Catalyst For Change Project

MAGBORO MAKOGI Women are powerful agents of change, and the far-reaching benefits of diversity and gender parity in leadership and decision-making are increasingly recognized in all spheres. Still, women continue to be vastly under-represented in decision-making in politics, businesses, and communities. Empowering women is a necessity for the very development of a society, since it enhances both the quality and the quantity of human resources available for development. Women’s empowerment and achieving gender equality is essential for our society to ensure the sustainable development of the country. On August 1^st, 2020 Karis and Eleos Hand of Hope Foundation launched the catalyst for change project, a woman empowerment initiative sponsored by Coca-Cola Foundation, This projects is set to empower 5000 women across 5 Communities (Magboro, Sangotedo, Iwaya, Oworonshoki, and Ogijo). In the next 5 month, Participants will be trained on different skills such as : Make-up , Hair making, Baking, House hold and cleaning items, Tie and dye, Shoe making, Bead making and Hair accessories . Training Highlights Every week we have a 2days Business training session, which focuses on different business development topics, such as;

• Book and record keeping
• Foundation of starting a business
• How to access loan and grants
• Recycling
• Personal and Products branding
• Importance of social media for business.
• Managing your Finances
• How to attract customers to your business.
• Gender based violence(balancing life and business)

We recognize that women can’t do business well if they’re not emotionally balance. Women goes through a whole lot from day to day activities ,the foundation made it a priority not just to empower these women but also train then on how to become emotionally  intelligent. So far ,we’ve been receiving amazing testimonies from these women who have started putting all they’ve learnt to practice. Our practical trainings on Baking, Make-up and Gele,House-hold cleaning items, Beads and hair accessories, Textile design also had been a huge success as we had multiple feedbacks from women who have started making and selling what they learnt from the training. During our recycling training session, students were taught on how to use Coca-Cola pet-bottles to recreate stools, center table’s etc. A lot of students have been able to recreate lovely designs out of this some of our students even went ahead to add a touch of Coca-Cola on her work. Others went ahead to recreate in different shapes adding their own signature completely different from what they were taught. Furthermore, to help flatten the curve of the Covid-19 spread, all participants and team members were made to practice social distancing during registration and in class, wash and sanitize their hands and use their nose masks. Catalyst for change project was a huge success in Magboro Makogi community and we belief that the same zeal will be reciprocated across all others communities as we look forward to great project execution.