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GRANT WINNER: RNI EMERGES WINNER OF UNION BANK’S ENABLING NGOS FOR SUCCESS INITIATIVE (2019)
We are exited to have emerged as the most nominated NGO in Oyo State during the Enabling NGOs for Success Initiative organised by Union Bank of Nigeria. This grant would help us do a lot more in 2020 as we look forward to creating more lasting impact in rural communities. Our profound gratitude goes to God and everyone who nominated us. We will keep making you proud by continuing to serve humanity. Thanks to Union bank of Nigeria for this great opportunity.
WATER INTERVENTION FOR AGELE, MOGBA AND THEIR NEIGHBOURING VILLAGES
In response to the water plight in Agele and Mogba villages, RNI proposes to dig 2 Wells in different locations to cater for the water needs of the villagers. We hereby seize this medium to solicit public support to aid the project implementation. Please, be a part of our effort to better the lives of the underserved by supporting us to make water sources (2 Wells) available for the people of Agele, Mogba and their neighbouring villages, in Eruwa, Oyo State. Watch this video to see the water affair in those villages and watch the villagers solicit your support. Kindly support this project by making a donation to: Rural Nurture Initiative 6060405291 Fidelity Bank Thank you for your kind support!
VOLUNTEERS’ CONNECT (November Edition)
November edition of Volunteers’ Connect was super loaded and interesting. Thanks to Dr. Fadairo for the insightful and interactive session. He modified the topic to “Inclusive Project Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation: requisites for effective and sustainable rural development” and carefully simplified the professional jargons, explaining them in layman’s language, so that everyone could understand and flow along the line of contemplation. The question and answer session was really insightful as well. Basically, we learnt about profiling a community, who to target for inclusion, how to target for inclusion and the participatory tools that are needed. Some key points include: It is important to include the community members in all the activities, from situation analysis/problem identification to the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of a project in any community. When there is social inclusion, the people have a sense of ownership of the project which ensures the sustainability of such a project. Changes that are initiated from within are more sustainable. Abandoned projects occur because of the relegation of social inclusion to the background. So never plan a programme outside of the people. Importantly, beyond counting numbers, the impact of the project is important and the breath of sustainability lies in the attainment of impact. Thanks to our Volunteers for making it a date, we appreciate your commitment to becoming a better version of yourselves. Let’s keep making effort towards building a nation and continent that we can all be proud of. We are the change we desire to see!
WATER PLIGHT IN AGELE AND MOGBA VILLAGES
During rainy season in Agele and Mogba villages, the villagers are usually excited that there is water. They rush to line up their buckets on the ground below the edge of their roofs. They walk miles to streams where rain had gathered and fill up their pails. They don’t mind the algae growing on top nor the coloration in the water. All that matters is that they have something to drink, bathe and cook with. However, during the dry season when the stream is dried, the people suffer from access to water for their daily use. They scramble and scoop the small water left in the stream, which according to them, is often contaminated by Fulani herdsmen and their cows. RURAL NURTURE INITIATIVE (RNI) visited the villages and the situation can only be described as TERRIBLE, especially during dry seasons. The villagers lamented that they sometimes have nothing to drink or cook with it. RNI therefore proposes to dig 2 Wells in different locations that will serve the members of Agele, Mogba and their neigbouring villages. Please watch this space for how we can collectively achieve this project. Many thanks in advance. Cheers to National Progress! #RNI #water #rural #development #feltneeds #Oyo #Nigeria
VOLUNTEERS’ CONNECT (October Edition)
We care about rural communities, we also care about our Volunteers and make a deliberate effort to facilitate their personal and professional capacity building. Through our monthly Volunteers’ Connect, we are grooming youths to become champions of change who will spearhead sustainable development in Africa. The October Edition of Volunteers’ Connect aimed to teach and equip our Volunteers with essential leadership skills. Beyond the tag “Volunteers”, they were made to understand their position as changemakers and social impact leaders. Thanks to Raphael Stephen for sharing with us some transformative insights on leadership. You can watch our comments and feedback video below:
ANOTHER VISIT TO AGELE AND MOGBA VILLAGES, ERUWA, OYO STATE
Last week, our delegates paid an advocacy visit to the Baales (Village Heads) of Agele and Mogba villages to initiate plans towards the upcoming water intervention. After the discussions, they signed a document authorizing Rural Nurture Initiative to solicit all necessary support on their behalf, to implement the project. Lack of water has been a major challenge to the people for donkey years and has posed serious threats to their health and wellbeing. Having recognised water as the felt-needs of the people, we will be embarking on a water project to make water sources (2 Wells) available. One to serve each village and her neighbouring villages; thus, ameliorating the water plight of the people.
PRESENTATION OF CERTIFICATES TO MSMIP PARTICIPANTS
After Mr. John Adeleye, the Logistics and Operations Officer, had briefly addressed the participants, certificates were handed to them in appreciation of a job well done and to encourage active volunteering among the youths. The Executive Director, Ms. Damilola Iyiola presented certificates to 5 of 6 participants, who were present to receive theirs. Read more about My Skill, My Impact Project (MSMIP) below:
VOLUNTEERS’ CONNECT (September Edition)
RNI is most definitely not resting her oars. We came together for the monthly Volunteers’ Connect to appraise the recently concluded education outreach and have a family thought shower. We welcomed new team members to the team, had an appraisal of the previous outreach and set plans in full swing for the work ahead of us. Rural lives matter, we’re here to make sure of that. VOLUNTEERS OF THE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER Ayodeji Oladimeji and Olasunkanmi Ogunnubi emerged as Volunteers of the month among the physical Volunteers, while Gift Ifokwe and Funmi Omosowon are the first and second runners-up respectively. Among the remote Volunteers, Ayomide Iyiola emerged as the Volunteer of the Month while Abiola Bolaji is the runner up.
EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH TO ST. TIMOTHY RCM PRIMARY SCHOOL, AMULOKO VILLAGE, ISOKAN SOUTH LGA, OSUN STATE
It was another impactful moment as the Rural Nurture Initiative team embarked on an educational outreach to St. Timothy RCM Primary School on 21st of September, 2019. The outreach focused on meeting the educational needs of the pupils as well as changing the parents and pupils’ orientation about the importance of education. With the aid of magnanimous donors, essential educational needs such as school uniforms, notebooks and other stationery were provided to the pupils while teaching materials were made available to the teachers. The team, who arrived at the school at 10:28am, received a warm welcome by the pupils and teachers. The program kicked-off with a speech by the head teacher which was then followed by a recitation session to get the pupils familiarized with the team. During this period, attendance was taken to record students’ personal characteristics (name, age, sex and class). The outreach consisted of various engaging activities such as spelling bee/reading competition, colouring and drawing competition, craft making (broom making competition). The pupils were encouraged to display their broom making skills and teach the process to RNI team. Distribution of school uniforms took place simultaneously, as the pupils were dressed in the uniforms donated by Rural Nurture Initiative. Gifts items, ranging from customized RNI T-shirts to notebooks, crayons, pencils, and biscuits were presented to the winners of each competition by the Executive Director, Miss Damilola Iyiola. A career talk titled “Dream Big”, was given to the students on the importance of focus and hard work to achieve success. Up next was a talk with the parents on the importance of child education; this session proved to be very enlightening and interesting as the parents were responsive and inquisitive. Back-to-school packages (notebooks and a purse containing pencils, biros, crayon, sharpener and eraser) were given to each student. Educational charts and posters were pasted by the team in the classrooms and learning materials such as textbooks, chalks, red and blue biros, liquid blackboard renovator, and notebooks were given to the teachers to aid the teaching process. Refreshment packages containing biscuit and sachet milk were distributed to the pupils, parents and teachers. The program was rounded off with a picture session involving the Rural Nurture Initiative team, the parents, pupils and teachers. After a heartfelt vote of thanks by the head teacher, the team departed from Amuloko village, amidst greetings of gratitude from parents and teachers, who were appreciative of the contributions of the RNI to the School. The outreach was such a historic and successful one!
MY SKILL, MY IMPACT PROJECT (1ST EDITION)
The first edition of My Skill, My Impact Project (MSMIP) was a huge success. We made a call for 12 volunteer Fashion Designers to help sew 5 uniforms each, for the pupils of St. Timothy RCM Primary School, Amuloko village, Osun state. Although 11 persons indicated interest, but only 6 eventually showed up. We procured the necessary materials and made them available to the Fashion Designers. In all, we had 30 uniforms that were distributed to the pupils. Visit the link below to learn more about My Skill, My Impact Project (MSMIP)
VOLUNTEERS’ CONNECT (August Edition)
The August edition of Volunteers Connect was in no doubt a memorable one, as it marked the first to take place at RNI’s new office, with so much to learn in a lively atmosphere. The theme of discussion was “Volunteerism: youths’ involvement in achieving the SDGs in Africa” and Sarah Temilade CHIEJILE of Secure a Future Foundation, did a laudable justice in facilitating the session. Sarah explained the transition from Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and elaborated on the need for youths to rise to the challenge of nation building and achieving the SDGs. She stated that as youths, we have the largest population in Africa, however, our strength is not only in our number but in our creativity, energy, passion, pro-activeness, dynamism, tenacity, resilience, etc. She also enumerated the benefits of volunteering towards any noble cause, using RNI as a case study and quoted Mahatma Gandi, saying: “the best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others”. To conclude, she expounded on the need to generate data for research purposes, as well as the necessity of effective supervision, monitoring and evaluation of projects. After her session, which stirred up the Volunteers towards making a better commitment in achieving the SDGs in Africa, there was a quiz competition a.k.a “Development affairs”, between the two Volunteer teams (Team Achievers and Trailblazers). Development related questions were asked to facilitate joint learning and team work. Team Trailblazers emerged as winner of the quiz competition. The Volunteer of the month, which was announce at a latter time, was Ayodeji Amos OLADIMEJI, while the first and second runner-ups were Feranmi Deborah ADEBUNMI and Olasunkanmi OGUNNUBI, respectively. See more pictures below:
PRE-OUTREACH VISIT TO ST. TIMOTHY RCM PRIMARY SCHOOL, AMULOKO VILLAGE, OSUN STATE
In preparation for the proposed RURAL SCHOOL OUTREACH in September, our team embarked on a pre-outreach survey to St. Timothy RCM Primary School in Amuloko Village, Isokan South LGA, Osun State on Thursday, July 25, 2019. SITUATION REPORT BASED ON THE PRE-OUTREACH SURVEY The indepth interview with the teachers of St. Timothy RCM primary school, along side personal observations, revealed the following heartbreaking conditions, which calls for urgent intervention: A poor and non-conducive learning environment with dilapidated structures and leaking roofs. Lack of learning infrastructures as there are no tables and limited chairs for the pupils. Chairs are bent over for students to sit and write. Lack of teaching materials for teachers, hence no curriculum followed in teaching. Lack of stationery as over 80% of the pupils use only 2 notebooks for the 8 subjects offered. Over 75% of the pupils cannot afford a school uniform. Students absenteeism; by observation, only 41.4% were present in school. The headmistress stated that the school enrollment was 58 pupils but only 24 were present on the day of our visit. Conclusively, the teachers identified the need for teaching materials, stationery for students, as well as learning infrastructure (tables and chairs) as the three major felt-needs of the school. In response to the problems above, we will be executing solution based outreaches in two phases. The first outreach will be embarked upon in September while the second phase will come up next year. The September outreach will feature the following charity activities: Provision of teaching materials for teachers Provision of back-to-school packages comprising of stationery and other school needs for the pupils Provision of school uniform for students Other engaging activities include: 1. Rural Creativity Challenge(Craft: broom and basket making)(Art: drawing and reading competition)**Gifts will be given to Winners 2. Time out with parents to help them better understand the significance of education, while seeking to tackle pupils’ absenteeism. Proposed outreach date: Friday, September 20, 2019 N.B: issues pertaining to learning infrastructures (tables, chairs and building renovation) will be addressed in the subsequent outreach.