SI4DEV, with the support of TSDI our US sponsor, is excited to embark on two exciting adventures! In order to strengthen our ongoing commitment to grow human capital and eradicate poverty in the communities where we work, we have sponsored two new training programs for our partners and participants across Nigeria. The programs are the Street Business School by SI4DEV project and the Life Skills and Peer Support Groups project.
- Life Skills Training – In Nigeria, young people in the 10 – 19 age range are the most numerous and yet most overlooked and underrepresented in programs to improve life skills for employability or other positive life outcomes. This project will use participatory and experiential forums and workshops with local stakeholders to train and support participants to befriend and support each other as they learn how to use life skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, emotional intelligence to achieve positive results. We have developed an educational manual and will use this in addition to supplementary audios, print and videos to highlight and discuss topics relevant to the young people participating.
25 volunteers in total were trained in Abuja, Lokoja, Jos and Makurdi on how to use our in-house manual to facilitate the project. The trained enablers will work with teenagers to establish and grow peer support groups that help inculcate life skills for future employability, self reliance, and community development. The facilitators will be using our tried and validated manual with six weeks curriculum.
The Life Skills and Peer Group coaching project aims to educate and train about 1000 preteens and teenagers and help them become leaders and innovators so they can have multiplier effects in their communities.
2. Street Business School by SI4DEV: We are currently the only Street Business School (SBS) global catalyst partner in Nigeria! SBS is a six-month, mobile classroom uniquely tailored to meet the needs of those we serve in our local communities. SBS creates transformation for people living in poverty by building confidence and igniting entrepreneurial skills. Those living in this economic group are most likely to lack the skills and confidence to start their own business. We will help them do just that!
SBS has shown to increase income levels by more than 200% within 2 years of graduating. With this added income, those who participate in this project will be able to access these validated results.
So far, SI4DEV has trained 2 master coaches and 14 volunteer assistant coaches on using the SBS curriculum to coach local women and youth to start or grow their business using the SBS model. The volunteer assistant coaches will support regular and on-the-ground upskilling of about 60 participants of this program.
Thank you all once again for your support on this journey.
I am appealing for Port Harcourt to be considered as one of the locations where this initiative should take place. This will help increase the engagement of si4dev Volunteers and partners in Port Harcourt.