Happy Learners Project

I am an advocate of education, Peace, Social Justice, Water Sanitation and Hygiene. I have four years professional experience working with children and youths in rural Communities to promote literacy, health and personal hygiene education. I am advocating for an improved education and health care systems in Nigeria where children’s right to education under safe, secure, and healthy environments are guaranteed. I am a Graduate Fellow of Social Innovation Warehouse, Alumni of Young African Leaders Initiative, Regional Leadership Center West Africa (YALI RLC), and World Literacy Foundation Ambassador 2020. Currently, I am Co-leading the team as of “Happy Learners Project” an Int’l award winner in the second best project categories of Youth Entrepreneurship Campus Competition Berlin Germany 2019. Happy Learners Project is a campaign that uses visual aids, Poems and Rhymes to teach hand-wash practices and create awareness on personal hygiene and health education in primary schools in Northern, Nigeria.

According to the report of World Health Organization 2019 "more than 10 million children die each year , most from preventable causes and almost all in poor countries of the world". And of these deaths Nigeria is one of the 6 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa which contributes 80 percent to this children's annual mortality rate.Children under the age of 14 years in rural communities  in Northern Nigeria are dis-proportionally affected by  these water borne diseases. Happy Learners Project is an initiative that uses visual aid, poems and rhyme to teach and create hand-wash and health education awareness in order to stop the spread of communicable diseases in primary schools in Northern, Nigeria. This project will help school children to develop the right mindset, mental strength and behavioral shift towards embracing proper personal hygiene. Thereby, reduce spread and death related to water borne and communicable diseases among School Children.

According to the report of World Health Organization in 2019 "more than 10 million children die each year, most from preventable causes and almost all in poor countries of the world". And of these deaths Nigeria is one of the 6 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia which contributes 80 percent to this children's annual mortality rate.Children under the age of 14 years in rural communities in Northern Nigeria are dis-proportionally affected by these water borne diseases. These Children lose weeks of their academic studies and thereby perform poorly academically due to ill-health. 

Happy Learners Project is an initiative that uses visual aid, poems and rhyme to teach and create hand-wash and health education awareness in order to stop the spread of communicable diseases, support school attendance and promote personal hygiene among primary school Pupils in Northern, Nigeria.

Primary school Children under the age of 14 years in rural communities in Northern Nigeria that are being dis-proportionally affected by water borne diseases are our primary targets. Like the name implies “HAPPY LEARNERS PROJECT” is to make learning easy and fun for  primary school kids considering the fact that they learn by observation; so we came up with the concept of using audio visual aids to teach them like animated pictures of their favorite cartoon characters.The project has promoted school attendance and has helped school children to develop the right mindset, mental strength and possible behavioral shift towards embracing proper personal hygiene. We are on a mission to stop Children’s death from preventable communicable diseases through the promotion of the culture of personal hygiene among school Children. In order to reduce death related to water borne and communicable diseases among School Children, promote Health fitness and wellness, and Pupils’ overall grade and school works improvement. Our major targets are on Global Agenda 2030 of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals; #1, #3, #4, #6, #17. We are committed to lifting young people out of poverty and diseases through literacy, health and personal hygiene education.

Children are dis-proportionally affected by water-borne diseases, but all child deaths and other communicable diseases caused by water-related illness and which affect the health of school kids are preventable. A systematic review published in the Lancet showed that simple behavioral changes, such as hand-washing with soap, can reduce child mortality rates related to respiratory and diarrhea diseases. Such a simple action can reduce the rate of mortality from these diseases by almost 50 per cent in developing countries. Happy Learners Project creates this awareness among school children to take responsibility and behavioral change to their health towards embracing personal hygiene.

In commemoration of the Global Youth Service Day in April 2018, 9 young partners of Strategy and Innovation for Development initiative Kaduna State location group came together to plan for the occasion. With 9 of us having similar passion for education and children due to time and budget constrain we opted to do something very simple but with great impact. So, ''Happy Learners Project'' emerged as an initiative that uses Visual aids ,Poems and Rhymes to teach hand washing practice and creates awareness about health education and personal hygiene for children at "Faith works Orphanage home". This was the first place of its implementation, and I led the team of 9 members and 21 volunteers due to the absence of the location group leader to commemorate the day. After this event, the outbreak of cholera on 4th June 2018 at the Government Girls’ Secondary School, Kawo, Kaduna North Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria led to the death of one student while 55 others were hospitalized. In order to stop the spread of this disease from ravaging our communities as a preventive approach Happy Learners Project was scale-up as a school awareness campaign on health and personal hygiene education.

I was born into a polygamous family in a small Village called 'Azia'  in South-Eastern Region of Nigeria. My mother was an uneducated village woman from a humble background and the last wife in the family. These factors placed her and her children at a disadvantaged position with limited access to economic resources. Three of my younger siblings were not able to go beyond primary school education because my mother could not afford their school fees. Due to this economic hardship I was separated from my family in my early life. I lived with my cousin brother in Kaduna State in Northern Nigeria. I underwent several violations as a little boy. Growing up and experiencing deprivation; and my siblings’ inability to further their education beyond primary school level gave me strong motivation to become education advocate. I want to help unprivileged children upgrade their status in life through education, without which many of them will end up as menial laborers or criminals. My dream is to build a more inclusive and equitable world where every child irrespective of social backgrounds will have access to quality education, and health care that will enable them reach their full potentials.

I am a Community development expert, a great team player with excellent communication, and interpersonal skills. I have five years professional experience working with children and youths in rural Communities to eradicate extreme poverty, promote literacy, human rights, health and personal hygiene education. Currently, I am the Co-Lead, Brand and Program Manager of Happy Learners Project. My team and I designed and developed the program’s content for children engagement, and games on education, health,well-being, water sanitation and hygiene. I am a trained project manager with excellent skills in community development and needs assessment, conflict resolution, crisis management, negotiation, mediation, multi-track dialogue engagement, content development, and strong analytical skills. This skill-set helped me to achieve tremendous success during my two years tenure as Alumni Engagement Committee Chairman of YALI RLC West Alumni Chapter of Nigeria in coordinating, engaging, and leading alumni projects across Nigeria Federation. 

During our project implementation we had concluded plans to implement the second phase of Happy Learners Project in Kujama Local Government Area (LGA) of Kaduna State. Every logistics was put in place, school mapping and tour in the LGA already concluded. Suddenly, violent-conflict broke out between Fulani herders and community farmers, in attempt to restore order in the State, the State Government imposed a 24 hours curfew in the LGA for two months. This was a serious setback for my team and I because it requires extra cost to move the project to Igabi LGA as alternative since we are already working on a tight budget. In order to overcome this challenge, I utilized my network, with help of my friends and families I was able to crowdfund which enabled us to raise more funds for the project. This setback helped me to enhance my skills in crowdfunding, build trust and gain more acceptance among my team members. 

On 13th September 2019, I visited a public primary school UBE  in my community in sabon tasha chikun local government area of Kaduna State. I took assessment of the state of school with pictorial evidence of poor facilities within the school environment. When I engaged the head teacher to find out why the school is in such bad shape she said "The Government does not care about us". I almost wept because of the poor and unhealthy environment children were confined in. In my capacity as YALI RLC Participants Chairman; I wrote through the head teacher to the School Board Management Committee, Parents Teachers Association, and Community Chiefs Council for a stakeholders meeting. During this meeting we reached a consensus to embark on a project themed "Every Child Deserves Better". The project is to promote United Nations’ convention on child’s right to education under clean, safe and secured environment in Kaduna State using UBE sabon tasha as a model.This effort attracted the attention of the state's Universal Basic Education Board, Ministry of Education and the State Government to begin to pay more attention to some neglected public schools in under served communities. Herein is link to the approval letter https://drive.google.com/file/...

Happy Learners Project was developed by 9 partners of Strategy and Innovation for Development Initiative Kaduna State location group. Based on this background Happy Learners Project belongs to the partners (Project Team Members) with strategy and Innovation for Development Initiative as Implementing partner Organization not as project owner. The project was first crowd funded through Strategy and Innovation for Development Initiative's platform. 

Happy Learners Project is innovative because it uses visual aids, Poems and Rhymes to teach hand-wash practices and create awareness on personal hygiene and health education in primary school Children. HAPPY LEARNERS PROJECT” promoted school attendance and made learning fun for school Children considering the fact that Children learn by observation. This project helped school children to develop the right mindset, mental strength and possible behavioral shift towards embracing proper personal hygiene.

please find link to the file https://drive.google.com/file/...

Currently 2000 School Children, 5 LGA, 25 Schools, 1 State.

Next year 10000 School Children, 18 LGA, 100 Schools, 1 State.

Next Five years 100000 School Children, 132 LGA, 500 Schools, 5 States.

In the next 5 years I want read about a Nigeria with lowest contribution to global child mortality rate annually. I want read about a Nigeria were children no longer loose weeks from their academic studies due to preventable water-related illnesses. I want read about a Nigeria with improved health care systems where children’s right to education under safe, secure, and healthy environments are guaranteed. I want read about a Nigeria generation of young school leaders that are health conscious. I want read about a Nigeria generation school leaders that have internalized and embraced hand-wash practices and personal hygiene as habits.  In my role I want to impact 500,000 School children in the next 5 years in rural communities in Northern Nigeria by creating awareness on the importance of hand-wash practices, personal hygiene and health education. I will also engage, and lobby States policy makers to domesticate and establish State Water Sanitation and Hygiene Management Agency (WASHMA) in order to institutionalize this practice and make it sustainable.

My major obstacles includes funding, cultural and religious belief systems in Northern Nigeria.

My team and I are partnering traditional, religious and other relevant stakeholders in Northern Nigeria in order to sustain impacts.

Strategy anf Innovation for Development Initiative. My team and I are currently partnering the Organization to implement the Happy Learners Project.

My strongest motivation for applying for this program is because; I want to horn my business leadership skills and also gain access to a robust network of business mentors, and executive coaches. The knowledge and experience I will gain through this program will greatly benefit me and my team, providing another important step on my personal and professional development pathway.The fantastic opportunity this program will offer me and my team like access to funding opportunities will help us to achieve our full potential as a business leaders and social innovators. This program will give me access to International stage; thereby expanding my professional networks for future collaborations and partnerships. Also, the opportunity to meet and network with highly visible mission driven and results oriented fellows in an incredible supportive environment is another motivating factor for me. Through this program I will be able to network with other innovative leaders from other parts of the world; to share experiences and exchange ideas that will enable me to improve on my business and scale-up impacts in my community. 

I will like to partner the following Organizations

UNICEF

World Health Organization

SAVE THE CHILDREN