Issues we Address
Sustainable Livelihood Interventions of the Foundation
Over the years, the Foundation has implemented a number of programs to support sustainable livelihoods targeting highly vulnerable groups particularly the very poor. These programs were designed to address extreme poverty in rural communities in the Niger Delta region. Highly vulnerable groups such as orphans, widows, vulnerable children and out – of - school youth were direct beneficiaries of these interventions. Some of the sustainable livelihoods programs are discussed below:
The Foundation implemented a skills acquisition program for orphans of Okon Widows Network. This program tagged “Skills Acquisition Program for Orphans (SAPO)” was designed to create an opportunity for meaningful economic engagements of the youth most of whom were school drop – outs, due in part, to the deaths of either or both of the parents. The program also aims to reduce child trafficking in the area given that the International Labor Organization (ILO) had identified the area to have the highest prevalence of trafficking in children.
At the end of the inauguration of the Network, over 2000 Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) were mobilized and registered with the Network. A team drawn from the volunteers was established to manage the skills acquisition program. Due to limited funds, only 200 Orphans were selected to participate in the program. They were counseled along with their guidance to gauge available knowledge level, preferred trades etc. Thereafter the participants were posted to different service providers – Tailoring shops, Barbing saloons, Hairdressing saloons, Computer technicians, Motor mechanics, Refrigerator/Air-condition technicians, Carpentry shops etc.
These orphans were trained for a total of 18 months. During this period, the Program Team planned a monitoring program to track the skills transfer process using customized questionnaires. At the end of the training, participants were presented with certificate of participation and starter packs, including Micro credit to establish their own shops.
Enterprise Development Program
In response to Youth restiveness and militancy in the Niger Delta, ELF Petroleum Nigeria Ltd invited the Foundation to implement a Small Business Development Initiative (SBDI) for youth of the oil producing communities. 18 beneficiaries were selected for the program and participated in a 3 – month training program. Initial capacity mapping prior to commencement of training indicated that the youth had some entrepreneurial initiatives and were lacking in capital to embark on investments.
Participants were interested in diverse trades including: bakery, soft drink retail, cable television marketing, ice cream franchise, shoe shops, electronic shops, furniture, warehouse, motorcycle repair shops etc. Each beneficiary was given a maximum of NGN 750,000 interest free loans to support each enterprise.
The Foundation program staff initiated process monitoring to track not only application of funds, but expansion of the enterprises. As would be shown in the impact, participants were able to successfully establish their businesses as well as develop strategic market links.
The Foundation considers Micro Credit program as a strategic intervention within the thematic area of our sustainable livelihoods initiative. Following this, Micro credit program was implemented in two most important project fields to three strategic target groups – Widows, Orphans and restive youth of the Niger Delta region.
Micro Credit Program for Widows (MICPOW)
400 widows, part of the 1000 registered with Okon Widows Network were grouped into six co-operative societies and were trained on different trades based on findings from an initial baseline studies. These co-operative societies appointed their leaders – President, Secretaries, Treasurers and were provided with a maximum of NGN 200,000 per co-operative. The co-operative societies were made to have sub – autonomy and each of them were registered with the Network’s secretariat with the sum of NGN 5,000. This did not only assist the Network in fundraising but demonstrated commitment from the members who were then able to draw from the Network MICPOW funds.
Members of each co-operative balloted to determine the first set among the members that could access loans from the NGN 200,000 given to each co-operative, while the second set waited for the first set to refund before taking their turns to access the loans. Over 50% of the widows were those affected by HIV/AIDS. Consequently, MICPOW was, in part, to mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS. Some of the trades preferred by the widows include petty trading, tailoring, palm oil processing, cassava processing, farming, hairdressing etc. Beneficiaries were supported with life skills education comprising petty cash record keeping, income and expenditure, profit and loss. Additionally, MICPOW managers created a tracking monitor for each co-operative society to keep track of fund application and income re-distribution within each co-operative.
Funding for MICPOW was provided by our Foundation for the pilot phase, while the World Bank National AIDS Response Fund (NARF) managed by the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) and Pathfinder International/Nigeria funded the second phase.
Apparently noticing the efficiency and thoroughness of the Foundation’s initiatives as well as credibility in working with several institutions in the Niger Delta, Elf Petroleum Nigeria Limited, EPNL, invited the Foundation to operationalize it’s partnership with other stakeholders for the implementation of the Total Credit for Agriculture and Rural Development, TOTALCARD, under the Niger Delta Trust Fund (NDTF). The NDTF is a sustainable development initiative designed to deal with the twin evils of youth restiveness and youth unemployment in the Niger Delta region. Key partners for this initiative are Elf Petroleum Nigeria Limited, Development Finance Office of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the United Bank for Africa (UBA). The Foundation served as the PMO (Project Managing Organization) responsible for the utilization of the fund’s vote of N500 million per annum for a project period of three years to ensure that youth were trained in skills acquisition, women and youth cooperative societies were trained on small business development prior to accessing Micro Credit facilities for meaningful economic engagements.
