OLUWADAMILOLA AKINTEWE
Learn. Lead. Repeat.
REBIRTH
Women and girls face series of gender based inequality in the society. From lack of financial independence to gender based violence, these social issues perpetuate a culture of subjugation against women in development and empowerment.
Rebirth is an initiative to break the financial inequality through free skill acquisition programs. Participants learn a skill, generate an income source and poverty is tackled at grassroot level.
There are two categories of training done, sewing and handiwork. For those who choose sewing, we secured funding from organizations such as The WishWall Foundation (www.thewishwall.org) to buy sewing machines for them to start up their businesses.
For sustainability, a cooperative society was created to allow the women to save a percentage of their revenue.
The cooperative society also serve as a women hub for interaction and knowledge sharing as it resulted in peaceful coexistence between several communities.
For those who are learning how to make household items such as soaps. Interest free loans were given to them as most struggle with securing loans from financial institutions due to lack of collateral.
So far, the project has gone to 5 communities, 140 women trained and over 2000 indirect impacts.
Rebirth is achieving gender equality and changing a the narrative on financial independence for women in rural and underprivileged communities of Ondo State, Nigeria
LET GIRLS LEAD & MERIT ED TECH
Nigeria has the highest rate of child marriage globally. The Northern part of the country is notable for this despicable culture of marrying girls to people old enough to be their grandparents.
To bring down this menace to a large percentage, I launched a girls learning campaign about the need to invest in young girls in rural communities to help support their dreams.
From the World Bank statistics, educating girls translates to billions in dollars in revenue because females are more productive because of their ability to combine activities and multi task.
So far, my team and I successfully ran this literacy drive and advocacy to 10 communities in Ondo, reeducated the parents on the importance of education and citing examples of girls and women changing the world to encourage the parents to follow suit.I also led my team of student social entrepreneurs to create a mentorship program for the students in those local communities who are lack access to standard learning incentives to meet their contemporaries in developed countries so that they can share knowledge, interact, communicate and create an avenue for collaboration to achieve amazing results. It connected students in rural communities with their counterparts and mentors from urban areas through virtual learning.
This is an alternative module to create a global mindset among these students as we impact their lives and open their minds to innovations even from their rural communities.
Merit Ed Tech provided free digital skills trainings on JavaScript, Python language, coding and graphic design to 90 internally displaced girls in Nassarawa State, Nigeria to equip them with necessary 21st century skills and Empowerment for them to make better decisions for their lives.