Blog posts about uknigeriameeting

The following report by Demas Shinggu Project Officer was sent to me by Kelechi Micheals. Kelechi is the Programme Operations Manager at Fantsuam Foundation and is a core member of the UK-Nigeria Team who hold weekly online meetings. " Years of neglect have left Nigeria with poor quality public education. Many schools fail to provide even basic opportunities for learning. School buildings and facilities are inadequate. Teaching standards are low. Teachers receive inadequate training and have little motivation to improve. Management of education is weak and often ineffective, inefficient and top heavy. There is a desire for reform, but policies...

Training was once again a top topic at this week’s UK-Nigeria meeting. It is in fact an intrinsic part of Fantsuam Foundation - be it computer training at the Academy or health education or teaching staff to take blood samples from 5,000 children to screen for Sickle Cell Disease. It seems that once again FF has excelled in this area. Towards the end of 2010 I reported that John was hoping to set up Community Health Committees, and in December we were delighted to report that three communities had signed up to the concept. It was therefore very exciting to...

THE thorny issues of smart phones in rural Africa and termites in the sambarkas (traditional mud huts with a straw roof) were among the topics raised in our UK-Nigeria online meeting. However, the majority of this week’s session was used to ensure the team updated Pam on any project developments in readiness for the ICTD 2010 conference, where she will be presenting. Witchcraft update: From the team’s discussion it is sadly not unusual for children in Nigeria to be accused of being witches - they are sometimes called 'spirits', and are often held responsible for illnesses and deaths. There seems...

Halfway through this week’s UK-Nigeria online meeting, John Dada was abruptly called away to attend to the tragic and sudden death of a member of his local community. As many of you will realise, John is often referred to as Baba (father) and it is to him that many of this rural community turn at times of crisis. This week’s particularly tragic event left a newborn baby without a father. At a more appropriate time I hope to update you further about this additional role that John finds himself in, but for now I will detail the online session –...

Diagnostic Laboratory - Sickle Cell Originally uploaded by Dadamac Community “Lively and reflective” was one description given to this week’s UK-Nigeria online meeting. Lively because it was a sharing of information and of each others learning journey’s, and reflective as this was the first opportunity that the team had had to e-meet since the online celebrations of Dadamac Day . Additional feedback from the team summed up the overall consensus of this Day: “ Dadamac Day, re-emphasised how much of a global community we are”. “Yes,I thought the Dadamac Day was brilliant. So much information and sharing in a small...