MTN foundation gets national council on health award

The Health Portfolio of the MTN Nigeria Foundation has received another award for its outstanding contribution to the Health sector in the country. The award was presented to the Foundation by the National Council on Health at its recently concluded 50th General Meeting, which took place on Thursday January 11 2007, at the Abuja Sheraton Hotel and Towers. The Award ceremony/dinner night was a befitting end to the Council’s weeklong general meeting. Notably present at the awards ceremony were The Honourable Minister of Health, Prince Adelusi Adeluyi - MTNF Director, and Temitayo Okunoren Makindipe - Executive Secretary, MTNF who received the award on behalf of the Foundation.

2006 WAD activities

During the World AIDs Day Commemoration in the Kaduna region, the peer educators organized a Secondary School outreach, where they distributed comics. An audience of 500 were reached through this outreach.
Kindly view the award winning 2006 World Aids Day Competition poem

Abstain now from the game,
but if you dive into the flame,
you stand to take the blame,
your life will never be same.
Be faithful: That’s the attitude,
Stay together, avoid the multitude,
Life is beautiful, give it a longitude,
For life is dreadful when in solitude.
Condomize and remain active,
Correctly put on your coat and remain negative,
Consistently get covered, be proactive,
Keep the promise, Live positive.
-Bridget Nwankwo

Valentine

In Port Harcourt, Valentine’s Day was celebrated by the Peer Educators by carrying out an HIV/AIDS Awareness Campaign in the Service Centre and at the Switch.
A carton of male and female condoms and IEC(Information Education Communication)materias to all staff at the Service Centre.

Nigeria Business Coalition Against AIDs (NIBUCAA)

The MTNF in collaboration with the Marketing department formally presented a cheque of One Million Naira to the Nigeria Business Coalition Against AIDs (NIBUCAA). This presentation was made in appreciation of NIBUCAA’s support during the just concluded MTN Lagos International Half Marathon 2006. NIBUCAA served as the Secretariat for the Corporate Marathon and was charged with the responsibility of ensuring active participation of member companies.

Overview of the MTNF-Lady Mechanic Initiative

In its continuing efforts to empower women the MTNF has entered into partnership with the Lady Mechanic Initiative (LMI). LMI is a non-profit organisation that works with disadvantaged young women (prostitutes, orphans, widows, street urchins). They empower these women by providing them with auto-mechanic skills. LMI was set up by Mrs Sandra Aguebor otherwise known as the ‘Lady mechanic’. Sandra’s passion for this initiative came from a desire that these young women should not go through some of the trials she endured to make it as a mechanic in a male dominated industry. The partnership with MTNF will involve 50 young women in Lagos. These women live in high density areas such as Ajegunle, Oshodi etc. As part of the project the young women will receive:
Training from Peugeot Automobile of Nigeria (PAN) in Kaduna on the latest autocare technologies
Life skills: they will have monthly lectures on subjects such as reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, Personal hygiene etc
Entrepreneurial skills: During the project the women will also have an opportunity to run small businesses selling products related to the auto care industry.
A monthly stipend through out the life of the project. This ensures that beneficiaries are able to focus fully on the training without financial pressures.
Upon completion of the project beneficiaries will have several opportunities: employment by autocare garages, start up funds to set-up of their own small business or continued study of more in-depth diagnostic tools etc. Past beneficiaries of the initiative have gotten employment in well known local auto care garages as well as autocare garages in South Africa.

UPDATE

Recently a press conference was held to announce the partnership between MTNF and LMI, at the press conference beneficiaries were provided with their overalls, shoes and tool kits (see pictures below). The highlight of the event came when Amina Oyagbola (MTN Corporate Services Executive) was made an honorary Lady Mechanic and given her own overalls and tool kit!!! (see below)

UniversitiesConnect PROJECT
Phase 1

Highlights:
The first phase of the UniversitiesConnect project was commissioned in University of Lagos, Akoka in December 2005. The project involved the provision of a digital library with a link to the world's largest collection of digital resources from over 5,500 libraries and 300 publishers to assist university students and professors with their research for projects and quality lectures.
The MTN Foundation held a five-day training workshop for a total of 600 students from various departments of the institution at the UniversitiesConnect library, Unilag on 29th January to 2nd February, 2007. The workshop which covered a three-module course was a structured hands-on, tutor-lead but highly interactive session that employed practical examples and exercises.

Part of the objective of the workshop was to train these students to become the “UniversitiesConnect Ambassadors” to drive the usage of the virtual library. In addition, the workshop is to enlighten the students on the usefulness of the UniversitiesConnect programme to ensure its optimal adoption by the target communities.

UniversitiesConnect PROJECT
Phase 2

Highlights:
The Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria has been selected as the second beneficiary of the UniversitiesConnect project. We have successfully completed the first stage work which involves civil construction, installation of furniture, painting, etc. Currently, our partners are installing the IT infrastructure.
The library will be operational by the end of March, 2007.

Before:

After:

SchoolsConnect Project phase 4

The MTN Foundation SchoolsConnect project is aimed at using ICT to enhance teaching and learning in secondary schools in Nigeria, and this project has been implemented successfully in 37 schools in the country with a total of 85,640 students and 3,817 teachers. Each school were provided with fully equipped ICT laboratories, comprising 21 computers, and servers, VSAT internet connectivity, and hands-on teacher training.
We are about to commence work in 12 schools in Ekiti, Imo and Niger states. School selection is being conducted in consultation with the various State Ministries of Education.
Work commenced in February 2007.

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