Project Report
Name of Organization: Sam Onyemaechi Humanitarian Foundation.
Project Title/Name: Expedite mental health recovery in S/East youths.
Focus Country: Nigeria.
Project Locations: Southeast, Nigeria.
Focus Area: Education, Empowerment and mental health support,
Project Type: Direct service, Street based Project
Proponent: Sam Onyemaechi Humanitarian Foundation
Address Klm 1 Eke-Ahiara Junction, Umuofor Nnarambia
Ahiara, Ahiazu Mbaise, Imo State, Nigeria
BRANCH OFFICE: 88 Murtala Muhammed way,
Yaba, Ebute Metta, Lagos.
EMAIL: support@samonyemaechihumanitarian.org
WEBSITE: https://www.samonyemaechihumanitarian.org
Introduction;
Owing to bad governance and social issues around extreme generational poverty, civic failure, hardship, violence and unemployment, many youths have lost hope. At least one in five aged 9-17 years currently has a diagnosable mental health disorder that causes some degree of impairment, one in 10 has a disorder that causes significant impairment. The most common mental illnesses in adolescents are anxiety, mood, attention, and behaviour disorders. Taking on the role of caring for someone with a mental illness is a big commitment. It can be very emotionally and physically demanding, but it can also be a rewarding experience. To give the person you are caring for the best chance of recovery it is important that you find out how to support someone with mental illness, get as much information as you can about their illness, be open and honest with them at all times, and most importantly, look after yourself.
Executive Summary:
Good mental health helps youths develop the resilience to cope with whatever life throws at them and grow into well-rounded, healthy adults. Things that can help keep children and young people mentally well include: being in good physical health, eating a balanced diet and getting regular exercise. Prevention is at the heart of what we do, because the best way to deal with a crisis is to prevent it from happening in the first place. For example, by providing the right information, guidance and support in childhood and adolescence, the chances of developing mental health problems can be reduced for millions of people over a lifetime, with enormous benefits to the individuals directly affected, along with their families, friends and the communities they live in.
In particular, we have helped people to access information about steps they can take to reduce their mental health risks, increase their resilience, and feel empowered to take action when problems are at an early stage by organizing seminars in rural communities. Our area of specialization revolves on Caring, Feeding, clothing and medical assistance. We have a long history of working directly with people across the life course, including families, children and young people, those in later life, and those who are at high risk of developing mental health problems, such as people with learning disabilities.
The bare facts speak for themselves: one in four adults and one in ten children are likely to have a mental health problem in any year. This can have a profound impact on the lives of tens of millions of people in the Southeast, and can affect their ability to sustain relationships, work, or just get through the day. Equally challenging is the estimate that only about a quarter of people with a mental health problem receive ongoing treatment, leaving the majority of people grappling with mental health issues on their own, seeking help or information, and dependent on the informal support of family, friends or colleagues.
Organizational Background
Sam Onyemaechi Humanitarian Foundation’ started in the year 2012, officially registered September 7, 2017. Joined GlobalGiving community May 29, 2021, with a vision to offer education and mental health support, nurtures self-confident, independent, and productive individuals. In the first 3 months of its operations, ‘Sam Onyemaechi Humanitarian Foundation’ did a rapid assessment in the region to discover a dearth of serious, structured interventions with young and aged people in the area. The team from ‘Sam Onyemaechi Humanitarian Foundation’ visited more than 20 rural communities and several NGO functionaries operating in the area to learn about the involvement of youth and adult in social initiatives in the area. In these visits, most of the principals, teachers and social workers voiced a need to build leadership among young people on social issues and motivate them to take up social action initiatives. The educators expressed their concerns and difficulties involved in mobilizing young people for social action initiatives.
In the same period, a team from ‘Sam Onyemaechi Humanitarian Foundation’ participated in the ‘Change Makers program’ that was conducted jointly by The Nonprofit council with the aim of understanding the current community development initiatives of other NGOs across Nigeria. During this phase the team studied the program design and the community mobilization methods of these NGOs. The team also underwent a one year long mentoring and handholding under this program. In the process, the team also participated in a several learning programs with several NGOs working on community issues from across the nation. In these sessions, the team interacted with more than 12 NGOs and their several community leaders working in different parts of the country.
Equipped with an understanding of local issues and an understanding of the best practices of NGOs from across the country, ‘Sam Onyemaechi Humanitarian Foundation’ started conducting basic life skill and active citizenship programs in communities in Southeast. The program was named ‘change for life’. These workshops caught the interest of educators and students alike and they welcomed ‘Sam Onyemaechi Humanitarian Foundation’ team to conduct repeat workshops on several issues in 15 communities with around 8,367 in attendant. This program also had an indirect outreach of another 4200 people. ‘Sam Onyemaechi Humanitarian Foundation’ also initiated a pilot program named ‘Metamorphosis’ that involved families in community outreach program. This program involved around 10,600 farmers from 15 different communities in the area. In the same period, ‘Sam Onyemaechi Humanitarian Foundation’ conducted two parent counseling workshops in two different communities to discuss the issues of their children. This program titled ‘Parenting and grassroots child-care' helped us put forward our standpoints and increased our acceptance with parents who are the prime decision makers for their children
Now in its second year of operation, ‘Sam Onyemaechi Humanitarian Foundation’ has started conducting life skill and active citizenship workshops in 10 additional Communities. This program so far had a direct outreach of 2700 families. Parenting and grassroots child-care has been conducted in two new Communities in the year. Currently, ‘Sam Onyemaechi Humanitarian Foundation is actively working with 23 communities in Southeast working on different issues in different communities. In order to give a push to these projects, 'Sam Onyemaechi Humanitarian Foundation’ has identified the need for:
a) Help the vulnerable improve and maintain a healthy and independent lifestyle and to maximize their quality of life.
b) Starting of 2 Resource Centers in southeast to address the needs of farmers
a) Resource Centers for youth to learn vocational skills.
b) Resource and Empowerment Centers for farmers to equip them with skills in farming.
Vision and Goal
Our vision and goal are to foster collaboration among all who are concerned with medical, psychological, socio-cultural and legal aspects of mental health and illness. And to advance mental health as part of general health and well-being.
Core values
Involving people, applying knowledge and making things happen. We take as our Motto “Peace, social justice, diversity, fun and democracy as key values” which guide us.
Organizational Structure
‘Sam Onyemaechi Humanitarian Foundation’ is registered as a Trust with Mr. AKARAONYE Samuel, Engr. Greg Ntiwunka, Mr. Joseph Ehioma and Ms. James Rosita Nkeiruka as the Board of Trustees. The ‘Sam Onyemaechi Humanitarian Foundation’ Team is currently led by Chief Augustine Anyanwu and comprises of Mr. Dominic Anyanwu, Ms. Agnes Bassey, Mr. Ezekiel Uche, Ms. Anthonia Chuke etc.
Aims and Objectives
The overriding objective of the project is to provide much-needed direct clinical care of the mentally ill and to ensure access to support before crisis point, urgent and emergency access to crisis care, quality of treatment and care when in crisis and promoting recovery/preventing future crises.
Target Beneficiaries
The project was implemented in rural communities in southeast. The beneficiaries are youths between the ages of 9-35 years. We organized series of seminars, proper counselling and paper presentation to educate them on the effect of substance abuse, alcoholism. We also encouraged them on the importance of doing one vocational and innovative skills that can position them in the society without being a liability to themselves and the society at large.
The impact of the underlying problem on the target population.
Untreated mental illness can cause severe emotional, behavioural and physical health problems. Complications sometimes linked to mental illness include: Unhappiness and decreased enjoyment of life. Family conflicts. Unaddressed mental health problems can have a negative influence on homelessness, poverty, employment, safety, and the local economy. On the part of the society, they may impact the productivity of local businesses and health care costs, impede the ability of children and youth to succeed in school, and lead to family and community disruption. Stigma and discrimination can also make someone's mental health problems worse, and delay or stop them getting help. Social isolation, poor housing, unemployment and poverty are all linked to mental ill health. So, stigma and discrimination can trap people in a cycle of illness. Poor mental health is both a cause and a consequence of poverty, compromised education, gender inequality, ill-health, violence and other global challenges. It impedes the individual's capacity to work productively, realize their potential and make a contribution to their community.
*Project Details
INCOME
S/N DESCRIPTION AMOUNT
1 Donation received through GlobalGiving $45.00
Sales from processed and packaged food products $450.44
3 In-kind contribution $140.03
4 Lesson Computer (LITTC) $155.24
Grand total $790.71
Income= $790.71
EXPENSES
S/N ITEM QTY RATE AMOUNT
2 Facilitator’s appreciation 3 $100 $300
3 Volunteer/Staff appreciation 4 $50 $200
5 Communication and telephone bills ---- $75.37 $75.37
6 Graphic Artist 1 $50 $50
Conference hall bill 2 $55 $110
Grand Total $735.37
Grand total of expenditures= $735.37
Balance= $55.34
Difficulties and Challenges
One of the challenges also that hinders our progress and drawing us backward in realising our project goal is lack of capital and sponsorship. We call on all to support us in the fourth coming little by little fundraising campaign coming up in April 4th through 8th.
Sustainability of the Project
The ability of our organization as a whole to survive and to meet our mission goal, we embark on an entrepreneurial venture, as a way of raising money for community, financial and organizational sustainability. The foundation runs a food production, processing and packaging factory. We have been partnering with a company in processing our food items for sales. We are working hard to build our own factory for our organizational sustainability, and to help youth that have vocational skill to acquaint themselves with entrepreneurial skills to be resourceful and useful to themselves and society at large. The procurement of the necessary equipment for production, processing and packaging of organic raw materials(food) and construction of a multi-purpose hall that will accommodate our factory and other activities is our priority, we can achieve this through external sources like grants and long-term funding or through internal sources like income-generating activities or membership fees. And to actualize our mission and goal, we have these points as our guiding principles: Collaborative leadership, member-driven decisions, effective communication, change-ready and adaptive workforce continuous improvement, on-going evaluation and measurement, sound financial infrastructure.
Annexes
Annexed below is a sample of this section that has been drawn from the project report of ‘Sam Onyemaechi Humanitarian Foundation’ – a non-profit organization that works with young adolescents, youths and adult in rural Communities.
*Overview of the Program:
We at ‘Sam Onyemaechi Humanitarian Foundation’ very much value exposure, interaction and peer learning processes. Our recent interactions with more than 20 Communities have reinforced this belief. We are now looking out for support to create 2 youth resource and Empowerment centers in southeast, Nigeria where young, adult etc. can come together, co-create learning experiences and contribute positively to the community development. We plan to utilize these resource Empowerment centers as spaces for involving the youth and adult in “self-development” and ‘social action’ projects of various kind. 'Sam Onyemaechi Humanitarian Foundation’ has the required experience and expertise to design and run social action campaigns. We feel campaigns are great opportunities to demonstrate leadership skills, highlight social issues, develop deeper understanding about issues and mobilize young people. Campaigns give energy and take care of youth and adult needs such as fun, interaction, novelty etc. We want to organize a campaign each year highlighting youth action.
What we have achieved so far?
‘Sam Onyemaechi Humanitarian Foundation’ is now an accepted name in more than 35 Communities. Our volunteers are personally known to tens of thousands of families in southeast. As a part of self-development initiative, we have conducted workshops in more than 25 Communities in the last 3 years with a direct outreach of approximately 4000 people in the last 3 years. We have so far organized one major campaign in nearby villages where they went and identified families who were not buoyant enough to Carter for their family’s needs.
Since the beginning ‘Sam Onyemaechi Humanitarian Foundation’ has been running out several programs in Communities promoting spirit of volunteerism and celebrating youth led social action. We have organized a major social action project titled ‘Change for life’ in 10 large Communities with an approximate outreach of around 23000 peoples. This project involved collecting and donating used and unused clothes blankets, shoes, food items to the needy.
What we propose?
Sam Onyemaechi Humanitarian foundation wants to transform how people in the community think, act and talk about insane patients. We aimed to make more impact, circulate more information into the community and expand activities and events to support disadvantaged youths. This will depend on obtaining funding and other forms of support as any costs currently incurred to run events are out of pocket expenses. Additionally, they are actively engaging with more community centers, the local council and NGOs to support the SOHF and its expanding activities.
Awareness Campaign:
We will design and run campaigns involving adolescents’ young people and adult from rural and urban areas every year starting with the end of year 1. This will help to consolidate their learnings and create awareness about social issues.
Conclusion
Given the increased risk of mental illness, it is a medical problem, just like heart disease or diabetes. Mental illnesses are health conditions involving changes in emotion, thinking or behaviour (or a combination of these). Mental illnesses are associated with distress and/or problems functioning in social, work or family activities. Mental illness is common. Join Sam Onyemaechi Humanitarian Foundation in the crusade to better the lives and wellbeing of insane patients in the society.
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