Thursday 22 December 2016

Nigeria’s 2017 budget of recovery and growth


Nigeria’s 2017 budget of recovery and growth

Protocols:

1. It is my pleasure to present the 2017 Budget Proposals to this distinguished Joint Assembly: the Budget of Recovery and Growth.

Tuesday 6 December 2016

#NGOconnect2016: 35 Youth NGOs attended the Academy 2016


The Academy: NGO Connection Day 2016 brought together young social innovators across board to learn the art of organizational growth system using modern working tools that will translate into delivering great community development projects.

The event recorded more participants this year that had the opportunity of engaging the Academy’s seasoned facilators. A total of 33 NGOs from 7 States in Nigeria attended the Academy this as against 25 in the previous year.

 Sustainable and scalable projects were used to lead the Academy’s activities; developing fundable projects, engaging funding organizations, networking and learning skills around proposal/report writing were other courses engaged in the Academy.

Monday 5 December 2016

#SheLeads: Training the Voice of the GirlChild

Raise the #GirlChild to believe their own voice in other to give their mates world-class VOICE.
By Semiye Michael


Over 400 Girls attended #SheLeads Conference Minna 2016



#SheLeads Project
#SheLeads is a social good project seeking to raise quality voices in support of the Girl-Child. This project is not particular about gender promotion but a sincere effort targeted at giving strength to the right of every child irrespective of gender to live and fulfill a worthy course in life. The Girl-Child should face no barrier whatsoever at daring to dream and fulfill her dream. #SheLeads is a project of DEAN Initiative Abuja Nigeria.

PRESS RELEASE
- International Youth Day

PRESS RELEASE
- International Youth Day – Youth leaders call for investments in Health to achieve the SDGs
Nigerian Government must keep its commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals and address the health crises
Everyday, 2000 Nigerian children and 158 women die because of poor access to basic healthcare 

National Health Act could save the lives of over 3 million mothers, newborns and children under-5 by 2022 if fully implemented 

International Youth Day celebrations Abuja, Nigeria (12 August 2016) – Over 200 youth leaders converged at the Unity Fountain in Abuja for a health walk to celebrate the International Youth Day for 2016. August 12, 2016, has been declared the International Youth Day by the United Nations and the theme of the 2016 International Youth Day is “The Road to 2030: Eradicating Poverty and Achieving Sustainable Consumption and Production”. It focuses on the leading role of young people in ensuring poverty eradication and achieving sustainable development. DEAN Initiative and ONE campaign converged citizens and youth leaders to narrow down to achieving SDG 3, that is, achieving good health and wellbeing.

The youth leaders convened an open air health rally to campaign for the achievement of the SDGs with a specific call for attention to the health sector and draw public support for the campaign to “Make Naija Stronger” which is a health campaign calling for more investments in the health sector to reduce all avoidable deaths in the country. The campaign aims to amplify Nigerian citizens’ demands that the government fulfill its promises and save the health system by funding the 2014 National Health Act and by allocating 15% of the national budget to health. 
Anti-poverty organization, ONE and its partners are calling for improved access to lifesaving health services for all Nigerians. 

15 years ago, all African governments made a commitment in Abuja to increase health spending to 15% of their national budget. 
Successive governments have failed to deliver on the Abuja commitment and Nigerians – particularly women and children – continue to die from treatable and preventable diseases. 
The historic Abuja declaration has never been met by Nigerian policy-makers - only 4.13% is allocated to health in the 2016 budget.  
Citizens were also seen to be writing messages on post-cards that will be delivered to their individual representatives in the National Assembly.
“We cannot fall behind in achieving the SDGs in Nigeria and that is only possible when people are healthy,” says Semiye Michael of DEAN Initiative. “As youth leaders, we are calling the attention of the leaders to prioritize the health of its people, otherwise, no meaningful development can happen when people die of unnecessary causes.”

Dr. Francis Ohayindo of ONE campaign asked all Nigerians to join their voices in calling for the implementation of the National Health Act, which outlines how a functional health system should operate. He stated that “starting with the 2017 budget, provisions for the Basic health care Provision Fund should be clearly provided for to allow access to basic health care services for the millions who cannot afford it.”  If fully implemented, the National Health Act could save the lives of over 3 million mothers, newborns and children under-5 by 2022.

Despite being Africa’s biggest economy, Nigeria spends relatively little on the health of its citizens and is facing both a health and a nutrition crisis, as women and children continue to die from treatable and preventable diseases. Nigeria’s health expenditure puts it in the bottom third of the ranking of countries in sub- Saharan Africa. Out of 49 lower-middle income countries, only seven country governments spend less per capita than Nigeria does on health.
“We laud the Nigerian government plan to operationalize 10,000 PHCs across the country, but we are waiting to see action on this since it will give better access to health services for the very large population of rural dwellers in Nigeria, says Dozie Nwafor of the Young African Leader International, Abuja. He further emphasized that the development of a comprehensive community health insurance scheme will also go along way to help achieve Universal Health Coverage.”
President Buhari and the Minister of Health last year reaffirmed their commitment to prioritising healthcare by agreeing to pursue the new Sustainable Development Goals. These goals present an opportunity for government to translate their commitment into time- bound and measurable outcomes to dramatically cut avoidable deaths of mothers, children and the marginalised. Now is the time for increased implementation of these important commitments.
“We urge President Buhari to keep his promise to increase the quantity and quality of funding to implement the National Health Act, and ensure all Nigeria’s children not only survive, but thrive,” says Edwin Ikhuoria, Nigeria Country Representative of the ONE Campaign.
ENDS

Friday 12 August 2016

International Youth Day 2016 Celebration Abuja Nigeria

DEAN Initiative, a youth development organization in Abuja Nigeria, partners with www.one.org to host youth leaders across Nigeria to observe the International Youth Day 2016 in Abuja Nigeria.

PRESS RELEASE
- International Youth Day – Youth leaders call for investments in Health to achieve the SDGs
Nigerian Government must keep its commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals and address the health crises
Everyday, 2000 Nigerian children and 158 women die because of poor access to basic healthcare 

National Health Act could save the lives of over 3 million mothers, newborns and children under-5 by 2022 if fully implemented 








International Youth Day celebrations Abuja, Nigeria (12 August 2016) – Over 200 youth leaders converged at the Unity Fountain in Abuja for a health walk to celebrate the International Youth Day for 2016. August 12, 2016, has been declared the International Youth Day by the United Nations and the theme of the 2016 International Youth Day is “The Road to 2030: Eradicating Poverty and Achieving Sustainable Consumption and Production”. It focuses on the leading role of young people in ensuring poverty eradication and achieving sustainable development. DEAN Initiative and ONE campaign converged citizens and youth leaders to narrow down to achieving SDG 3, that is, achieving good health and wellbeing.

The youth leaders convened an open air health rally to campaign for the achievement of the SDGs with a specific call for attention to the health sector and draw public support for the campaign to “Make Naija Stronger” which is a health campaign calling for more investments in the health sector to reduce all avoidable deaths in the country. The campaign aims to amplify Nigerian citizens’ demands that the government fulfill its promises and save the health system by funding the 2014 National Health Act and by allocating 15% of the national budget to health. 
Anti-poverty organization, ONE and its partners are calling for improved access to lifesaving health services for all Nigerians. 

15 years ago, all African governments made a commitment in Abuja to increase health spending to 15% of their national budget. 
Successive governments have failed to deliver on the Abuja commitment and Nigerians – particularly women and children – continue to die from treatable and preventable diseases. 
The historic Abuja declaration has never been met by Nigerian policy-makers - only 4.13% is allocated to health in the 2016 budget.  
Citizens were also seen to be writing messages on post-cards that will be delivered to their individual representatives in the National Assembly.
“We cannot fall behind in achieving the SDGs in Nigeria and that is only possible when people are healthy,” says Semiye Michael of DEAN Initiative. “As youth leaders, we are calling the attention of the leaders to prioritize the health of its people, otherwise, no meaningful development can happen when people die of unnecessary causes.”

Dr. Francis Ohayindo of ONE campaign asked all Nigerians to join their voices in calling for the implementation of the National Health Act, which outlines how a functional health system should operate. He stated that “starting with the 2017 budget, provisions for the Basic health care Provision Fund should be clearly provided for to allow access to basic health care services for the millions who cannot afford it.”  If fully implemented, the National Health Act could save the lives of over 3 million mothers, newborns and children under-5 by 2022.

Despite being Africa’s biggest economy, Nigeria spends relatively little on the health of its citizens and is facing both a health and a nutrition crisis, as women and children continue to die from treatable and preventable diseases. Nigeria’s health expenditure puts it in the bottom third of the ranking of countries in sub- Saharan Africa. Out of 49 lower-middle income countries, only seven country governments spend less per capita than Nigeria does on health.
“We laud the Nigerian government plan to operationalize 10,000 PHCs across the country, but we are waiting to see action on this since it will give better access to health services for the very large population of rural dwellers in Nigeria, says Dozie Nwafor of the Young African Leader International, Abuja. He further emphasized that the development of a comprehensive community health insurance scheme will also go along way to help achieve Universal Health Coverage.”
President Buhari and the Minister of Health last year reaffirmed their commitment to prioritising healthcare by agreeing to pursue the new Sustainable Development Goals. These goals present an opportunity for government to translate their commitment into time- bound and measurable outcomes to dramatically cut avoidable deaths of mothers, children and the marginalised. Now is the time for increased implementation of these important commitments.
“We urge President Buhari to keep his promise to increase the quantity and quality of funding to implement the National Health Act, and ensure all Nigeria’s children not only survive, but thrive,” says Edwin Ikhuoria, Nigeria Country Representative of the ONE Campaign.
ENDS

Friday 27 May 2016

Water for Life Project


Water for Life Project

It was a tall dream.... rather tool tall to sing out. But we didn't just sing out the dream, we played nice music along with it.

First it was issues around money, then we discovered that not many people would follow money to those far bad terrain, where one would travel hours on terribly bad and lonely rural roads.

But the project aimed at saving lives and rekindling hopes must see the light of days. People began to show interest, individuals and corporate organizations.... And something happened. We got money, we got a service provider who is ready to loose everything but succeed in drilling the water and give water to the people in the abandoned terrains.

Like play like play...... Two years running.... Six Boreholes donated already.

We didn't organized any fund raising..... We only tell simple stories of needs.... And the one who sent us travels with us to minister to those he wants to use.

Jesus has done all things well.

Stories of Change!

Tuesday 19 April 2016

Civic Leadership Academy

Register now...... For May Session in Abuja Nigeria

Until you know what you need, what you need will remain out of reach......

Civic Leadership Academy is

DEAN Initiative's NGO Development Project.
May Session...
Practicals on Proposal Writing, Concept Note Development, Report writings and Budget development......

Click on this and register...

http://goo.gl/forms/PDBKXcfsy7

Tuesday 12 April 2016

100 Days of SDGs event report


Abuja Nigeria; April 08, 2016
100 Days of SDGs
DEAN Initiative gathered her 35 Youth Global Goals Ambassadors drawn from 100 youth-led NGOs in Nigeria that over the past one year has actively participated in the pre SDGs adoption campaign activities and its post adoption advocacy projects under the DEAN Initiative’s project; Nigeria SDGs Youth Network. The 35 Global Goals youth ambassadors gathered in Abuja Nigeria to commemorate the 100 days of SDGs implementation agenda in line with global civil society alliances on SDGs advocacy projects.

Monday 22 February 2016

Tales of disconnected governance: the travail of Nigerian Women living in the rural communities

The travail of Nigerian women living in the rural communities
………tales of disconnected governance
By Semiye Michael; a rural development reporter

Who says the life is kind to all? In a world where men feed on each other mercilessly and make boast of their evil acts of leadership callousness and yet get celebrated amidst absent minded populace; how friendly can life be to all in the face of massive injustice and development seeing to be exclusive for target groups in the same world meant for all? Let us take a simple most unbelievable scenario as case study;
Abuja was once adjudged to be one of the fastest growing cities in the world; this no one am sure can dispute. But it is quite an experience to feel the situation of the communities that surrounds this beautiful city. Touring the over 800 villages in the suburb of Abuja city all of which are captured in annual fund allocation for the development of the Federal Capital Territory, DEAN Initiative came in contact with life threatening social and infrastructural challenges that left us asking ourselves if we were actually in FCT.