Focus Areas

In 2010, the TY Danjuma Foundation provided grants in the following areas:

Community Health Initiatives:

Given the high disease and infection rate in rural Nigeria and the absence of adequate medical facilities in these communities, the Foundation supports NGOs that provide free medical services in selected deprived communities. Between 2008 and 2009, the Foundation tested funding such services in Taraba State. These initiatives proved that there is an urgent need for free medical services that augment the services provided by the government.

The Foundation supported the interventions by three Non Governmental Organisations in the State. Through these organizations medical services were provided for over 100,000 people. The treatment provided consisted of surgeries, gynecological procedures, eye care and the treatment of river blindness.

An assessment conducted of the interventions provided lessons that will guide future interventions in Taraba and across Nigeria. Key recommendations from the assessment are:

  • Interventions should be informed by clear feasibility studies that describe the socio-economic conditions of target locations and beneficiaries
  • Intervention should address full cycle of care prevention, cure and follow up
  • Capacity building of local medical personnel should form part of intervention strategy
  • Interventions should support the existing infrastructure by donating equipment to hospitals

Provision of free medical services

Based on the recommendations from the Taraba interventions, the Foundation will continue with the provision of free medical services primarily in Taraba and Edo States, and incrementally across the country. Consideration will be given to States and communities that lack or have inadequate health facilities.

The support provided to free medical services will be targeted and given over multiple grant cycles to enable long-term impact. The free services will include:

  • Surgeries
  • Eye care
  • Addressing neglected tropical diseases, such as Onchocerciasis

Partnership with community health centers and referral hospitals

The Foundation will also support the strengthening of health centers in rural communities by supporting NGOs who will do the following:

  • Train hospital personnel in the provision of quality care
  • Donate medical equipment and provide technical support

Water and Wellbeing Project:

Water has played a key role in economic development, and economic development has always been accompanied by water development.

Investment in water management has been repaid through livelihood security and reductions in health risks, vulnerability and ultimately poverty.

Water of the right quality can improve health through better sanitation and hygiene and, when applied at the right time, can enhance the productivity of land, labour and other productive inputs. In addition, healthy freshwater ecosystems provide multiple goods and services essential to life and livelihoods.

A large number of bore wells have been drilled all across Nigeria, most of them with hand-pumps installed. Yet less than 50% of these hand-pumps function, majority of them break down after just 6 months of use. This is mostly attributable to the following factors:

  • Limited community ownership or involvement in installing these pumps.
  • Lack of awareness on the importance of safe drinking water, sanitation and Hygiene.
  • Badly drilled bore wells and poorly installed hand-pumps
  • Limited technical capacity in the communities to maintain the pumps
  • Non-availability of spare parts

The Foundation has steadily supported NGOs to rehabilitate some of these hand pumps in Taraba State. A total of 55 pumps were rehabilitated in 2009. The success of the project and the immediate impact it brought to local populations and target communities has convinced the Foundation to continue funding these projects.

Over the next three years, the Foundation will support a continuation of the rehabilitation project in Taraba and gradually extend to other states.

The support provided will cover:

  • Feasibility studies on access to water in target communities
  • Rehabilitation of hand pumps
  • Hygiene and sanitation training
  • Community involvement in the provision of water initiatives through Local Area Mechanics (LAMs) to be trained by the Foundation’s grantees

    Enhancing Quality of Education

    Empirical evidence from research conducted on Nigeria’s education sector reveals that relative progress has been made in improving access to education into primary school through the UBE programme. Despite the progress that has been made in improving access to education with the numbers of enrollment into primary schools increasing, the quality of education provided remains poor, particularly in rural communities. Most classrooms fail to create conducive learning conditions with children either learning under trees or sitting on the floor of classrooms. Lack of gender-based toilet facilities results in many young girls going through puberty to refrain from attending schools.

    Other challenges include, low transition rate to junior secondary school and insufficient quantity and quality of teachers catering for the learning needs of about 24, 77 million children in primary schools.

    Though the responsibility for training teachers, providing quality infrastructure and facilities rest with the government, it has become apparent that the government alone cannot adequately bridge the gap in quality resulting from years of neglect. Therefore the Foundation aims to support initiatives that will address high illiteracy within schools; improve the quality of schools in rural communities by supporting initiatives that provide infrastructural support; provide learning materials and provides training to teachers. The Foundation will also support community-wide initiatives that enhance the quality of education in selected local government areas. NGOs supported will be required to partner with school authorities, local governments and relevant departments of the Ministry of Education.

    Good Schools project

    The Foundation will support interventions that contribute to developing “good schools” in rural communities. Good schools as conceptualized by the Foundation are schools that create conducive learning environments, make learning exciting for learners and support capacity building for teachers. Grants will be given to NGOs and community based organisations to directly support schools in selected local government areas across the country. Support provided will include:

    • Infrastructural assistance: chairs, desks, toilets, etc.
    • Training of teachers and educators
    • Designing and implementing extracurricular activities for learners to broaden their horizons in subject matters not covered by the curricula. Such activities include leadership and mentoring skills; communication and presentation techniques etc.

    Community Libraries project

    High illiteracy is prevalent in rural communities across Nigeria and the culture of reading promoted in the 1980s and 1990s has eroded. Most primary and secondary schools lack reading materials outside of those prescribed by the Ministry of Education. The limited number of prescribed materials available in schools implies that students are unable to gain sufficient knowledge. Libraries usually serve as complementary repositories of books and information, which learners can draw from. However, libraries in Nigeria are mostly located in urban areas and are difficult for rural users to access. Thus, the Foundation will support the establishment of community libraries in selected highly deprived communities across the country. Support for the Community Libraries project will encourage collaboration between local and state governments, the private sector and international organisations.

    Peace education for schools in conflict prone communities in Nigeria

    A number of communities and states in Nigeria have experienced protracted violent conflicts that have affected the education and psychology of children and youths in these communities. An integral part of rebuilding communities occurs in schools and other learning environments where children and youths can learn tolerance, collaborative techniques of living together and how to handle conflict constructively. Thus, through this programme, the Foundation aims to provide support to groups that carry out initiatives, which promote peaceful means of cooperation, conflict resolution, and reconciliation to local primary and secondary school students and teachers. While peace activities are organized within the larger community, the current curricula in schools are strictly designed and not flexible to encourage the inclusion of peace education.
    *Target regions of the country will be Jos, Niger Delta and Kaduna.

    Income Generation Initiatives

    The Foundation’s Income Generation Initiative is a two-pronged programme that targets youth employability and the empowerment of women.

    Youth Employability Interventions

    The Foundation aims to tackle the problem of poverty and unemployment among young Nigerians by supporting youth employability interventions. There are a number of long-term benefits of supporting such initiatives.

    The most obvious gain will be to the youths as these interventions will capitalize on their productive potential and contribute towards providing decent employment opportunities for them.

    The second obvious gain to recapturing the productive potential of underutilized youth is an economic one. Idle youth is a costly group as they are not contributing to the economic welfare of the country – quite the contrary. The loss of income among the younger generation translates into a lack of savings as well as a loss of aggregate demand. Some youth who are unable to earn their own income have to be financially supported by the family, leaving less spending and investments at the household level. All this is a threat to the development potential of economies. Focusing on youth, therefore, makes sense in Nigeria from a cost-benefits point of view.

    It is also important to focus on youth because they are the drivers of economic development in a country. Young people might lack experience but they tend to be highly motivated and capable of offering new ideas or insights. Foregoing this potential is an economic waste.

    The Foundation will support interventions that address the following:

    • Reduce unemployment and poverty by bridging the Skills Gap with non-formal life & work readiness training.
    • Ensure a continuous supply of individuals with quality labour skills to the Nigerian economy.
    • Provide target beneficiaries with essential, practical workplace and personal development skills.

    Women’s Literacy and Entrepreneurial Skills Development

    The Foundation will support initiatives that address the extreme poverty among women specifically through literacy and entrepreneurial programmes.

    The rationale of combining literacy and entrepreneurial training is to jointly promote basic literacy and sustainable livelihoods. This support will target working with community-based organizations to create innovative tools and strategies that address critical needs for functional literacy and microenterprise.

    Functional literacy training is held in local languages; it integrates sustainable livelihoods and includes practical exercises in business coaching, hands-on training and saving and local investment strategies that are needed to promote and increase the entrepreneurial skills of rural women so as to empower them to become successful entrepreneurs.

      Policy Advocacy

      Policy advocacy is any effort to influence public policy. This encompasses a broad range of activities, from researching, organising, and building communications strategies to lobbying, networking, and citizens’ participation. The Foundation’s policy advocacy strategy is proactive and involves supporting NGOs to work with government on issues that will improve Nigerians’ quality of life. The support provided to such initiatives will include:

      • Interactions with legislators at State and national levels to influence legislation that promotes philanthropy;
      • Increasing awareness of the challenges in the Foundation’s focus areas; and
      • Dialogue forum that convenes a cross section of actors

      *The Foundation will also organize expert forums and consultations as well as meetings with grantees and potential grantees to inform and strengthen its grant making efforts in the country.