CARA Development Foundation, a not-for-profit development organization registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission since 2014, focuses on creating good health and reducing poverty and food insecurity across rural communities in Nigeria. The foundation plays a significant role in the economic upliftment of Nigerians, particularly in the Niger Delta and South Eastern regions.
Our Strategy for Economically Empowering Women and Youths
CARA’s strategy for economic empowerment involves three core components: capacity building, linkage, and human capital development through education. Through the capacity-building opportunities that CARA provides, youths and women particularly those in the rural areas are trained in Agribusinesses such as poultry farming, fisheries, cassava farming, and other value chain businesses amongst others.
In addition, the youths are trained in business development and entrepreneurship, business leadership and innovativeness, financial literacy, marketing, and business planning. The focus of the strategy is to empower rural people to become self-reliant and look inward for solutions to improve their own lives, other than looking up to the government or external bodies.
CARA’s Achievements in Women and Youths’ Economic Empowerment
Through these efforts, CARA has strengthened the business capacity of over 100,000 cassava farmers in the Niger Delta and South Eastern region of Nigeria, in addition to 70 trained Cassava seed entrepreneurs and over 200 Farm service providers who earn their living through the segment of the cassava market that they dominate and play an important role. Women are also being trained and empowered on skills such as tailoring, and currently digital skills to boost their employability in the labour market.
Beyond capacity building, business training, and empowerment, CARA has facilitated market linkages amongst cassava market actors, to boost business efficiency for the actors, increase profit, and thus business expansion. For instance, CARA facilitates the linkage of young entrepreneurs and farmers to larger markets bigger suppliers, and off-takers as the case may be, thus, enhancing their ability to sell products and services at competitive prices. This involves creating networks with businesses, cooperatives, and government programs that can provide support and market access.
Another pivotal function of the CARA Development Foundation in youth enterprise development is financial Linkages. The foundation facilitates access to microfinance and credit facilities for young entrepreneurs. This support helps them secure the necessary capital to start or expand their businesses. For instance, in 2021, CARA supported a group of farmers to access N10,000,000 worth of capital financing from Sombrero Capital Financing which enabled them to cultivate 33 Hectares of cassava farm for commercial purposes. CARA continues to negotiate and advocate to the government and private sectors to invest more money and create more opportunities for young people.
The organization also indulges in human capital development through in-school training for adolescent and undergraduate students. These young students at this early stage are trained on crucial skills that empower them to make important decisions in their lives. Some of the skills include but are not limited to friendship, negotiation skills, refusal skills, career choices, and so on. This training is usually mainstreamed into the Adolescent and young people’s SRHR programs in secondary and higher institutions. Over 1000+ young people have been trained on this course. We partner with the management of secondary schools especially those in rural areas to carry out this training where we believe that poor exposure, inaccessibility to relevant career training, and global civic education is a barrier.
In this path, the organization has recorded sounding accomplishments. For instance, through its programs, CARA has significantly contributed to reducing poverty levels through the promotion of healthy living, provision of employment skills and opportunities, business training, and financial linkage opportunities in the Niger Delta and South Eastern regions. Young people have mostly benefited from these empowerment opportunities as they are now able to access relevant skills and resources needed to generate income. Also, by promoting agricultural training and linking farmers to markets, CARA has enhanced food security in rural communities. This ensures that communities have access to sufficient, nutritious food and that agricultural practices are sustainable. For instance, through the promotion of improved farming practices amongst cassava farmers in the Niger Delta and South Eastern Region of Nigeria, there is a high level of adoption of Climate-Smart Agriculture have adopted.
Finally, the foundation’s initiatives have led to the creation of numerous jobs, both directly through the establishment of new businesses and indirectly by fostering a supportive environment for economic activities. The business linkages provided for cassava market actors have increased sales and productivity for all actors from the Input companies to the input/agro-dealer retailers. This sustainably enhances the income generation and business opportunities of numerous persons in the sector.
Further Exploits and Expectations on Women and Youth Empowerment
CARA in the year 2024 continues to seek partnership and support to enable the expansion of her intervention impact and reach through programme scale-up, partnership and innovative approaches to development.
Firstly, the program scale-up approach focuses on increasing the number of beneficiaries across communities and as well extending programs to more communities. Currently, due to limited resources and available partnerships, CARA’s enterprise development is mostly within the Niger Delta and South Eastern Region of Nigeria. We therefore are in serious search for partnership and support to extend our reach to more communities within this region, and to also extend our reach to other parts of the country where the issue of youth unemployment is begging for attention.
Secondly, the organization will continue to collaborate with more stakeholders, including government agencies, private sector companies, and international organizations, to leverage additional resources and expertise. In the past, CARA has partnered with DAI-MADE, PIND Foundation, and Palladium, amongst several other major donor agencies, It however hopes to secure a partnership with other donors who operate in Sub-Sahara Africa, particularly in Nigeria, and whose priority area touches around youth enterprise development.
Also, in the face of the dwindling funding from both private, public, and NGOs to support development organizations in their roles, CARA is looking forward to indulging in other self-sustaining initiatives through which it can continue to fund the numerous activities lined up in the organization’s strategic and operational plan. CARA is also approaching existing challenges through an innovative application of proven global approaches in a manner that adequately addresses the evolving needs of the youth and the economic landscape.
In conclusion, CARA Development Foundation’s commitment to youth economic empowerment through capacity building, linkage, and education has made significant strides in reducing poverty and enhancing food security in rural Nigeria. By equipping youths with the necessary skills and resources, CARA is not only improving individual livelihoods but also contributing to broader economic development and stability in the region.“