ACT Impact Notes

Wow, we’re already in the second half of the year! I don’t know about you, but it seems like just yesterday that we said "Happy New Year!" with fingers crossed because the past two years have taught us to expect the unexpected.

 One of the reasons I am very excited about the coming months is that the ACT Foundation is celebrating a significant milestone this year - five years of operations! In honour of this anniversary, I am delighted to announce The ACT Impact Notes, a monthly newsletter from yours truly, where I will highlight five years of service to our continent through the fantastic work that we do at the foundation.

Please join us in the celebrations using the hashtags #5yearsofACTion and #ACTFoundationAt5.

In this maiden issue, we look at the multiple ways in which ACT Foundation has worked to foster and increase community impact through the work of our Grantees over the past 5 years. We also bring you our contributions to the capacity development of sector practitioners enabled by new collaborations. 

Inside ACT

ACT Foundation @ 5: Five Years of Social Impact

We are thrilled to officially announce our 5th anniversary! Over the last 5 years, we have awarded grants to over 80 beneficiaries, impacted over 2 million people, and extended philanthropic gestures to over 800 communities across 8 African countries. We are grateful to our community of supporters who have worked and walked with us in our journey of creating social change in Africa. Be on the lookout for a series of events to celebrate our 5th anniversary as we look back over the years and lean forward to what will come next.

Our Enterprise Interventions

Let me share with you some of our interventions work in entrepreneurship as it seeks to support initiatives that improve the lives of individuals and families through income generation and economic empowerment.

We wrapped up our philanthropic program focused on entrepreneurship and digital skill development with the support of the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) America and the Sony Pictures Entertainment Fund. The Youth Entrepreneurship Skills (YES) Grant Program allowed the three implementing organizations (Aspilos Foundation, Assembly Hub, and Ashake Foundation) to tackle the national unemployment crisis, worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic. They also focused on training women and young people with the entrepreneurial, digital, and technology skills they need to increase their economic independence.  Over 700 beneficiaries received vocational, technical, and digital skills training in leatherwork, tailoring, photography, web development, graphics design, data science, and web development.

Clintonel Innovation Centre (CIC) Nigerian Genius Competition:    Four outstanding university teams: Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Federal University Otuoke (FUOTUOKE), Federal University of Technology Minna (FUTMINNA), and University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN)) participated in Clintonel's Engineering Bootcamp where they were tasked with providing engineering solutions to power and energy challenges. Based on their education and performance in the competition, a team of judges picked the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) as the winner and named it the top-ranking institution in the country for the 2022 Annual Ranking of Nigerian Universities.

 The competition was part of Clintonel's Engineering for Industry (E4I) program, which the ACT Foundation supports to equip the next generation of engineers with the skills they'll need to succeed in the knowledge-based economy and obtain access to high-paying jobs. In 2021, through this program, over 390 students and lecturers from secondary and post-secondary institutions were trained in essential modern engineering and STEM skills.

Adara Foundation Financial Literacy Training in Edo state: The Adara Foundation held a financial literacy workshop in Edo state, where 205 low-income, female, and youth entrepreneurs learnt financial literacy and entrepreneurship basics, including saving and budgeting, bookkeeping, wise borrowing, and business management. The training served as a springboard for women to join Adara's Trade Credit for Vulnerable Women (TCVW) program, which provides financial assistance and trade credit on fast-moving consumer goods to these women.

Through funding support from ACT Foundation, the program has trained over 450 people and empowered 183 women in Lagos and Edo states to actively contribute to Africa’s social and economic development.

The Bridge Foundation Leadership & Community Development (LCD) Program – Training-of-Trainers Workshop:  Through ACT Foundation’s support initiatives, the Bridge Foundation successfully educated 30 corps members and teachers from selected schools in five Cross River LGAs to serve as mentors to over 8000 LCD Program students. The team performed community visits and workshops and began leadership training for kids in Etung Local Government Area. This year, the initiative intends to train 8,000 public school children aged 10 to 18 with leadership abilities to drive change in classrooms and communities across Cross River State.

FABE World Environment Day Recycle Challenge: The FABE Foundation's Eco-Schools Programme is a sustainable gardening, upcycling, and recycling project financed by the ACT Foundation. It engages public secondary students across Nigeria in eco-friendly activities. This year, it commemorated World Environment Day by hosting the FABE Inter-EcoSchoolsNG Recycle Challenge for Nigerian children. Eco Ambassadors and Eco Coordinators from forty-one schools in Lagos and Ogun states participated, collecting and weighing approximately 37,600 PET bottles from their surroundings before recycling and upcycling them into usable items. The winning and runner-up schools were recognized for retrieving and diverting a collective 29,002 PET bottles from the ocean and drainages.

So far, 2022 has been busy and impactful for us at ACT Foundation, and we look forward to achieving more as we navigate the rest of the year. Keep an eye on some more exciting 5th-anniversary news we will share in due course.

I’d love to hear from you. Please share your highlights from 2022 so far in the comments below. It doesn’t have to be work-related.

Regards,

Osayi Alile,

CEO, Aspire Coronation Trust (ACT) Foundation.