Help Build Processing Machines For 100 Uyo Farmers

Date/ duration: 26th-28th September, 2018
Site: Mbarakom community hall

Team composition / facilitators

• Grace Ofonime Jimbo
• Utibe Emah
• Barr. Nkechi Udoh
• Roselyn Anyafulu
• Eld. Daniel Akpan

DETAILS
As part of the project deliverables, a 3-day training on business and project management was organised for 10 sustainability and implementing members. The aim of the training was to enhance the participants’ knowledge on project management and provide them with the skills in managing a business. Also, the training provided an avenue for participant to have clearer understanding of the project, to know their roles and responsibility and develop strategies on how the can sustain the project.

A total of 10 participants drawn from 5 villages were represented in the training, however, participants from Ibagwa were not available due to leadership tussle in the community.

Day 1: The day began by 11am with registration of participants, climate settings activities such as self-introduction, ground rules, fears, expectations and pre assessment. Thereafter the objectives of the training, scope of the project and overview of SI4DEV was done by Grace. Nkechi facilitated a session on definition of project management and how do we manage our business. The group work was carried over to the second day as the training commenced one hour late than the scheduled time.

Day 2: After the opening prayers, participants did recap pf the day 1 activities. Thereafter, they were divided into two groups to discuss on role of stakeholders in community project. Each group listed different stakeholders in the community including the negatives ones and explained the roles they pay in community development. Presentation was done by each group with the facilitators clarifying some points. Eld. Akpan facilitated the session on Financial management and book keeping. He also pointed out why this is good to keep a clean account and record all transaction. Then a group exercise to demonstrate the concept of community participation was done. Participants provided feedback learnt from the exercise such as the need to work as a team, volunteer time and resources for community development, the need to be innovative and support one another. The next session was on project sustainability which was taken by Roselyn, she explain the meaning of sustainability, importance and examples of project that have been sustained after the funders left. The day ended by 3:10pm with a closing prayers.

Day 3: Recap of the second day was done by the participants. Roselyn facilitated a session on leadership and sustainability. Different leadership styles were explained with emphasis on transformational and servant leadership. Thereafter a session on the role of communication in project management was done by Grace. She emphasised that communication is not effective until a feedback is received. Elements of communication and importance of communication especially in regards to the community project was discussed. Utibe took the session on monitoring and supervision of community project. Roles and responsibilities of sustainability team members was taken by Eld. Akpan.

The post assessment was taken by participants and certificates were presented to participants with Village head of Mbarakom presenting certificates to some of the participants. Also, the village provided a crate of mineral to the participants while the facilitators donated N2, 000 to support the project. This money was added to N280 realised from penalties of ground rule defaulters and handed to the class governor. A group picture was taken and vote of thanks was taken by one of the participants.

The training ended by 2.30pm.
Lunch was provided for the participants and facilitators for the three days.

Observation

• The participants were willing to learn and participated actively
• The village heads are quite supportive
• The use of white board, group exercise and mixture of local language enhanced learning

Challenge Solutions

• The absence of representatives from Ibagwa due to leadership tussle will be mitigated with plan to hold another abbreviated training for them after this issue is settled.

NEXT STEPS
• Purchase and install crop processing machines.

Reported by Grace Jimbo

I'm writing this on the Accelerator Final Day and I want to say "Thank you all so much!"

Our Globalgiving fundraiser to "Help Build Processing Machines For 100 Uyo Farmers" is almost fully funded! We have raised $13,800 so far out of a funding goal of $14,000! So our project is a definite go!

But if you're reading this before midnight June 29, the Accelerator is not over yet! We're currently #4 on the general accelerator leaderboard as we head into the final day of the Accelerator. There are various campaign bonus prizes, including homepage time and social media promotion still up for grabs. We need just 5 more donors and $800 to maximize our chances.

Let me give you some background, it's been less than a year since the launch of SI4DEV, and we have provided capacity building, practical learning, and collaborative forums for over 200 volunteer partners and over 3,000 direct beneficiaries of our health, education, advocacy and community development projects in more than 20 locations in Nigeria. Help us take the next step by helping us graduate our GlobalGiving Accelerator program.

We also just found out that our crowdfunding campaign to build a crop processing facility for 100 Uyo Farmers is going to make history in the area. The village leader, His Highness Chief Thompson shared his thoughts saying, "this is first time an organization is bringing an project that will assist the villagers economically." Please support this community with your donation to bring economic independence to 100 farmers including women and children.

Speaking on the Spring Development Initiative fundraiser, the community project leader, Akebong, could hardly believe that people all over the world were donating to help the village find it's footing. "We are very happy for that," he added.

So please keep the Spring Development Initiative and our SI4DEV partners in mind as we round up the accelerator and begin planning for project implementation. We appreciate your support!

We couldn't have done it without you all. 

Thank you!

Nkem Akinsoto