The year 2018 for us in SELL Foundation Nigeria was marvelous. Despite challenges encountered, successes were also recorded. In as much as beginning is important so also ending. Ending for us in SELL Foundation is an opportunity to evaluate our successes and challenges as well as plan for the upcoming year. SELL Foundation has designated the months of October and November for planning and evaluation where stakeholders and Resource members come together to assess the past looking at the future. Despite challenges encountered, SELL Foundation recorded lots of activities in 2018 some include: Meetings with key stakeholders, Trainings, Collaborations, Advocacy visits, Annual General Reflection (AGR), SELL Day, workshops with Bauchi Prison inmates and other youth groups.
MEETINGS: Meeting is one of the strategies that SELL uses to mobilize key stakeholders for the smooth and effective implementation of projects, in this regard, the following meetings were held with some selected stakeholders.
Meeting with Community Animators: The meeting brought together leaders of SELL facilitators from the communities to discuss and review SELL activities in their communities with the aim of sharing experiences, successes, prospects and challenges that communities face in the course of carrying out SELL activities. This meeting has helped communities to learn from each other’s experiences and adopt workable ways of reaching out to people in their communities.
Meeting with Chaplains of Catholic Youth Organization (CYON): The Chaplains being key stakeholders in the youth Apostolate of the Catholic Province of Jos meets with resource team twice yearly to review and evaluate SELL activities in the communities. The meetings with the chaplains discussed the challenges that the young people are contending with and how to mobilize and train them to respond to these needs appropriately.
Meeting with Youth presidents/community Animators: This meeting brought together presidents of CYON from Arch/Dioceses in the Ecclesiastical Province of Jos and SELL animators who discussed the sell programme and explored avenues for extended collaboration.
Meeting with Board of Trustees (BOT): The board of trustee comprising of six experienced staff are the highest decision making body in SELL Foundation. They usually meet twice in a year to plan and also review work done by the SELL resource team and volunteers.
TRAININGS ON THE NEW UNITS: Following the outcome of project evaluation conducted by SELL Foundation in 2016, SELL Resource team conducted five different trainings in different areas; the first two units were on Gender Reconciliation, Advocacy and Lobbying (conducted in English Language only) while the other three were on Trauma Consciousness and Resilience, Forgiveness and Reconciliation as well as Entrepreneurship (Conducted in both English and Hausa languages).
Gender Reconciliation/Advocacy and lobbying: SELL Resource team introduced these units which aimed at helping SELL Facilitators in their communities with the necessary skills in steering the affairs of SELL programme in their community and other development issues. This is to also enable them effectively shove the necessary changes they wish to see in their communities and to in turn step down to others. These units were introduced to compliment the old units that have been in existence since the commencement of the programme Ten years ago. The trainings were rolled out to five States (Jalingo, Bauchi, Maiduguri, Yola and Jos) in North east and Plateau.
Trauma Consciousness and Resilience/Forgiveness and Reconciliation: Following the excellent work Carefronting Nigeria is doing in the area of Trauma Consciousness and Resilience; Forgiveness and Reconciliation and the needs of young people in that area, SELL Foundation adopted the training manual authored by Maji Peterx of Carefronting Nigeria to its programme. The training aimed to help participants to be aware of their own trauma and to also help those who are suffering from put downs/injuries to deal with their personal feelings.
Entrepreneurship: SELL in collaboration with Industrial Training Fund (ITF) trained fifty five (55) SELL volunteers across the North East and Plateau. The training which began in 2017 focused on hands-on skills whereas this year 2018 the focused was on establishing a new business. The training took place in both Hausa and English languages.
ADVOCACY/COURTESY VISITS: Advocacy is an integral part of human development. In this regard, SELL foundation embarked on pre- training advocacy visits to all SELL Communities to discuss necessary modalities for the success of the upcoming training. Similarly, advocacy visits were carried out to Muslim Councils, traditional Councils, Church leaders, Community Leaders as well as Bauchi Prison Command to strengthen the bond and to explore more areas of collaborations on peace and development in the communities.
PARTNERSHIP WITH MUSLIM COUNCIL, ADAMAWA STATE: As a result of the advocacy visits carried out to the Muslim council in Yola and Gombi in Adamawa State, the Muslim Council have agreed to partner with SELL Foundation to foster peace and Development in their communities.
ANNUAL GENERAL REFLECTION (AGR): The Annual General Reflection is a forum in which SELL Board members, Facilitators, Chaplains, Resource Team and other stakeholders come together to reflect on the progress and challenges of SELL programme and chart the way forward for the growth and progress of SELL programme. 2018 AGR with the theme Volunteerism my call, my pride a vehicle for self and community development featured different activities like, talk on volunteerism, awards to communities and CYON Chaplains, Visits to Hama Bachama Palace and IDPs camp in St Theresa, sightseeing, celebration of SELL at ten and general meeting. The AGR took place from 11th – 15th April, 2018 at Bishop Patrick Sheehan Pastoral Centre Yola, Adamawa State.
SELL DAY CELEBRATION: SELL Foundation has adopted March 17th of every year to mark its day. The second SELL Day celebration was marked in a grand style with the theme: Youth Employability: Bridging the Gap between Theory and Praxis. The day was marked with a Holy Mass celebrated by Most Rev. Dr. Hilary Naanman Dachelem (CMF), the Catholic Bishop of Bauchi Diocese. The celebration continued with discussion parley in which discussants drawn from Government Agencies, Religious bodies and Non-Governmental Organizations formed the panelist for the discussions around the theme.
SELL IN SATELITE AREAS: As SELL Formation programme continues to reach out to young people and vulnerable groups in the North East and Plateau States of Nigeria, SELL is also open to satellite areas. This year 2018, SELL Resource Team reached out to Youths in Calabar, Lagos and Guffanti in Niger state through workshops and Trainings.
WORKSHOP WITH BAUCHI INMATES: Following the outcome of the meeting with Mr. Suleiman A Suleiman, Controller Prisons Bauchi State Command, SELL Resource team conducted workshops for inmates and welfare staff. The workshop explored three units (Leadership, self awareness and peace building).
WORKSHOP AND OTHER ACTIVITIES: The SELL resource team conducted twenty two (23) workshops and capacity building for one thousand, one hundred and fourteen (1,114) persons, eight hundred and forty nine males and two hundred and sixty five females.
COMMUNITY WORKSHOPS: Each of the SELL catchments areas carried out workshops in their various communities and they reached out to sixteen thousand
Nine hundred and seventy four (16, 974) persons, 3,679 males and 8,218 females.
To God be the glory, 2018 activities were fruitful. As we journey into 2019 having in mind the task ahead and electioneering season, SELL feel optimistic, we feel there are lots of positive energy around and new interesting pathways that are opening in the ensuing year. We call on our Nigerian citizens to exercise their franchise in the 2019 general election by electing leaders who can represent not just their own personal interest but that of the masses. We say thank you to our partners and to all those who have been part of our journey in 2018, we look forward to a better 2019.
Thank you, Merry Christmas and Prosperous New year.
Written by Emily Ranna Yinala, SELL communications desk
