OUR PROGRAMS:
1. ASSET-BASED COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AND TALENTS DISCOVERY: The African Christian Youths Development Foundation believes that each community is a combination of talents, skills and abilities upon which a solid and sustainable social foundation and future can be established. The program is developed in line with the Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) model. We use two of the books on Community development produced by the ABCD Institute at the Northwestern University and distributed by ACTA Publications, Chicago-USA, namely “Building Communities from the Inside Out” and “The Asset-Based Strategies for Faith Communities”. We also use Asset Building Resources developed by The Search Institute. The program is based on our conviction that communities will grow and develop faster and more genuinely when we deliberately focus and work on developing the talents, gifts and capacities of the citizens rather than concentrating on the limitations, deficiencies and failures of the individuals. An important aspect of this program is The Jos Computer Literacy Project.
2. THE INTERFAITH YOUTH PROGRAM: The Interfaith Youth Initiative is designed to unite young people of different faith traditions within the communities in which we live and work. The Foundation recognizes the fact that religion and young people are very powerful tools for promoting social change, development, transformation and renewal. Religion has the capacity for facilitating the attainment of appropriate standards of excellence, motivating and equipping a compassionate response and influencing decision-makers to become powerful voices for change. We are committed through the Interfaith Initiative to informing, educating, uniting, mobilizing and equipping young people to become responsible and active agents for social change and transformation by the provision of clear service opportunities that honor and appreciate their gifts and abilities. The program links youths heart to heart, enables them to learn about one another, recognize their common humanity, demonstrate caring and share the spirit of peace and love.The Program seeks to discover and empower youths to become essential contributors to community well-being and vitality by ensuring that the unique energy and creativity of the youth is not denied to the Community. The Program also provides specialized workshops, curriculum design, retreats and special programming for religious leaders and faith-based Organizations. Africa Christian Youths Development Foundation is the Coordinating Organization for The Nigeria Interfaith Youth Forum
3. THE FAMILY SUPPORT INITIATIVE: Our Family Support Initiative (FSI) brings Christian families together for the purpose of establishing people-to-people connections that facilitate, enhance and promote support for one another. The FSI is all about encouraging Christian families and individuals to share, care and support one another. The focus of the program is the family. Participation in the FSI is open to all interested Christian families and individuals who come together to share God’s Word, encourage and support one another in love. All participants complete registration forms which include a brief talents or capacity inventory. The FSI promotes good neighborliness by connecting community members together through network meetings, emails, phone calls and personal contacts. Please, check here for details of our Family Life Education Program
4. THE STOP CHILD POVERTY INITIATIVE: The Program provides focused and personalized tutoring, mentoring support and assistance to youths and children in Africa through the provision of life skills training that will truly prepare them for bright futures. By modeling Christ-like unconditional love and focused support we seek to break the chains of past abuse, decadent behavior and guide African children into lives filled with faith, hope and love. The Program seeks to advance the dignity of children by supporting and strengthening local group and individual initiatives. We organize seminars, conferences, and advocacy and sensitization campaigns to create awareness and encourage our leaders and communities to make concrete and practical commitments towards addressing problems associated with child poverty, trafficking, neglect and abuse. We also organize fundraising activities to generate funds, which are used to provide food, items of clothing, drugs and others services to Children at the Motherless Babies’ Homes in Nigeria. We welcome clothes,shoes, computers,food, books for the children in need.The goal of the Stop Child Poverty Initiative is to work on the grassroots level to facilitate the creation of concerned global citizens who are actively engaged in urging governments to comply with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), raising global awareness about the plight of children, and compeling people to action through day-to-day and direct action, volunteering and providing support for local projects.
5. CHRISTIAN YOUTHS LEADERSHIP TRAINING PROGRAM: The Christian Youths Leadership Training Program (CYLTP) focuses on the Biblical understanding of leadership, covering important issues such as God’s mission and purpose for leadership, management and the role of the Holy Spirit, Old and New Testament models of leadership, power handling especially in challenging and changing situations, leadership principles of Jesus Christ, the role of the spouse, among others. Participants are trained on making the Gospel more outwardly focused and evangelistically fecund. The results of the program include a balanced perspective upon leadership, a strategy for personal spiritual growth and a new effective communication and evangelistic options. The program trains Christian youths on leadership skills that are necessary to function effectively as respected successful leaders and evangelists within the Church and society. The result is a highly motivated, spirit-filled and contagious Christian community, infected with “Great Commission Fever” to storm the devil’s camp and populate God’s Kingdom with living souls.
6. HIV/AIDS PREVENTION & COUNSELING PROGRAM: Africa Christian Youths Development Foundation is greatly involved in the HIV/AIDS awareness & prevention campaigns focused on secondary schools in Nigeria. This is in response to the staggering current statistics released by UNAIDS, which indicate a high rate of infections among youths aged 14-25. In Sub-Saharan Africa, youths aged 15-24 currently make up almost a third of the 42 million people known to be living with HIV/AIDS. The first case of AIDS was identified in Nigeria in 1986 and HIV prevalence rose from 1.8% in 1988 to 5.8% in 2001. Since 1991, the Federal Ministry of Health has carried out a National HIV/syphilis sentinel seroprevalence survey every 2 years. The 2003 survey estimated that there were 3,300,000 adults living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria, and 1,900,000 (57%) of these were women. In the 2003 survey, the national prevalence rate had dropped to 5% from 5.8% in 2001. However, it found that state prevalence rates vary from as low as 1.2% in Osun state to as high as 12% in Cross River state. Overall, 13 of Nigeria's 36 states had prevalence rates of over 5%. These figures give support to the claim that there are explosive, localized epidemics in some states. At 5.6%, HIV/AIDS prevalence rates are highest for young people between the ages of 20 and 24 compared with other age groups. Nigeria's STD/HIV Control estimates that over 60% of new HIV infections are in the 15-25 year old age group. In 2005 it was estimated there were 220,000 deaths from AIDS, and 930,000 AIDS orphans living in Nigeria. There has been an alarming increase in the number of HIV positive children in recent years. Africa Christian Youths Development Foundation works to advance adolescent reproductive health and HIV/AIDS prevention. Using the "Stepping Stones" approach, we focus on promoting behavioral change through facilitating discussions of HIV prevention and sexual health with community groups, including youth in- and out-of-school, clients at antenatal clinics, and general community meetings, dissemination of information on HIV/AIDS disease, its transmission, and prevention.
