We humbly solicit the financial and institutional support of all like-minded individuals, corporate organizations, institutions and relevant stakeholders worldwide, in response to a bankable and audacious youth
engagement health and wellness project: “Media for Environment, Water, Sanitation
and Hygiene” (MeWASH) led by the media service of Beautiful Feet International (MediaBFI), a non-profit organization, in association with the WASH Media Network Nigeria (Edo State
chapter), FIC Development Advocacy Through Arts (FICDATA), Horizon International and other
implementing partners.
The project’s overall aim is to educate and enlighten the
Nigerian public, spread awareness and engage young people in the fight to
securing the future of our environment and the health and wellness of all our
future leaders, and consequently trigger voluntary attitudinal and behavior changes and actions that gradually
lead up to a healthier society.
We are adopting
communication and creative education/visual literacy approach to broaden
awareness and achieve improved environmental friendliness, Water, Sanitation
and Hygiene (WASH) culture for all Nigerians, especially among young people of
school age, through multimedia communication/creative education and health talks/interactive
sessions. Our target is to engage at least 10,000 Nigerian schoolchildren and
youths in achieving regular hand-washing with soap, personal hygiene and building
WASH-friendly schools, within the 1st phase of this project.
Consequently, we are urgently securing a befitting
contact/operational office for easier accessibility to our partners and members
of the public; we are producing pictorial storytelling health fliers/info-graphics
as well as compelling WASH-focused cartoons and comic books plus supplementary power-
point presentations/slide shows to be used as communication tools for primary
and secondary school children as well as out-of –school youths in flood-prone
communities in Nigeria that we plan reaching out to. We are also developing a
2-5 minute captivating cartoon animation video on the importance of hand washing,
sanitation and personal hygiene.
Already, in collaboration with one of our implementing
partners, Horizon International, we
have produced the 1st edition of the "WASH4ALL" comic book series now
being downloaded worldwide for free at: http://www.solutions-site.org/node/1452
, and also at: http://www.cartoonafricabiennial.org/component/content/article/77-wash-premier-edition-comic-book-available-for-free-download Also, virtual copies of the MeWASH
comics/info-graphics are already being
published online at: http://mediabfi.blogspot.com
for free download worldwide in the context of
health edutainment for all on how to habitually practice environment-
friendliness, develop good sanitation
culture, and fight malaria and other avoidable diseases.
Moreover, as an integral part of this initiative, we have
been gleaning professionally delineated WASH/environment-related cartoons,
photo stories, cartoon animations, and web comics from various cartoonists and
illustrators across the world that draw attention to environmental protection,
water, sanitation and hygiene issues in Africa, through the comedic public education event “Cartoon
Africa International Biennial (CAIB) festival” - the 2nd edition
of which held in Benin City, Nigeria, in November, 2014. Details at: www.cartoonafricabiennial.com
Rationale:
Every minute, at least one child dies of malaria and or
other water-related disease in Sub-Saharan Africa, especially in Nigeria with a
demography that reinforces the risks in environment -unfriendly and poor WASH
culture. This gruesome reality can be mitigated with greater awareness,
information and education that can trigger gradual behavior changes at home and
in public places to the mileage of these innocent ones.
As the World Health Organization (WHO) says, “Better
management of water resources reduces transmission of malaria and other
vector-borne diseases.” This revelation by WHO makes this project not only
needed but indispensable: a need for
more awareness and education of the public, especially children/youths, the
main victims. How we knew this need exists: over time, we made a few searches and
researches, and also had some interactions with a few prospective beneficiary
schools within the targeted communities in Benin City, Edo State, and in Eziawa
autonomous community in Imo State, respectively.Besides, on August 28, 2012, while attending the AMCOW think tank
session at the 2012 World Water Week
(WWW) conference in Stockholm, Sweden, MediaBFI's Editor-In-Chief, Francis Umendu Odupute, was deeply enthused by the
cross-breeding of ideas in favour of Africa’s development under the thematic
framework: “FOCUS AFRICA -Water Security:
Opportunities for the 21st Century; The 2025 Africa Vision”. The 2012WWW
Focus Africa meeting filliped Odupute's decision to initiate possible ways of
contributing to the global game-changing efforts in securing Africa of the future, especially in the context of media
education and youth engagement actions on achieving sustainable Water,
Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH).
One of the core objectives of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals is to
achieve global improvements in public health and productivity through
aggressive public education on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) culture. Odupute
thought of securing ‘Africa of the future’ and decided that if we could , in a local
context, assist to positively engage youths to imbibe WASH culture improvement and
positive behavior change, we would be making a relevant contribution to
securing a productive and healthy future
for Africa and the world in general.
Hence, this project will address, among other vital health
issues affecting young people in Africa, the importance of preventing malaria,
avoiding open-defecation, practicing regular hand-washing, the availability of
clean water, imbibing good hygiene habits and more, so as to advance health and
wellness among children/youths in Nigeria, as a relevant factor to securing the
future of Africa’s most populous nation and the worst hit of WASH-related
diseases and deaths.
Strategic Objectives:
Our plan of
action includes:
- To organize health and wellness talks/seminars for Nigerian
schoolchildren and youth groups on the health benefits of habitual hand-washing,
sanitation and hygiene practices;
-To assist some schools with hand-washing buckets and soaps
for their pupils and students’ use in imbibing WASH@school habits;
- To set up WASH clubs in as many schools as possible,
collaborate with school authorities to motivate and follow up the clubs as a
strategy for sustainability of any success recorded as well as to properly
monitor progress as well as measure impact in the course of the first phase of
this project;
-To produce and freely distribute educative and engaging
WASH comic books and info-graphics as IEC materials to engage, educate and
broaden WASH awareness of schoolchildren in target communities in Nigeria; some
of which would be deployed as power-point presentations in schools using
projector screens;
-To develop a
5-minute short cartoon animation film on WASH targeting young people, for free
distribution via the social media, projector screens, and possibly on community
TV broadcasts;
-To organize “Open
Cartoon” advocacy exhibitions in schools, youth groups and relevant public
spaces to foster dialogue and public education on environment, public health
and wellness to engage youths and trigger
voluntary “WASH-wise” behavior changes and civic responses/actions
(mostly children/youths) that result in sustainable personal and public health
improvements in our homes and communities.
-To partner some community electronic/broadcast media with
civic engagement talk shows to broaden awareness, better inform the public and
increase civic participation in achieving WASH for all - especially children
and youths, the leaders of tomorrow.
Project’s Main Target Audience:
Our main audience are boys and girls between 7 and 19 years
of age in communities where WASH culture is seen to be relatively very poor,
the health implications of which takes its toll on the lives and education of
these children; youth groups, parents, schoolteachers, and community-leaders
and health care workers are also factored into the project as major
stakeholders. The project is aimed at youths because they are the future of the
African society, and the main sufferers from negative consequences of malaria
and other related diseases ravaging Africa today.
Relationship with Target Audience:
Our engagement with children/teenagers (adolescents) as
youth workers and social development advocates dates back to 1998 when the small group BFEC, was set up in Maiduguri, Borno State, northern Nigeria; today we are
deeply involved in youth development and engagement in many fronts including literature publications/free distributions, multimedia, visual literacy/communication
Arts solutions. Recently, as part of our youth
engagement strategy for broadening WASH awareness here in Nigeria, schoolchildren and university students
were invited to the 2nd CARTOON AFRICA INTERNATIONAL BIENNIAL (CAIB)
festival hosted by the Edo State Ministry of arts, Culture and Tourism on November 27, 2014 in Benin City, where they had fun engaging with various cartoons on WASH and the environment challenge in Africa, especially the pilot edition of WASH4All comics also exhibited at the event.
Some university students like Femi Fafiolu, had theWASH4All comics
downloaded into their computers during the course of the CAIB event in
November, 2014. From my experiences with the youths, I got the impression that
their exposure to the comic was very powerful and deeply engaging. They were
talking about the importance of their sanitation and personal hygiene behavior
and how good hygiene needs to become a “Habit”. More information about the CAIB
event at our website: http://www.cartoonafricabiennial.org
Summary Timeline:
The project is expected kick off in September, 2015. The
project will hold in selected rural, suburban and urban schools in Edo State
and Imo State, Nigeria, in the 1st phase.
The first phase is expected to last for two academic sessions (approx.
22 months). We hope to empower and engage at least 10,000 Nigerian
schoolchildren and youths on regular hand-washing and setting up WASH clubs to possibly collaboratively build WASH-friendly schools within the course of our project.
Within first two months of commencement of the project, we
hope to set up a Working Group, made up of creative writers, and artists and
other volunteers/consultants. The group will meet regularly for creative briefs
aimed at researching further on the project, sharing ideas and coming up with
relevant and interesting concepts for the info-graphics and good storyline for
the cartoon animation story boards. In the third month, we will make advance
payments for the cartoon animation video production. Within the fourth and fifth months, the
production of printed copies of the health info-graphics will be due and the
slides for power-point presentation of WASH4ALL comic book will be made ready
and we shall then procure a standard video projector with a projector stand and
collapsible white screen. Once the projector and other gadgets are bought, our
media team will test-run the power-point slide presentations and preview the
cartoon animation video. Correspondence, mobilization/outreach to all
stakeholders and supporters will commence.
By the sixth and seventh month, final touches will be put to
logistics; correspondence to State ministries of Basic Education and Higher
Education, selected schools and youth groups will end and our seminars begin.
By the 10th month, the project has gone round many schools; WASH clubs are set
up in each school by MediaBFI. Follow up visits and review of the project
follows.
Our cartoon animation video will be shown to our target
audience in every school visited through a projector screen; complimentary
copies of the video will be left with each school authority for future
educational use. The video will also be available on the internet for free
download via YouTube, FaceBook and other social media. The schoolchildren who
can access the internet will be encouraged to download the video online. The
printed info-graphics will be distributed as educational flyers and posters
during the WASH@Schools health outreach exercises. Power-point presentations of
the info-graphics will also be used to teach the children the contents. Expected
reach at phase one: 10,000 youths at least.
How Project’s Impact/Success will be
measured:
A project is deemed successful when it is proven that the
very reason why it was carried out has been achieved or is being gradually
achieved, directly or indirectly. Expected outcome of this project include:
SCHOOLCHILDREN HAVING ENHANCED KNOWLEDGE OF THE BENEFITS OF GOOD WATER,
SANITATION AND HYGIENE (WASH) HABITS, AND APPLYING SAME TO THEIR DAILY LIFE IN
SCHOOL AND AT HOME; PUPILS COOPERATING AMONG THEMSELVES, WITH SOME GUIDANCE AND
HELP FROM TEACHERS TO MAKE THEIR SCHOOL ENVIRONMENTS WASH-FRIENDLY; YOUNG
PEOPLE SHARING WASH INFORMATION IN THE SPIRIT OF PEER EDUCATION, THEREBY
IGNITING BEHAVIOR CHANGE AMONG THEIR PEERS BY REGULAR HAND-WASHING, IMBIBING
PERSONAL HYGIENE IN SCHOOL AND AT HOME; YOUNG PEOPLE GIVING US FEEDBACK ON HOW
THEY FIND OUR INFO-GRAPHICS/COMICS USEFUL VIA CORRESPONDENCE, POSTED COMMENTS
ON OUR WEBSITE, PHONE CALLS, SMS, ETC. The number of people who engaged in all
listed outcome above will form the basis for measuring impact and success of
the project during our evaluation and review stage.
Monitoring Strategy:
One major follow
up/monitoring strategy MediaBFI will deploy to track the outcomes of our
WASH@Schools youth engagement project is the setting up of WASH clubs in most
schools visited, with the cooperation and ssistance of school authorities and
State Ministries of Education and other relevant stakeholders. Depending on
funding availability we may subsequently establish inter-class, and/or inter-school sanitation
contests with incentives for winners ranging from fantastic little gifts and
certificates of awards to media publications, invitation to MediaBFI
facilitated television talk shows, etc; another follow up strategy will be in
the form of partnering with target schools for free distribution of subsequent
WASH education info-graphics and related IEC materials published by MediaBFI
and or other stakeholders.
Budget Summary:
A total of $9,000USD (nine
thousand US dollars) has been budgeted for the first phase of the WASH@Schools
outreach, which includes the following costs:
* Design/printing of 10,000 copies of a special WASH@Schools advocacy comics for
free distribution to schoolchildren and other youths who can’t access the
virtual version of the pilot edition of WASH4All
comics series already being downloaded online worldwide for free;
*Production of a 2-5 minute cartoon animation video clip,
some info-graphics, posters/teaching aids for edutainment/advocacy and creative
education use in schools and youth groups during the youth engagement health
outreaches;
*Renting of a befitting contact/program office for effective
coordination, easier public contact and logistics during the course of the
project which is expected to kick off in September, 2015;
*Purchase of video projector and screens, a power generator
plus other electrical gadgets vital to effectively shoot video films, carry out
PowerPoint presentations during the exercise in schools/youth groups;
*Purchase of hand-washing buckets, soaps and hand towels;
*Transportation of men and equipment to and from event
venues;
*Publicity;
*Correspondence, phone calls and paper works;
*Renting of chairs tables and canopies where needed;
*Light refreshment/snacks;
*Honoraria for health education consultants, artists and
other resource persons recruited for the exercises.
*Follow-up/monitoring;
*Unforeseen needs/exigencies.
DONATE NOW:
Make your donations via direct fund wiring to our corporate account: ZENITH BANK A/C
NO.: 1012218300. Account Name: BEAUTIFUL FEET INTERNATIONAL (BFI) MINISTRY
