acondas spreads the joy of Christmas

This year, we want to share the joy we feel when thinking about Christmas and the New Year with teenagers living in poverty. Instead of giving Christmas presents to our clients and business partners, acondas donates 3,000 Euros to the SOS Children’s Villages International, more precisely to the project for agricultural youth education in Owu-Ijebu, a town situated in the southwest of Nigeria.

With 186 million inhabitants, Nigeria has the highest population in Africa. 50% of Nigerians, however, live below the poverty line and an unemployment rate of 60% in rural areas highlights just how unlikely individual social progress is.

Given this background, the education program in Owu-Ijebu was established. The rich and fertile soil right next to the local SOS Children’s Village will now be used for agricultural purposes. The education program offers young people a way out of poverty by learning how to cultivate the fields with modern methods. The program entails theoretical and practical aspects of crop and stock farming, always with a focus on sustainable, yet efficient agriculture.

During their education, the teenagers and young adults will get to know the entire value chain, from production, over stocking and packaging to sales. Thus, this program offers genuine prospects for their future. It shows them a way to care for their families – through planting crops, selling them on markets and the prospect of work in the agricultural industry.

To optimally prepare the participants for their future work as well as to support them in building a valuable social network, the program aims at partnering with local colleges, universities, animal feed distributors and specialists in farming. Furthermore, banks shall join the cooperation to offer graduates microcredits for starting their own business.

We hope that the support of acondas helps many young Nigerians to break the vicious circle of poverty and helps them to create a successful future – as graduates of the agricultural youth education program in Owu-Ijebu!

You’ll find more information about the project here: https://www.sos-kinderdoerfer.de/unsere-arbeit/hilfsprojekte/nigeria-ausbildungsprojekt

Picture source cover photo: Stefan Heunis