The Global Well-Being Index which was categorized into five elements showcased purpose, social, financial, community, and physical. Reports show that one in six adults worldwide is considered thriving or strong and consistent in at least three of the five elements of well-being, as measured by the inaugural Gallup-Heathway Global Well-Being Index in 2013. The percentage of the elements here in Nigeria is considered low and it is in the light of this POWEF came into the humanitarian scene to encourage and promote quality life in the society.

In October 2010, Population Welfare and Empowerment Foundation (POWEF) envisioned a society where everyone, especially the less privileged would be able to enjoy basic health, economic, social and environmental well-being. Its mission which is to promote quality life for women, children, young people and other vulnerable populations through skills development, advocacy engagements, and direct support services are still kicking even to date.

Mr. Joseph Obadiora believes that POWEF in its little way can make impacts in the society and bring about positive transformation and against the abrasive act of some individuals towards the less privileged in the society, Mr. Obadiora stated that this act propelled the foundation to stretch hands of assistance and comfort in reducing incidence of preventable disease, promoting life skills and social usefulness of vulnerable children and youth, reducing incidence of criminal and antisocial behavior perpetrated by youth, preventing re-entry of released inmates to correctional institutions, reducing cases of psychoactive drug abuse among vulnerable youth, promoting equal access to life-enhancing opportunities irrespective of gender and determining impacts of social interventions and physical development actions.

In view of all these apparent objectives, the Executive Director said that POWEF has been creating awareness on Sexual, Reproductive Health including HIV/AIDS to secondary school adolescents who have had wrong information about sexual and reproductive health. Mr. Joseph Obadiora,
the General  Coordinator said that this initiative has massively boosted the morale of the young adults so much so that that their self-esteem is now so high and many other benefits have been and still currently enjoyed by these young chaps.

The YLD Young Leadership Development Programme (YLD) Mr. Obadiora further stated that it is one of the initiatives POWEF is currently handling which provides leadership and life skills training opportunities to students in order to prepare them for leadership roles within their schools and their immediate communities. He added that POWEF has been able to train 112 student leaders, 39 from Oduduwa College in Ife Central Local Government Area and 73 from School of Science in Ife East Local Government Area of Osun State.

Mr. Obiora also made mention of other initiatives which are Household Empowerment and Livelihood Project (HELP) to promote the livelihood of less privileged youths and women in the communities and support to some women who are members of Palm-Oil Millers and Traders Cooperative Group in Bolorunduro and Egbejoda communities in Ife South of Nigeria. Positive Learning and Active Citizens Empowerment Project (PLACE) another of POWEF’s initiative is aimed at developing the economic, psychological and social value of prison inmates and drug addicts undergoing rehabilitation. This is to help their sustainable socialization and reintegration into the community and labor market after reentry and so far and for this POWEF has been able to work in Ile-Ife and Ilesha Prisons in Osun State.

POWEF is implementing ICT projects to support government efforts aimed at promoting computer literacy in Nigeria To raise the computer knowledge of students and other young populations in order to make them better equipped to cope with the computer-oriented world and to remove the “digital divide” between the privileged and the less privileged. The executive director stated that so far, over 200 young people and adults across the Local Government Areas in Ife zone, Osun State have been trained in Computer Literacy.

Regardless of all the impacts made on the communities POWEF still had the urge to do one more which was Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) the Initiative was developed to respond to the need for safe water source, access to sustainable supply of safe water to communities through use of local technology for spring development, hand-dug wells, borehole construction and rehabilitation of existing water schemes.

In a survey carried out by Healthy People 2010 Final Review, it shared that healthy people provide science-based national goals and objectives and equally adding every available, important and necessary value to the productivity and development of the country.

Researchers who also studied health matters presumed deterioration of health in many countries hence advised for a healthy lifestyle but each day, with new struggle further makes it a huge burden to shoulder health-related issues.

In Ijebu Ode, Ogun State, Nigeria, Peace and Life Enhancement Initiative International (PLEII) believes that a healthy mind will definitely announce nature endowment and individual’s hope which would in the long run tackle poverty and increase productivity through the provision of peace and positive transformation.

Mr. Odukoya Olugbenga Olatunji, PLEII’s Executive Director said he had always lorded humanitarian works and was eventually moved to work for humanity.

According to Mr. Odukoya, he said that PLEII in June 2014 was fortunate enough to be one of the 15 CSOs who scaled through the Financial, Technical and Capacity assessment conducted by World Bank and Ogun State Agency for the Control of AIDS, for the HAF2 grants (HIV/AIDS Grants). And still, on this project, PLEII started intervention activities in July 2014 in 5 Local Governments (Ijebu Ode, Ijebu East, Abeokuta North, Abeokuta South and Ado-Odo Ota) in Ogun State, Nigeria.

Although extremely passionate on health-related matters, Mr. Odukoya did reveal that gnawing cravings to assist the less privileged in the society mounts, like organizing seminars, talk-shows, symposium and workshops on issues related to health, education, peace and agriculture, organizing adult literacy and vocational training programme, sensitizing and mobilizing women to assert their fundamental human rights, advocating the active participation and involvement of women and the physically challenged people in the development processes in the country and supporting the government and the societies in developing the youths and the children.

Recognizing that children and youths are important factors in the society, PLEII began and developed a soft support system for vulnerable children in 2009, a micro identification and enrolment of children.  This project was tagged Support for the Poor and Marginalized Children (SPMC) and was carried out in some communities in Ijebu Ode Local Government and Ijebu North East Local Government with 200 children enrolled.

“The SPMC project has been consistent since 2009 and has always replaced our children who have exceeded the age of 18 with new ones,” the executive director said. He highlighted the services rendered to children. They include educational support, health support, nutritional support, psychosocial services, and the right protection.

Mr. Odukoya further emphasized that there has been an expansion and increase over the years, that estimates of vulnerable children have moved from 25 in 2010 to 150 in 2013 while PLEII’s has continued to record tremendous growth. Some which are Support to 15 OVC in gaining Admission to a higher institution of learning, vocational skill programmes to vulnerable children through resource center, stabilization of OVCs health through health support services, Promotion of attitude conducive for safer sex practice and increase acceptance for condom use.

Children are highly vulnerable, as they are more likely to be victims of abuse, live in institutional care or on the street engaging in hazardous and exploitive labor.

Research shows that of about 2 million sex workers in India, 20 percent (400,000) are under age and actively involved in this act. Another research indicates that 143 million children in the developing world have lost one or both parents, including 80 percent of all the children who have lost a parent to AIDS and with the rise of this crisis, more children become orphans every day. In addition to this woe, many children who become orphans because of HIV/AIDS tend to be stigmatized in their communities.

According to UNICEF, there are 153 million children across the globe that are described as orphans. These children and others are at risk for poverty, health concerns, neglect, and abuse. Increasingly, numbers of children rise in refugee camps facing unique challenges every day. Malnutrition and diseases are prevalent in these places, transforming them to hell on earth hence creating an unusual environment for a growing child.

Another estimate reads that 7 million populations were orphans in 2003, which 1.8 million were affected by HIV/AIDS. Health survey indicates that nine percent of children in Nigeria are orphans and vulnerable children (VOC), with an estimation of 17.5 million out of which 7.3 million are orphaned by HIV/AIDS in 2013. Consequently, high levels of poverty resulting in low resource base and lack of basic credit and employment facilities in most rural communities have jeopardized the realization of the wellbeing of orphans and vulnerable children in Nigeria.

In the light of these emerging challenges in the country particularly in Lagos state, Dolly Children Foundation hence envisioned putting smiles on the faces of vulnerable children, targeting orphans and children laborers, rural and urban children, adolescents (in and out of school) with a mission to reach out to them through basic survival skills tagged around food, clothing, education and shelter, thereby enabling them to live impactful lives.

Dolly Children Foundation since 2006 never censored themselves to comfort the government’s ignorance or inadequacies, instead, this foundation rose to the challenge by lifting children from the dunghill setting them on the rock of independence and naturally obeying the clarion call of service to humanity.

The foundation has begun advancing the cause and welfare of vulnerable children by advocating on issues that can assuage their plight, helping to reduce the growing ratio of vulnerable children in the society in a bid to stop the avenues that expose children to all forms of vulnerability, helping vulnerable children lead productive and meaningful lives by providing basic educational, nutritional, clothing and accommodation needs for them, bridging the gap between society and these children by making them feel loved and cared for, working with individuals and organizations with common interests and as well as beliefs and visions to promote and enhance the welfare of the children.

DCF’s achievements include gender-based violence workshop at Magboro Community High School Ogun State, Make a Child Smile project which was held at Obafemi Owode Local Government Primary School Makogi, Ogun state in December 2014, DCF book donation  to Oregun Boys Remand Home in July 2013, Back2School Initiative (B2S) 1 – School Sandals project, 2011, Anglican Primary School, Ajegunle, Ikorodu, Lagos, Back2School Initiative (B2S) 2 – Raincoat project in September 2012 all at Anglican Primary School, Ajegunle, Ikorodu, Lagos.

Mrs. Adedolapo, DCF’s programmes’ officer said that efforts to care, support and protect vulnerable children should not be focused only on their immediate survival needs such as education, shelter and clothing, but also on long-term developmental needs that reduce children’s vulnerability such as life skills, child protection, vocational training, food security and household economic strengthening which the foundation has become and will continue to be actively involved in ensuring that these programmes continue to see the light of day she concluded.