Strengthen 100 Vulnerable Households in Calabar

In the second quarter of the fiscal year 2023, the foundation restored hope once again to its beneficiaries and households in the southern of Cross River, Calabar by boosting the caring capacity of these caregivers to care for the children in their care. This was done in three domains –The Household Economic strengthening, Psychosocial Support, and the Healthy domain.

HOUSEHOLD ECONOMIC STRENGTHENING: Part of our last quarter's plan for this proceeding period, was to engage caregivers in intense entrepreneurship ventures, however, this plan was largely affected by the hike in the cost of living brought about by the implementation of the removal of fuel subsidy policy by the new administration. Howbeit, the foundation through its community partnership and resource mobilization efforts, provided a small seed grant to 30 female heads of households in Calabar. This effort was to cushion the adverse effect of the triple cost of fuel pump price, leading to an increased cost of transportation and other basic needs, which has affected the ability of these vulnerable households whose caregivers also double as the house of households, with an increased burden of care for themselves and for the children under their care. Seed grants were provided for these caregivers to boast their incomes and a greater part has been used up for transportation with little funds left for the business. Caregivers expressed appreciation and thanked the foundation for the prompt action, they made a commitment statement that the funds provided shall be used to boast their petty trades and also take care of their children.

PSYCHOSOCIAL SUPPORT: Using the platform of the caregiver’s forum, it became necessary to provide caregivers with counseling support, during their group counseling, information on maintaining a good mental health status was provided in addition to an improved parent-child relationship as a way to maintain peace and reduce conflicts in the home.

HEALTHY:  As part of plans for this preceding quarter, the foundation also implemented its campaign on Menstrual Hygiene Week, through this campaign, resources were mobilized from networks, friends, and other individuals to reach 100 girls in 5 schools in Calabar, these resources include sanitary towels, snacks, resource persons that taught the girls how to make reusable pads, menstrual hygiene messages amongst others.

MONITORING AND EVALUATION: The team carried out field visits to assess and monitor the level of implementation, and to also document success stories and human interest stories, as well as to get feedback from the project beneficiaries and other community stakeholders on the projects implemented.

NEXT STEPS: In the next quarter, depending on the funds available, the foundation plans to mobilize more funds to provide seed grants to 50 vulnerable female entrepreneurs in order to increase their economic stability and their ability to cater for their children.  We continually appreciate your continuous support of vulnerable households in Calabar. With your support, we will continue to strive to restore hope to the most vulnerable of the society