When Mrs. Bukola Adebiyi, the founder of JAKIN NGO, says ‘everything at Jakin is built on the wisdom of God,’ one might be tempted to conclude that her organization is another faith-based NGO. But as far as the hard-working crusader for sustainable development is concerned, “mine is a call to serve humanity and we have no doubt seen the hand of God overwhelmingly here at Jakin NGO.”

 

And so when our CST editor was instructed by the publisher, Mr. Seyi Oyebisi, to interview the NGO boss at her Iwaya Road office complex as part of activities to mark this year’s International Literacy Day, little did one know that there are in fact still some Nigerians who are committed to creating a friendly and neutral atmosphere for the needy to discuss their issues and provide support to alleviate their burden.

 

According to Mrs. Adebiyi, the name JAKIN is a Hebrew word for ‘He Establishes’. “JAKIN NGO seeks to improve our society by creating a neutral and conducive atmosphere for resources to be generated for charity while they are simultaneously channeled to the less privileged. JAKIN operates a friendly, unbiased and flexible structure that grants the needy and less privileged access to freely discuss their issues and also receive various forms of financial, psychosocial, material, academic and medical supports that tackle their situation fom its root cause. Our key focus areas are economic empowerment, training, health, education and welfare.”

 

Continued Mrs. Adebiyi, “With a vision to be the foremost mentioned when needs arise, our mission is to improve our society by strategically accumulating resources for charity and appropriately disbursing them to the needy, faith-based and other help organizations.

 

Established on October 12th, 2003 by Mrs Adebiyi Olubukola nee Akinlosotu, she listed her objectives to include developing a dynamic and well-structured channel for bridging the gap between potential beneficiaries and resources obtained for charity, creating a friendly and neutral atmosphere for the needy, designing and embarking on projects that provide a conducive platform for resources to be generate for charity, building a world class, competent and durable organization whose foundation is built on integrity, transparency and fairness, and partering with corporate organisaions in providing effective corporate social responsibility solutions.

 

“However, since the inception of our Samaritan Platform Project (SPP) in February 2004 and as at December 2009, we have successfully assisted the Nigerian Government on reaching out to over 10,000 less-privileged people. Economic empowerment has been provided for 78 people; welfare for 4,137 people; educational support for 195 people; training for 348 people; healthcare assistance to 49 people. Amongst our beneficiaries are 515 widows; 822 people living with HIV/AIDS; 488 prisoners; 4,459 orphans and vulnerable children; 122 homes; 72 faith-based organizations and 29 other help organisaions as far as Sudan, Darfur and Libeia. Established on October 12th, 2003, JAKIN is registered and has its head office in Lagos State and a branch in Zamfara State.

 

Projects:

The children are mainly members of Jakin Children’s Club (JCC) for orphans and vulnerable children which was inaugurated on March 13th, 2010. JCC brings together less privileged children living outside the four walls of an orphanage or rehab at least once a month to interact and have a sense of belonging. They are able to receive various educative, reformative and transformative trainings in a well structured environment to help improve their quality of life.

 

We have realized from our work with over 5000 children since inception in 2003 that as a result of the poverty level in the nation, thousands of children on the streets or with their parents are actually living in worse conditions than their peers in structured orphanages and rehabs. Majority of such children are malnourished, attend public schools in their communities and hardly dress properly for school nor possess learning materials. They usually go bare footed or wear bathroom slippers to school. Their uniforms are also worn out, torn or tight while the few learning materials they have are put in nylon bags instead of school bags. The above described children within 5yrs and 18yrs are the target of this project.

 

The overall AIM of this life changing opportunity and experience is to help transform and reform young hearts. The gesture of love will help them psychologically by boosting their morale. It will definitely spark a new light in them encouraging them that there is still a light at the end of the tunnel. Finally, they are expected to strive more on their education.

 

JAKIN NGO is a registered member of the following National CSO NETWORK COALITIONS:

AONN (ASSOCIATIONS FOR ORPHANS AND VULNERABLE CHILDREN N.G.O’S IN NIGERIA)

CISHAN (CIVIL SOCIETY FOR HIV AND AIDS IN NIGERIA)

NACCRAN (NATIONAL COUNCIL OF CHILD RIGHTS ADVOCATES OF NIGERIA)

ACOMIN (ASSOCIATION FOR CIVIL ORGANIZATION ON MALARIA, IMMUNIZATION AND NUTRITION)

HURINET (HUMAN RIGHT INFORMATION NETWORK)

TB NETWORK (TUBERCULOSIS NETWORK)

NYNETHA (YOUTH NETWORK ON HIV/AIDS)

NNNGO (NIGERIAN NETWORK OF NGOS)

CPN (CHILD PROTECTION NETWORK – UNICEF)

JAKIN is also actively engaged in externally funded projects – these projects are initiated and sponsored by any of the following -other NGO’s, Government, organizations, churches, local or International funders.

 

The Enhancing Nigeria’s Response to HIV/AIDS (ENR) is a six-year programme funded by the United Kingdom Aid (UKaid) commenced in 2010 to improve access to and coverage of effective HIV and AIDS prevention, treatment, care and support information and services reaching the most vulnerable populations .The programme involves an eight-partner consortium (Society for Family Health, ActionAid Nigeria, Options, Benguela, BBC World Service Trust, Population Services International, Population Council and Crown Agent) .

 

JAKIN N.G.O implemented the project in the Lagos Division (Ibile) of Lagos State. The 6 months Peer Education Plus strategy (PEP) implemented at Orile Iganmu was to establish 40 HIV/AIDS peer education groups among Female out of School Youths, Male Out of School Youths, Transport workers and Female Sex workers. After the site identification, advocacy visits, community mapping, baseline participatory monitoring and evaluation exercise which involved eight focus group discussions with 70 participants across the 4 target population, an open community meeting was conducted before 38 out of school youths were trained extensively as Peer educators.

 

For the Priority Local Aids Control Effort strategy (PLACE) implementation, Sabo, Alagomeji and Iwaya communities of Mainland Local Government were selected as the three priority prevention areas (PPA’s). 15 venues (Hot spots i.e bars and night clubs) were selected and 30 venue outreach staffs (VOS) were extensively trained and engaged for the 6 months project. 19,879 people were reached, 5,060 condoms distributed, 1,979 people were referred for Hiv Counseling and testing, 1,069 were referred for Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) treatment and 321 were referred for Family Planning.

ANNUAL DECEMBER 2ND WORLD AIDS DAY

To commemorate the annual World Aids Day celebration, in 2010 Jakin organized a one-day HIV/Aids enlightenment training for 15 traditional birth attendants in Yaba LCDA.

CONTACTS:

ADDRESS – No 51, Iwaya Road, Iwaya, Yaba, Lagos.

TELEPHONE – 01-8173006, 01- 8522936

WEBSITE- www.jakinministry.org

FACEBOOK GROUP: JAKIN N.G.O

E -MAIL – info@jakinministry.org, jakinministry@yahoo.com

CONTACT PERSON

Name – Mrs. Olubukola Adebiyi

Designation – President

Contact Numbers – 08033581224, 08026739766, 07055732803

E-mail – bukkyakinlosotu@yahoo.com, bukky@jakinministry.org