Enhancing Climate Change Understanding in Rural Communities through Football, Nigeria
Broadly speaking, global warming gives rise to climate change. This trend portends enormous threats to mother-earth, biodiversity and mankind. Working in the spirit of MDG#7 to ensure environmental sustainability, this project aims to raise awareness on climate change, its causes and consequences, and share best practices in adaptation measures through football.
About You
Section 1: About You
First Name
Ability-in-Disability
Last Name
Initiative
Organization
Ability-in-Disability Initiative
Country
Nigeria, EN
Section 2: About Your Organization
Organization Name
Ability-in-Disability Initiative
Organization Website
Organization Phone
+234 803 668 1133
Organization Address
#4 River Lane, GRA, P. O. Box 3665, Enugu, Nigeria
Is your organization a
Non‐profit/NGO/citizen sector organization
Organization Country
Nigeria, EN
Your idea
Name Your Project
Enhancing Climate Change Understanding in Rural Communities through Football, Nigeria
Country your work focuses on
Nigeria, EN
Describe Your Idea
Broadly speaking, global warming gives rise to climate change. This trend portends enormous threats to mother-earth, biodiversity and mankind. Working in the spirit of MDG#7 to ensure environmental sustainability, this project aims to raise awareness on climate change, its causes and consequences, and share best practices in adaptation measures through football.
Website URL
Innovation
What makes your idea unique?
This idea is unique because of its timing and geographic focus, Nigeria. Few countries in the world are less prepared for climate change than Nigeria, with little or no adaptation and mitigation plans, fragile capacity to tap into international climate change financing mechanisms and very low public awareness of the risk.
As a form of sports and a culturally accepted means of entertainment football has gained unique popularity in the minds of many. Anywhere the game is being played, whether it is streets soccer, schools’ football tournaments, local leagues or professional matches, people happily gather in great number to watch. Such moments of high-spiritedness, outpouring of great joyful emotions present a unique opportunity for people to learn important lessons, which they will never forget.
As side attractions, fliers with well researched messages on climate change will be disseminated through half-time break. This will be accompanied by interweaving short messages with the radio play-by-play events coverage. This way, spectators shall be inspired to become agents of change in their respective communities with the consequential increment in the number of people working to ensure environmental sustainability.
The project will improve lives. Football fans are mostly youths who are the most energetic force or population group in the country. A good knowledge about climate change will help the beneficiaries in combating poverty, food insecurity, soil degradation, indiscriminate bush burning, oil pipelines vandalism, water and air pollution and a host of other negative tendencies haunting mother-earth, biodiversity and mankind’s survival in Nigeria today.
Do you have a patent for this idea?
Impact
This Entry is about (Issues)
What impact have you had?
Given that a baseline data shall be established at the beginning of the project, it is hoped that the impact of this project shall include the following:
• Increase the number and quality of youths and the youth-at-heart who are aware about climate change, its causes, consequences and best practices in adaptation and mitigation measures in Nigeria.
• Enhance greater knowledge and understanding about climate change, its causes, consequences and best practices in adaptation and mitigation measures in Nigeria, especially in rural communities with the consequential increased demand for higher quality services to ensure environmental sustainability.
• Increased community participation in climate change issues to ensure environmental sustainability.
• Drastic decreased occurrences of oil pipelines vandalism by oil pipeline vandals and indiscriminate bush burning by bush-meat hunters.
• Policies are influenced in favor of climate change and protecting the environment.
• Behavioral changes will occur whereby the beneficiaries will embrace the culture of tree planting, the use of alternative fuels such as biogas, and improved soil management to improve agricultural productivity, lives and livelihoods.
Problem
Nigeria is one of the countries most affected by climate change. Studies show that the sea level rise along its 800km long coast line, there is intensified desertification with the Sahara encroaching at an estimated rate of 600m per annum. In many parts of the country, flooding disasters, erosion, land degradation, gas flaring by the oil companies cause emissions of carbon-dioxide into the atmosphere and large bush burning also contributes to global warming. In recent times, these activities have led to significant changes in weather in Nigeria. Accordingly, the Acting Director in-charge-of Weather Forecasting Services at the Nigeria Meteorological Agency, observed, “the amount of rainfall is getting shorter here in Nigeria” (Newswatch, Sunday, December 6, 2009). In Nigeria there exists the problem of very low public awareness of this pandemic (Climate Change, Country Briefings, OneWorld.net, updated Match, 2010). It is truism that mankind influences climate. Awareness is one of the important ways of influencing the attitude of mankind towards ensuring environmental sustainability. Our goal is to raise awareness on climate change through football.
Actions
Establish baseline-data to test project target audience’s knowledge. 13 Schools in 13 Rural Communities will engage in Climate Change Awareness Football Tournament, with 2 football icons in attendance. For collaboration, meetings will be held with participating schools, parents and other stakeholders to explain the project, to ensure their effective participation. Students in these communities show great interest in learning and football and will speak-out in ways that will raise awareness and show people the reality about climate change. 65 volunteers (male) and 35 Female Tutors and Students shall be recruited and trained. Female volunteers shall lead their schools’ Football Supporters Clubs to cheer them to victory. After training, volunteers will be responsible for organizing, training their schools’ football teams and teaching their co-students about climate change. At tournaments, fliers on climate change shall be disseminated through half-time shows, side-by-side with interweaving short messages with radio play-by-play coverage of the events.
Results
It will lead to rise in the number and quality of youths who are well informed about climate change rural communities. It will scale up by 30%, the demand for higher quality climate change adaptation and mitigation services to ensure environmental sustainability. Community participation in climate change issues will skyrocket by 50%. Improved lives, livelihoods, family income and behavioral changes shall arise, enabling beneficiaries to embrace the culture of tree planting to replace lost forest covers or to increase existing ones. In addition, there will be improvement in livestock and better food security for the people, the use of alternative fuels such as biogas, improved soil management, agricultural productivity and crop yields. Indiscriminate bush burning especially those caused by pipeline vandals and bush-meat hunters will abate. However, the deadline to terminate flaring of natural gas that is emitted as a by-product of oil extraction may be flouted due to economic and political interest of multi-national oil companies and the lack of political will, bribery and corruption in high places. They are currently lobbying to put off a 2011 deadline to 2013.
What will it take for your project to be successful over the next three years? Please address each year separately, if possible.
Year 1 - Year of Project Implementation
• Baseline data must be established
• Consensus building and collaboration with project target group and the government, civil society organizations, the participating communities and other stakeholders must be established.
• Required funds must be available.
• Required resources are available.
• Peace is essential to the success of this project; therefore, there must be relative peace in the country, Nigeria and within the participating communities.
• Government policies must not be a versed to the project activities.
Year 2 - Year of Continuity and Sustainability
• Project must have been successfully implemented in Year 1
• Project must have been successfully handed over to the community.
• Trained trainers must have succeeded in training other in their respective communities.
• Required funds must be available.
• Required resources are available
• Peace is essential to the success of this project; therefore, there must be relative peace in the country, Nigeria and within the participating communities.
• Participating communities remain supportive to the project
• Government policies must not be a versed to the project activities.
Year 3 - Year of Continuity and Sustainability
• Project must have been successfully replicated (as in Year 2 above), that is, the year immediately preceding the period of period implementation, that is, in Year 1
• Required funds must be available.
• Required resources are available
• Peace is essential to the success of this project; therefore, there must be relative peace in the country, Nigeria and within the participating communities.
• Participating communities remain supportive to the project
• Government policies must not be a versed to the project activities.
What would prevent your project from being a success?
This project will not succeed if:
• Required resources are unavailable.
• Funds to implement plans and activities of the project are lacking.
• Peace is essential to the success of this project; therefore, there must be relative peace in the country, Nigeria and within the participating communities for the project to achieve its aims and objectives.
• Participating communities are not supportive to the project activities.
• Government policies are not favourable to the project activities.
• Schools are unwilling to participate in the project.
• The football icons fail to participate in the project.
• Parents and guardians are opposed to their wards or children’s participation in the project.
The strategies for overcoming some of the foregoing barriers would be through educating the community, Principals and Games’ Masters of participating Secondary Schools, the Parents/Teachers’ Association as well as individual parents on the benefits of climate change education and awareness. This education could be achieved through meetings, radio jingles, and periodic mail, and through one-on-one visits by project team.
How many people will your project serve annually?
1001‐10,000
What is the average monthly household income in your target community, in US Dollars?
$50 - 100
Does your project seek to have an impact on public policy?
Yes
Sustainability
What stage is your project in?
Idea phase
In what country?
Nigeria, EN
Is your initiative connected to an established organization?
Yes
If yes, provide organization name.
Ability-in-Disability initiative
How long has this organization been operating?
1‐5 years
Does your organization have a Board of Directors or an Advisory Board?
Yes
Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with NGOs?
Yes
Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with businesses?
Yes
Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with government?
Yes
Please tell us more about how these partnerships are critical to the success of your innovation.
From our past experiences and lessons learned from previously executed projects, we believe that these partnerships are critical to the success of this innovation because consensus building and collaboration yields better understanding and lasting results than confrontation or going it alone. Secondly, we believe in the adage which says that two heads are better than one, that is two good heads are better than one. Thirdly partnerships will help in networking, the sharing of information, ideas, and research findings, comparing results, adopting best practices and moving the world forward.
What are the three most important actions needed to grow your initiative or organization?
The three most important actions needed to grow our initiative or organization includes:
• Stable Funding
• Capacity Building, and
• Networking
The Story
What was the defining moment that led you to this innovation?
As a result of the huge success recorded at the recently concluded 2009 Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen at which the activities of mankind as they relate to climate were extensively examined, discussions on global warming and climate change have continued to attract wide attention.
No doubt, this is not unconnected with the fact that climate change portends enormous threats to mother-earth, biodiversity and mankind’s survival. Correspondingly, at a program meeting of Ability-in-Disability initiative, a guest speaker from the Enugu State Ministry of Environment and Mineral Resources told the members about the urgent need to raise awareness on climate change, its causes and consequences, and best practices in adaptation and mitigation measures. The speaker explained that every one has a responsibility to combat climate change, to raise awareness on the pandemic and to contribute to sustainable environment.
Ability-in-Disability Initiative recognized that as a form of sports and a culturally accepted means of entertainment football has gained unique popularity in the minds of many. Anywhere the game of football is being played, whether it is streets soccer, schools’ football tournaments, local leagues or professional football matches people happily gather in great number to watch. Such moments of high-spiritedness, outpouring of great joyful emotions and happiness present a unique opportunity for people to learn important lessons, which they will never forget. The organization, therefore decided to develop this project around the idea of enhancing climate change understanding in rural communities through football and to participate in this competition.
Tell us about the social innovator behind this idea.
The social innovator behind this idea is Ability-in-Disability Initiative.
The organization is a tax-exempt, non-political, not-for-profit, non-religious, non-governmental, charitable organization. It was established and duly incorporated in Nigeria with Registration #CAC/IT/NO. 24053 on the 14th day of June, 2007. On 9th January, 2008 the organization was issued with a Tax Exemption Certificate #ED: 768/2008/01 by the Federal Inland Revenue Services in accordance with the Companies Income Tax Act, Cap. 60, LFN (Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 1990). The organization’s area of operation covers the six Geopolitical Regions of Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Also, Ability-in-Disability Initiative is a duly recognized Rotary Community Corps (RCC) organization, jointly sponsored by the Rotary Club of Enugu City Layout and the Rotary Club of Independence Layout, Enugu, Rotary International, District 9140. In keeping with this status, it was issued with the prestigious Rotary Community Corps Certificate of Organization by the Rotary International on the 26th day of October, 2009.
The organization was founded to promote and encourage education, arts and culture, sports, skills acquisition, ICT, computer literacy and information technology awareness; to conserve, protect and preserve the environment; to provide for men, women and children in distress and ill-health, and to advance gender equality, fight against diseases, hunger, poverty and corruption and more importantly, to foster the development of all useful hidden talents, abilities and creative powers among disabled people of all kinds.
Our mission is to inform, educate and empower women, youths and people with disabilities around good governance, fundamental rights consiouness, peace building and social entrepreneurship related paths through the providing of quality education, leadership training, enhancement of skills acquisition opportunities, access to information, health-care services, the use innovative technologies to address emerging needs in friendly and acceptable manners, the providing of financial, legal and psychological assistance and generally, to conserve, protect and preserve the environment.
We have a strong background of work in human rights awareness campaigns, community development as well as health and wellness services. In July, 2007-June, 2008, we carried out HIV/AIDS Education for Girls in Tertiary Instructions in South-East, Nigeria. 3,000 female undergraduates from 8 Universities, directly benefited from the program. We provided basic counseling for over 30 commercial sex workers in Enugu Metropolis on how to protect themselves and their clients from HIV. We established a Computer Lab with High Speed Internet access to ease access to information and computer training for members of our community. In January-June, 2009 we constructed a Water Borehole and carried out Water and Sanitation Project for Oaba Community in Uzo-Uwani, Nigeria and trained selected members of the community on the management, and security and maintenance of installed equipments before handing over the project to the community to ensure sustainability of the project. Till date, this project supports prolific clean drinking water supply that is not affected by season, to the community.
How did you first hear about Changemakers?
Web Search (e.g., Google or Yahoo)
If through another, please provide the name of the organization or company
Not Applicable
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 | 102 weeks agoTony Imasuen said: I love this project. It can be replecated anywhere whether it is undeveloped countries, developing countries or developed countries. ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 106 weeks agoAbility-in-Disability Initiative updated this Competition Entry. |
| 106 weeks agoAbility-in-Disability Initiative updated this Competition Entry. |
| 106 weeks agoAbility-in-Disability Initiative submitted this idea. |
