THE eNGO WORKSHOP 2014- DIGITALLY EMPOWERING GRASSROOTS NGOs IN NIGERIA

It was a day to remember as dignitaries from all walks of life gathered yesterday at the University of Lagos Guest House (Conference Centre) t0 participate in the most anticipated eNGO Workshop 2014.

The participants testified that the Workshop was indeed empowering as many of them were trained on how to increase their visibility to the world via internet. This opportunity will not only increase their popularity but also create an enabling environment for fundraising.

According to Kayode Gomes, CEO, Love Planet Africa, “I am elated! I wish the Nigerian Government could sponsor events such as this”. 

“I made great use of this opportunity, this is something I have longed for, I thank Programos Foundation and the Representatives from India for taking this life changing initiative’’, said Mrs Nnanna Nkechinyee Theresa, CEO, Our Lady of Perpetual Help Initiative. 

The workshop was divided into two sessions; the first part was for training the grassroots NGOs while the other part was for Questions and Answers. Also, for those who do not have websites, they were given the opportunity to have one as they were asked to fill a form which will aid in the opening of the websites.  And for those who already have, they were trained on how to update and review it. 

The training was taken by Devendra Singh, CEO, Digital Empowerment Foundation, India and Amitabh Singhal, Executive Board Member, Public Interest Registry, PIR, India. The event was in Partnership with Programos Foundation, Nigeria. 

At the end of the training, participants were awarded Certificate of Participation by Mr Amos Emmanuel, President, Programos Foundation. 

Mr Amos is also the Chief Software Architect/CEO Programos Software Group and the Eminent National Expert for the UN World Summit Award Nigeria. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Here is wishing my wonderful readers and clients a prosperous and fulfilling year. May this year bring you everlasting joy and peace. 

HEAVEN ON EARTH…THE EXPERIENCE 2013

 The gigantic auditorium of Tafawa Balewa square was full to the brim as worshippers across the globe gathered in one accord to attend the largest gospel music concert, The Experience 2013.
The Experience 2013 is the 8^th Edition of the event. According to Pastor Paul Adefarasin, Convener and Senior Pastor of House on the Rock, in biblical numerology, eight represents the number of new beginnings; a new beginning for us as a nation and as individuals. The date 6: 12: 13 is also significant as 6 represents man and 12 represents government.

The concert witnessed the attendance of Pastors from churches both in Nigeria and overseas. Among which are Bishop Mike Okonkwo, Pastor Sam Adeyemi and Pastor Taiwo Odukoya. Also in attendance was the wife of the Lagos State Governor, First Lady Abimbola Fashola.
There were breathtaking musical performances by award winning gospel artistes such as Tye Tribbet, Yolanda Adams, Donnie Mcclurkin, Don Moen, Cece Winans, Micah Stampley. From Nigeria we have: Eben, Frank Edwards, Sammie Okposo, Midnight Crew, Kingsley Ike, Mike Aremu and the Prestigious LMGC [Lagos Metropolitan Gospel Choir].
This year’s The Experience is proudly supported by MTN, GTB, FCMB, Emzor Paracetamol, Promasidor (Makers of Cowbell, Loyal Milk, Top Tea,) and host of others.
The concert is an annual FREE event by Pastor Adefarasin and his wife Pastor Ifeanyi Adefarasin. It is intended to minister to people around the world, irrespective of race, ethnic and class.

 

 

CELEBRITIES STORM THE OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF PRESTIGE COSMETICS IN NIGERIA.

It was a potpourri of fun and great excitement as dignitaries from all walks of life studded the official launch of Prestige Cosmetics in Nigeria, held on Sunday, November 24, 2013.

The glamorous orange carpet event took place at White House Hotel, GRA, Ikeja. It witnessed the likes of Oge Okoye, Laide Bakare, Funmi Ajila-Oladipo, National President, Fashion Designers Association of Nigeria (FADAN) and Chief Launcher; and of course Big Brother Africa (The Chase) Finalist and Model, Beverly Osu who was the Celebrity Host for the night.

It was anchored by outstanding radio presenters; Wyse from Top Radio and Bimbo Fagade, Choice FM.

Adekunbi Fasakin, CEO Sit-Pretty, delivering the lectures for the night underpinned the importance of making up, saying it was an age-long tradition that preceded human civilization and is used across all facet of life.

The Chief Launcher for the night, Mrs. Ajila-Oladipo, in her remarks advised the promoters of the prestige brand to liaise with their contemporaries, who promoted other lifestyle products to advance her products.

Delivering her vote of thanks, Mrs Tara Adesemowo, CEO Taries World appreciated everyone in attendance. She extended her appreciation to her Management Team, Manny Odize, Cindy Amos (My humble self), Adedehin Moibi, Faramade Gbadegeshin and Dare Oginni. She did not fail to appreciate her husband, Mr Tolu Adesemowo.

Here are the pictures of the event….enjoy your view. 

eNGO WORKSHOP PROJECT 2014

Programos Foundation, Nigeria in conjunction with DEF: Digital Empowerment Foundation, India to start year 2014 by hosting 100 grassroot development organizations (NGOs) for ICT capacity building with free Web site & Training tagged “eNGO Workshop Project”.

 

Digitally Empowering NGOs through NGO Domain Name

DATE: 28th January, 2014

VENUE: University of Lagos, Guest House (Conference Room), Akoka, Lagos, NIGERIA. 

Further Highlights:

·         Any grassroots development organizations can be a member of the eNGO network

·         eNGO is a web enabled facility designed by Digital Empowerment Foundation for grassroots Civil Society and Non-Governmental Organizations to have a virtual identity,  information and communication platform for outreach and scale up.

·         A first of its kind programme for ICT capacity building of NGOs/CSOs/SHGs

• A self-owned asset under which NGO beneficiaries are made capable to manage their own websites and content

Why eNGOs?

There are currently over a million NGOs and Self Help Groups in Nigeria and the majority of them do not have a proper webpage.  Most of the NGOs working at the grassroots level thus remain unknown and do not earn the appreciation and benefit coming from sources that can provide tremendous energy to them. This situation might have been caused for reasons like lack of finance, expertise and foresight. Besides, all such NGOs have tremendous amount of information which is not exposed to outside their geography, policy makers, or potential granters.

Objectives of eNGOs!

eNGO aims to provide NGOs a digital or web space -in local languages and/or English-, increasing their visibility and to empower them with useful tools that can facilitate and enhance their daily activities in:

Communication & Outreach: communicating their objectives and outreach of their activities to various stakeholders with ICT tools

Fundraising: attracting donors showing current and future projects and collecting funds trough e-fundraising platforms

Partnerships & direct linking with other institutions: to facilitate horizontal outreach and synergies with other organizations by using new media tools

Human Resource Support: To have access to volunteers and interns from India and foreign countries, to have access to skilled human resources interested in their development issues.

Giving voice to local issues: giving testimonies of local situations through the use of photographs, text and video and highlighting problems of local nature at national and international levels

Showcasing local content for global outreach: eNGO platform enables grassroots organizations to showcase local content for global audience for wider recognition and connectivity.

eNGO web service solution package is designed to serve:

q  Grassroots organizations having community development initiatives  anywhere in Nigeria;

q  Grassroots individual innovators, social entrepreneurs undertaking social entrepreneurial activities;

q  Self Help Groups into a set of diverse community benefiting and viable activities commonplace in the community

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eNGO Services @ Grassroots Organisations (NGOs)

•         Domain Name for your Website (e.g.- www.yourngo.org)

•        Website Hosting

•        Website Designing

•       Content Uploading

•        Technical Handhold Support

•        Manual to update your site own, without any external help.

•        eNGO networking platform for partnerships

•       New Social Media tools management

•        24x7 online email support.

•       ICT Capacity building training programme

•       Local Partnership & Global Promotion

•       Others

Benefits of .NGO

•       Visibility - A website using a .NGO domain name is visibly represented to the world as an NGO and opens the door to a worldwide audience for education and contributions.

•       Exclusivity - .NGO addressed are available exclusively for the NGO community, a home address that make your organization more visible on internet.

•       Reliability - with today’s technology many useful web services can be delivered to members of the NGO community automatically and securely.

•       Charities - If charities adopt .ngo as their chosen domain, consumers will learn that they should be careful when donating to any site outside that domain. Whilst this will reduce online fraud in general, it will have a significant impact on major fraud.

•       Endless Opportunities

         www.ngoindia.ngo    www.myngo.ngo   www.xyz.ngo

         www.green.ngo    www.rural.ngo   www.social.ngo

•       Shorter Domain Names - Making the domain short and easy to remember is particularly important for word of mouth and offline advertising as it is required to type the name directly into the address bar. This is particularly useful as it could create stronger association between offline and online branding and reinforced messaging. This is likely to create an increase in branded traffic to the website as customers are likely to recall the brand upfront.

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