Over the past three years, the Foundation has addressed gaps in sexual harassment policies, resulting in the co-creation and adoption of safeguarding policies on sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) by three universities: the American University of Nigeria (AUN), the University of Nigeria (UNN), and Bayero University (BUK). The implementation and evaluation of these policies have yielded positive outcomes, providing evidence that safeguarding policies and practices effectively deter sexual harassment and abuse in tertiary institutions.

Building on these findings and feedback from a stakeholder roundtable, the Yar'Adua Foundation—supported by the Ford Foundation and in partnership with Education as a Vaccine (EVA), Gender Mobile, and TechHer—hosted a Public Policy Forum on Driving Ownership of Anti-SGBV Safeguarding Practices Across Nigerian Tertiary Institutions. The forum assessed the successful implementation of safeguarding policies in the pilot universities and discussed the expansion of these best practices to other universities and technical tertiary institutions. A study of the AUN project was featured, accompanied by a panel discussion and interactive sessions on the efficacy of institutionalizing these practices nationwide.