Muchinga Partnerships Diamond Development Initiatives (DDI – Nigeria)

Call for Proposal Deadline: September 28, 2021

Muchinga Partnerships and its Nigeria Partner, Diamond Development Initiatives (DDI) are soliciting applications from small enterprises to support them to profitably expand and scale and provide grassroots social benefits including income and jobs to low-income communities and individuals. The funding is up to a maximum of $5,000 (U.S.) to be focused on a piece of equipment or other items that will unlock significant growth for the organization.

International Youth Day is commemorated every year on August 12 to raise awareness about the challenges and problems faced by the youth, and to endorse ways of engaging the youth to more actively participate in affirmative contributions to development. This year, the theme is, “Transforming Food Systems: Youth Innovation for Human and Planetary Health,” and the aim is to highlight the indisputable fact that the success of such a global effort is not achievable without the significant contributions of the youth.

As a young electrical engineer fresh out of school, Joseph Iferi-Ebin was constantly being rejected by employers – an occurrence he attributed to a lack of employable skills. Ijede Mekezo Sunday, a mild-mannered youth resident in Lagos State was faced with the challenge of being in and out of a job. Bukola Oke, another Lagos resident and a 2016 Mass Communications graduate had not had a regular paid job after graduation.

Today, the whole world commemorates the International Day of Cooperatives (#CoopsDay), a day set aside to raise awareness about cooperatives and to advance the cooperative movement’s principles of worldwide solidarity, economic efficiency, equality, and global peace. With the theme: “Rebuild Better Together”, the day will highlight how a human-centered business model based on cooperative values of self-help and unity, as well as moral standards of social responsibility, can reduce inequality, start creating shared prosperity, and react appropriately to the immediate effects of COVID-19.

Today is Micro-, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Day, celebrated every year on June 27. The day is set aside to recognize and celebrate the contributions of MSMEs in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The day was designated by a United Nations General Assembly resolution in April 2017, recognizing the importance of these industries. This year’s theme is: “key to an inclusive and sustainable recovery.”

It is usually traumatic when a woman loses her husband. In certain ethnic groups in Nigeria, the plight that befalls widowed women is usually a tale of woe, from the psychological and financial challenges to the burden of raising their children alone. There are also cultural demands of widowhood that vary with varying cultural norms and practices. As succinctly highlighted by a 2011 UN resolution, widows are constantly faced with a myriad of economic, social and cultural factors, including lack of access to inheritance, land tenure, employment and/or livelihood, social safety nets, health care, and education.

Today is World Food Safety Day 2021. The Day is commemorated annually on June 7 and it contributes to food security, human health, economic prosperity, agriculture, access to markets, tourism and sustainable development by drawing attention and inspiring actions to help prevent, detect and manage foodborne risks. With this year’s theme as “Safe Food Today for a Healthy Tomorrow“, the World Health Organization (WHO) is commemorating the Day, by urging everyone to zero in on five food safety-related Calls To Action (CTAs), namely: ensure it is safe, grow it safe, keep it safe, know what’s safe, and team up for food safety.

USADF-funded youth entrepreneur Adepeju Jaiyeoba is the founder of Mother’s Delivery Kits, a Lagos-based social enterprise that promotes and enhances safe births, instigates behavioural change and economically empower women in Nigeria. In 2020, and in the midst of the pandemic, ‘Peju”, as she is fondly called, launched a second venture, Colourful Giggles Nutrition, to produce Nigeria’s first all-natural ‘instant’ baby cereal, requiring no cooking and using 100% local ingredients.

About this time last year, it was Earth day’s 50^th anniversary in the middle of a global pandemic with over 2.5million cases confirmed globally as of then. 365 days later, the whole world is still in the grips of the virus – 142,964,759 cases have been confirmed globally with over 3million deaths – according to Johns Hopkins University coronavirus resource centre. Even with variants of the virus, the battle is recording visible results of substantial success especially with the various vaccines and extent of coverage. It is therefore an opportune time to not lose focus of the other ills that threaten Mother Earth.