Borno state is one of the six states of the North East of Nigeria. Over the last 3 years, many parts of Borno State have experienced violent attacks by the Boko Haram Insurgents; the most attacked among the towns in the state is the state capital Maiduguri. I choose to start my blog by giving this little background and also to say that the SELL Foundation is based in Bauchi, one of the states in the North East of Nigeria and from record, all the states in the North East region have had a share of this insurgency. The SELL Programme is not only delivered in Bauchi where the SELL Foundation is based, but in all the six states in this region including other places of Nigeria and in Kumasi, Ghana. On Wednesday, 12th February, 2014, two members of the SELL Resource team Moses and Berlyn set out to Shuwa town of Borno state for the training of community facilitators’ from Yobe and Borno states. Just when they had travelled 124 miles of the approximately 466 miles journey on a fairly good road, the duo received a call from the organizers of the training that there was an attack by the Boko Haram militants the previous day in one of the suburb towns of Shuwa. As a result of this attack, the roads were blocked, the facilitators could reach the venue of the training but participants coming from various places may find it difficult to get there. We had no choice but to travel back to Bauchi. We were so disappointed that the training will not hold now after all the preparation made. A new date will be scheduled as soon as normalcy returns to the state. We sympathize with those that were affected in one way or the other as a result of this attack, especially families that lost their love ones. To read about this attack by the insurgents, follow the link below.

 http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/02/39-killed-2000-houses-destroyed-boko-haram-invades-borno/

From our last blog update, you read that Mary a member of the SELL Resource Team went for a programme in Abuja. The programme was organized by Centre for Women Studies and Intervention (CWSI) an NGO based Abuja. When SELL Foundation was communicated about the programme, we had the impression that it was going to be a capacity building on gender, but when Mary attended the programme and came back she said it was training on Monitoring and Evaluation and she gave this report about it: 

“It was a five day training workshop on Project Monitoring and Evaluation/ Proposal Development hosted by CWSI in Garki area of Abuja, Nigeria. The programme started on the 27th and ended on 31st January, 2014. It was worthwhile, educative and interesting. Lots of learning and insights were harvested around proposal development using total organizational approach (TOA) in relation to project monitoring and evaluation from the baseline surveys, planning and implementation stages of Programmes. The Monitoring and Evaluation input was done by Dr. Naomi of the Impact for Change organization while Mr. David (United Nations Development Programme Consultant) gave the couching on proposal development and presentation. 14 Participants were in attendance, 3 male and 11 female”.

Also reported in SELL Foundation’s last blog as upcoming programme was the SELL workshop at Calabar, Cross-River State Nigeria. Beji, a member of the SELL Resource Team who was one of the facilitators at the workshop gave this report on the programme as well. 


“It was a great reunion to cofacilitate with Jonathan Ekhartor at the Ikot Ansa Community in Calabar. Pius Paul one of the Facilitators from the SELL Team in Bauchi, who now works and live in Calabar gave his support in the facilitation. The Programme began on Friday 31st January and ended on 1st February 2014, the work was done only during the day time and the Self Awareness unit of SELL was shared with the youths. It was indeed a wonderful workshop which gave the participants the opportunity to share their life stories with others, everyone in the group listened with rapt attention. Participants said this workshop stands out in all the workshops they have participated in. For we the facilitators, the group was very engaging and their intellectual capacity made the workshop enjoyable for all of us, we are looking forward to working with this group again”.

UPCOMING PROGRAMMES

• A SELL Workshop at Yenagoa, Bayelsa state Nigeria with a group of youth on the 23rd to 28th February, 2014.

• Leaders of the Catholic Youth Organization of Nigeria, CYON Bauchi Diocese will take the SELL Programme on the 21st to 23rd February, 2014 at the SELL Foundation office in Bauchi.

• After the SELL Programme with the CYON Leaders in Bauchi, the SELL Resource Team will be running a similar Programme on Leadership with the National Executives of CYON in Abuja come 24th to 28th February, 2014.   

See you soon with updates of our programme, Have a nice weekend.

Mhishap Dagogot,

Communication Desk, SELL







     

The workshop with the youths of WuntinDada area in Bauchi town which took place on the 18th January, 2014, was a success. The programme titled ‘A Day with the Singles’ was attended by 25 youths. It was a very interactive forum, most participants were very open to sharing about their experiences as singles. As a result of their sharing, useful insights emerged as well as some challenges. Some of the Challenges mentioned include; health issues, insufficient job opportunities, how to choose a life partner that will compliment one and so on and so forth. A follow – up after that workshop would be to inform the organizers of the programme of the needs of the young people, if they could find experts in specific areas of challenges to address the issues for their youths. 

Another Sharing Education and Learning for Life (SELL) Programme that was successful was the Retreat for SELL Mentors. The retreat took place on the 16th – 19th January 2014 at the Centre for Renewal in Jos. Fr. Pat Murphy; a priest of the Saint Patrick’s Missionary Society was invited by the SELL Foundation to direct the retreat. It was indeed an activity to help the SELL Mentors build their spiritual lives. At the end of the retreat, the mentors’ feedback to the Foundation on how they experienced the programme was worthwhile. Some said; for the first time they were in touch with themselves; they listened to the inner voice in them, the prayed and had nothing to distract them, 9 mentors were in attendance. We appreciate Fr. Pat for his continuous support to the Foundation, God’s blessings on him. 

For the fourth time, the National Youth Service Corp, NYSC, SERVICOM group Bauchi State, Nigeria, attended the SELL Programme. On the 23rd January 2014 the SELL Programme took Place at the Youth Formation Centre, Bauchi. The unit of the SELL Programme that was explored with the 31 Corp members that were in attendance was the Self Awareness unit. Not all the sessions in the unit were shared; this was due to time constraints, it is to be completed subsequently. NYSC has three batches; A, B and C, a combination of these three batches under the SERVICOM group come for the SELL Programme. In February 2014, Batch A Corp member will be passing out from NYSC, in view of this, the group gave the Foundation a certificate of appreciation in recognition of her selfless contribution to community development service of Bauchi State. The Foundation is equally grateful for this honor, and wishes the Corp members passing- out the best in their next endeavor in life.

An organization called Centre for Women Studies and Intervention (CWSI) organized a capacity building training on Gender in Abuja the capital city of Nigeria. A member of the SELL Resource Team, Mary James is at the programme, we hope to bring you update on that soon.

FROM KUMASI, GHANA: the SELL Team in Kumasi had their first meeting for the year on Saturday 25th January 2014. Hargar the team leader reported that the meeting went well; it gave them the avenue to catch up with one another, and also to plan for their SELL activities for 2014. The Resource Team wish members of the Kumasi team well in this year and as they are set to execute their plan.

UPCOMING PROGRAMMES

The SELL Community Leaders from Plateau State and the North-East of Nigeria are convening at the Youth Formation Centre, Bauchi for their Bi – Annual meeting with the SELL Resource team. The meeting is scheduled to take place on Saturday 1st February, 2014. 

At Calabar, Cross Rivers State, Nigeria, the SELL programme will be running from 31st January – 1st February 2014 with a group of youths there. Beji a Resource Team member and Jonathan a former Resource team member will be facilitating the workshop.

Thank you for staying with us on this page, see you again soon.




Maria (Mhishap)

Communication Desk, SELL