Globally, over 200 million youth are working poor and earning less than $2.00 a day. Through our partnership with YouthBuild International, we will deliver an agile work environment where real world skills are applied in the field and background, theory and principles are delivered in the classroom. The youth that are the focus for OPPUSA Care and Youthbuild are indigenous youth in West Africa who are impoverished and are ripe for being lured intoextremism since it is easily accessible or often they are driven to extremism due to lack of gainful long term employment. We believe that once youth are exposed to alternatives and are provided with the skills to succeed the youth choose to put their efforts in their future because they can see a clear path to independence and a future they can strive for. We also believe that our Entrepreneurship programs will bring out the entrepreneurs in our programs and only serve to assist and guide them.
The Women and Children Empowerment Program through OPPUSA Care Inc. will serve women and children throughout the ECOWAS region in five key areas through established support and empowerment organizations and programs such as USAID, Every Woman, Every Child Global Initiative, The Bill Gates Foundation and various university based volunteer programs, NGOs, and local support organization and agencies. OPPUSA Care will work to partner with these organizations and enhance what they deliver with financial and resource support through our project-based empowerment program model.
In our empowerment programs, OPPUSA Care’s outreach focus is to the women most in need. By engaging with grass-roots and social care organizations. We will work to provide access to marginalized groups including rural women, domestic workers, migrants and low-skilled women. Our aims are higher incomes, better access to and management over resources, higher level of financial and physical security, including protection from violence.
Our five areas of support for Women and Children Empowerment through outreach efforts within ECOWAS. Equality and empowerment: through skills acquisition and entrepreneurial programs, women will have equal opportunities and support to participate in these programs. Whether from a rural area or a city, women will be provided with the support mechanisms to allow them to participate. Transportation, accommodations, food, clothing and materials, whatever is needed to ensure she can participate. Our cause is to bring training and sustainable livelihood to the areas with the greatest needs including those in remote areas without easy access to metropolitan resources.
Pathways to education: Not all women will acquire skills to work, some may choose a longer vision of education. OPPUSA Care is committed to developing scholarships to support students striving for higher education. Scholarships to assist with the financial burden of attending school while caring for a family.
Adequate access to healthcare: Support or develop programs that provide accessible, affordable and adequate healthcare. Specifically, universal access to sexual and reproductive health, infant and childhood health, advanced age health and health education. Through faith based outreach programs such as Women of Power International reach women in rural areas and provide access to medical, mental and spiritual healthcare.
Protection from violence: The United Nations defines violence against women as “Any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life. This includes trafficking, sexual and other types of exploitation and harmful practices such as genital mutilation and child marriage. By linking with organizations and existing agencies, OPPUSA Care will tackle the divide between services and outreach through GAP analysis and work to support and develop programs that fill in those gaps.
Network of opportunities: Development of community driven networking that champions the principles set up to enhance the four key areas of support. By utilizing and sharing resources through a network of communities, we can have a broader outreach and a positive impact in a shorter period of time. We will identify what resources are neededand establish a rotation of these resources to serve a larger region while striving to develop and distribute community specific resources throughout the region.
With OPPUSA Care, a multi-disciplined team of stakeholders, professionals, and volunteers are assembled to help tackle these challenges through partnerships from Canada and the United States with our partners on the ground in Africa. We are charged, energized and ready to get to work.