OUR PROGRAMS

HEALTH AND SANITATION

Improving the health of all persons in communities is a crucial part of a productive population. Through our work in communities around the nation, we focus on improving the health outcomes of women and children, especially those in hard-to-reach areas. Our interventions focus on menstrual Health & Hygiene management education, Sexual Reproductive Health, and Rights, HIV/AIDS, Maternal & Child Health, Gender-based violence, mental health, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH).

PDICH delivers quality health education programs in line with the 2030 target of Sustainable Development Goals, especially for the underserved and vulnerable population through sensitization, testing, and counselling, education, amongst others.

Menstrual Health

We work on menstrual health incorporating other episodes of bleeding between menarche and menopause and refer to these as ‘different types of vaginal bleeding. We focus is on women and girls, although we identify that some women and girls don’t menstruate due to health or anatomical reasons. Often time’s menstruation is a taboo subject with little or no conversation around it which is a global problem, but at the same time, hygiene of the menstrual cycle is a big concern for the health of girls and women. PDICH approach to our work are; Empowerment, education, and information; Using a comprehensive rights-based menstrual health curriculum, PDICH work with peer educators, teachers, health workers & stakeholders to sensitize women and girls with the necessary knowledge and skills to manage their menstrual health, menopause and other forms of vaginal bleeding.

Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR)

Women and girls in Nigeria and most Sub African countries face increased risks of sexual violence and accessibility for sexual reproductive health education & services to achieve gender equality for women/girls’ sexual human rights, are almost not available. Globally, evidence shows that young girls bear higher implications of maternal mortality & morbidity. Nigeria being the largest sub-Saharan country in West Africa, sexual reproductive health (SRH) data outcomes emphasize the need to focus on women and young people. The need to protect the sexual reproductive health & right of young people in/out-of-school is of utmost importance. PDICH invests in sustainable and innovative comprehensive sexuality education programs and community mobilisation for SRHR information services, referral, and support to mitigate the vulnerability of mortality or unwanted pregnancy and improve the health & productivity of women/girls.

Maternal & Child Health

We strive to improve the health of mothers, pregnant women, and children under the age of five in Nigeria. We achieve this by disseminating best practices by providing training and technical assistance to community health workers & traditional birth attendants (TBAs) on health challenges that affect pregnant women and children, sensitizing women in rural areas with basic knowledge on maternal health, and also investing in environmental sanitation. Our goal is to promote healthy children, families, and communities and have distributed over 7,000 birthing kits to TBAs across 10 districts in the course of our programs.

WASH

Poor access to improved water and sanitation in Nigeria remains a substantial contributing factor to high morbidity and mortality rates. 63 million people in Nigeria lack access to safe clean water with over 46 million still practicing open defecation, making her one of the countries with the highest number of people still engaged in such act. Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6 by 2030 requires extraordinary efforts and an issue for communities with sanitation challenges and needs significant household contribution to eliminate open defecation despite low family incomes. We aim to; • Ensure sustainability of water services in rural communities. • Strengthen capacity to develop and implement equitable and gender-sensitive WASH policies, strategies, and guidelines. • Provide sanitation and hygiene services with access to clean water, • Strengthen government efforts to eradicate the practice of open defecation. Strengthen tailored approaches such as Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) in riverine, rural, & peri-urban settings.

Mental Health

Mental health prevention is at the heart of what we do which is helping people understand, identify, and address the sources of their problems, protect & sustain their health so that people and communities can thrive as our desire is positive mental health and wellbeing for all. Our approach to preventing mental health stigma is to create a non-judgemental environment for persons to feel safe and have open conversations about their mental health issues. We understand the importance of stories in challenging inbred notions about mental health issues thus utilizing community and peer programs to test and evaluate the best approaches to improving mental health in communities.

GENDER EQUALITY AND EMPOWERMENT

Gender equality simply means equal rights and opportunities for girls and boys to help all children fulfil their potential. Gender inequality is exhibited in homes and communities every day. Parents may assume unequal responsibility for household work, with mothers bearing the brunt of caregiving and chores. The majority of low-skilled and underpaid community health workers who attend to children are also women, with limited opportunity for professional growth.

In schools, many girls receive less support than boys to pursue the studies they choose. This happens for a variety of reasons: the safety, hygiene, and sanitation needs of girls are sometimes neglected, barring them from regularly attending class. Discriminatory teaching practices and educational materials also produce gender gaps in learning and skills development. As a result, nearly 1 in 4 girls between the ages of 15 and 19 are neither employed nor in education or training – compared to 1 in 10 boys.

We focus on using information technology, interactive modules, and a friendly curriculum to design and implement educative programs for beneficiaries across different sectors, directed towards helping women, children, and youths lead productive lives to improve their socio-economic outcomes. All our programs are geared towards achieving SDG5 by 2030

Quality Education

About 802 schools remain closed and 497 classrooms are listed as destroyed, with another 1,392 damaged but repairable. Our programme supports the government towards achieving SDG 4 by 2030 and the expected outcome is that all children achieve sustained quality education, with measurable improvements in learning outcomes and skills development by; • Strengthen the education system with capacities to deliver quality elementary education particularly to marginalized and vulnerable populations. • Support teachers with core knowledge and competencies with literacy, numeracy, and social-emotional skills proven to be teaching methodologies to deliver appropriate quality education that is foundational to future learning and success. • Gain the skills they need to lead productive lives, gain employment, and positively contribute to society. • Have increased access to quality education that is safe, relevant, and promotes social well-being. • Parents and communities have improved knowledge and commitment to contribute to enrolling children at the right age in quality learning in safe and protective school environments.

Women Economic Empowerment

Our economic empowerment project aims at promoting productivity among women and youths to improve their livelihoods through sustainable income-generating activities. We also provide entrepreneurship development and capacity building activities focusing on these pillars: • Advancing vocational education and workforce development to ensure women have the skills and training necessary to secure jobs. • Promoting women’s entrepreneurship and providing women with access to capital, markets, technical assistance and networks. • Striving to remove barriers that constrain women from being able to fully and freely participate in the economy. • Equal access to capital and business networks needed to sustain and expand their businesses which create prosperity and stability for their families and communities.

Girls Mentorship & Skills Acquisition

PDICH girls’ mentorship program serves as a non-judgmental safe space that provides adolescent girls the opportunity to freely express themselves and learn about their sexuality, leadership, and development in a safe, and confidential environment. Persons with any sexual abuse concerns are free to access support and resources on this program with our volunteer psychotherapist who is professionally trained to support survivors of sexual assault. This is a non-threatening and non-competitive environment that allows everyone to engage as equals. Our monthly activities are developed to foster personal, emotional, educational development supporting girls to make the right choices for themselves while respecting the confidentiality of the participants. All information is confidential except where it is required by law to disclose such as (e.g., child abuse, protection issues, sexual abuse, and dangerous situations). Activities include: Place 2 talk counseling, life skills workshop, and reading library.

Digital literacy and inclusion

PDICH Digital and literacy Inclusion programs provide opportunities to women and girls to enable them to become leverage technology and become productive members of their community. Our digital & literacy goal for Nigerian women/girls is to; • Promote digital inclusion to close the digital gender gap, • Establish vocational skill empowerment and digital media and technology lab, • Develop underserved women and girls for digital careers through skill training • Improve access for underprivileged women/girls into digital careers & jobs through mentorship or internship

ADVOCACY

Communities depend on the government-regulated institution frameworks to function. We are continuously working with these institutions through various strategies and interventions with governance policy and stakeholders engagement meetings. Our activities on this include;

  • Campaigns for Gender Equality/ women’s rights
  • Voter and Civic Education
  • Open Governance
  • Freedom of Information and Advocacy
  • Campaigns for community reinvestment act (CRA) Implementation & Advocacy

Gender Based Violence

Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a fundamental human rights violation, globally affecting around one in three women and girls. This includes a range of violent acts mainly committed by males against females and a cause and consequence of gender inequality. Women and girls experience violence and discrimination in every society, simply because of their gender. Millions of girls around the world face many forms of violence including rape, female genital mutilation (FGM), sexual exploitation, and child marriage. The incidences of gender-based violence are on a rise. In Nigeria, one in four females has experienced a form of sexual violence yet conversations on sexuality still remains a taboo in Nigeria, especially among adolescent girls. GBV is arguably the most widespread of all human rights violations leaving survivors of violence to experience impacts including depression, stress, shock, injury, stigma, HIV, or unwanted pregnancy. Longer-term, power and the threat of violence can stop girls from finishing school, or being able to choose if and who they marry. This is a public health issue with early intervention being the most effective form of prevention. Our anti-GBV programs aim at preventing and eradicating gender-based violence.

Female Genital Mutilation

Female genital mutilation is a traditional practice that’s been going on for thousands of years, and as such, is deeply entrenched in social, economic and political structures. FGM is illegal in many countries, but because the laws aren’t always well enforced, and many people in rural communities are unaware of them, the practice still goes on. Many parents consider it a necessary part of upholding family honour and tradition. Women, significantly older generations, who are custodians and key decision-makers on FGM, view it as an essential part of a girl’s cultural and gender identity, and a social obligation.

Human Trafficking

Trafficking in persons is a severe criminal offence and a grave violation of human rights. Almost every country in the world is affected by trafficking. In Nigeria, thousands of children, youths, women, and men fall victim to the hands of traffickers. PDICH programmes address human trafficking issues through collaborative measures to support strengthening and coordinating communities against trafficking in Persons or smuggling of migrants by promoting research and raising awareness to prevent trafficking in persons, protection of victims of human trafficking, and referral for prosecution of trafficking offenders.