigeria. Hassan, a three-year-old boy, has cerebral palsy. The Nigeria team worked diligently with Hassan’s family to help save his life. You can read more about our work with Hadiza and Hassan in our 2024 Annual Report here: https://childvoice.org/s/CV_AR2024_Secular_WEB.pdf.)
Luciana: When I was with Becky, I was asking her about impactful stories—because I did ask every member of the staff to tell me their most impactful story—and she mentioned Hassan. I think what made me cry is the fact that this kid has been a victim of poverty. That compared to some other beneficiaries that have been victims of violence, this kid has just been a plain victim of poverty. He is the vivid example of being a victim of poverty, and that conclusion really kind of struck me, because it's so unfair to realize that this kid that has done nothing wrong—he is a completely innocent kid—has been a victim of poverty because he was obviously born in the wrong context.
So I was like, “this kid is suffering the consequences of this.” I think what really struck me is the fact that I was able to see a victim of poverty. Yes, all of these kids are victims of poverty, but I think with Hassan it was just clearer.
CV: Thank you for taking time to talk about your experiences.
Luciana: Thank you. I'm just happy that I was able to positively contribute