TELL Magazine

Evergreen Initiative Unveils Scholarship Trust Fund for Internally Displaced Children in Abuja.

A group of young Nigerian graduates under the name of Evergreen Initiative have thrown their hats in the ring to assuage the pains of internally displaced children scattered in various internally displaced persons camps in Abuja.

The 2019 summer school the group organized for displaced children in Abuja climaxed on August 16 with the announcement of a scholarship scheme for identified talents among the displaced children. Cinwon Alli-Bob, president of the group, said the scheme tagged “Evergreen Scholarship Trust Fund”, will sponsor brilliant children from the internally displaced persons camps to secondary schools, “thereby reducing the number of

out-of-school children in Nigeria.” The Fund will cater for tuition, textbooks, footwear, uniforms, stationeries, and others.

“We would be launching this Trust Fund by adopting the best 10 students from the summer school and pledging to take up the responsibility of paying their fees for the next academic year”, he announced to the joy of the displaced children.”

He explained that it was a part of the group’s contribution towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 4 of ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all.

Evergreen Initiative has been partnering with Arm the Child Foundation to bridge the gap by providing quality basic education and skills acquisition for displaced children in IDP camps in Abuja during summer holidays since 2017 under the “Summer School for IDPs” project.

Since 2017, over 200 internally displaced children have benefitted from the basic education project and over 100 from skills acquisition training, rehabilitation, and life coaching sessions during summer “to promote lifelong learning opportunities for the children.”

Abass Oroh, secretary of Evergreen Initiative, said the group’s mission is on course. “I am excited about this next phase in achieving the vision of this organization.”

As part of the 2019 “Summer School for IDPs” programme, the children were taken on excursion to the Central Bank of Nigeria headquarters, Abuja, where they learned the evolution of Nigerian currency and how money works. “It was also to inspire them dream great dreams about what they want to be in future,” said Eseoghene Osifo-Whisky, a member of the Green Initiative Team. “We took 40 children from the summer school for an excursion at the CBN currency museum. They took us on a tour round the currency museum showed us the history of our currency. We wanted to expose them to a new experience, which is the history of money, we believe it’s a needed knowledge in teaching financial responsibility, as the knowledge itself creates added value.”

Evergreen Initiative is a capacity-building organization which invests in Human Capital Development as a tool for unlocking the potential of young Nigerians via tailored training, sensitization programs, media campaigns, and advocacy. Arm the Child Foundation is a social welfare and development organization committed to ensuring that quality education is accessible to internally displaced and vulnerable children at no cost while addressing their welfare challenges concurrently in order to ensure the holistic development of every child beneficiary.