2024 IN RETROSPECT WITH GRATITUDE

2024, as a year in review, has been an exciting year for DPat Foundation in spite of the prevailing adverse socioeconomic situation in the land. Members and beneficiaries of the foundation, without a doubt, have many reasons to look back at the year with gratitude in their hearts. The tireless labours of the founder/president, Elder Mrs. Patience Ardey and her team towards helping to empower grassroots communities especially rural farmers and women, have yielded considerable results on many fronts. As the year draws to a close, we want to take the time to count our blessings while expressing our most profound appreciations, first and foremost, to God who has always been our all-round help. We extend our appreciations also to our great team of volunteers, our partners in both the public sector and the private sector.

We will not take for granted the many milestones that have been achieved in this forgoing year. A few important ones are worth mentioning. They are highlighted below

Symposium on Nano Enterprises.

On the on 7^th of March, 2024, DPAT FOUNDATION hosted numerous guests and dignitaries from various walks of life to the maiden edition of its annual symposium on nano enterprises with the theme: “WHY DO WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT NANO ENTREPRENEURS?” The event which took place in Gwagwalada , was well attended by various stake-holders from both the public and the private sectors. In attendance were guests and dignitaries from several government agencies such as National Directorate of Employment (NDE), ably represented by its FCT Coordinator, Mr. Chimereze Noble, Abuja Enterprise Agency (AEA), Agriculture Development Project (ADP), Bank of Agriculture (BOA), Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat, FCT, FADAMACares, Nigeria Police Force, Gwagwalada division, as well as various private sector organizations, trade associations, Women Group and several other dignitaries.

FCT FADAMA CARES PROGRAMME: DPat Foundation’s Role in Bridging the Gaps between the Government and Rural Community Farmers.

The FCT FADAMA CARES programme of the Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat (FCTA) was initiated to stem the negative tides of the aftermath of Covid-19 pandemic. The Covid-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (NG-CARES) Programme was designed and initiated by the federal government to restore the livelihoods of the poor and vulnerable rural farmers. The programme became necessary in the wake of the Covid pandemic whose adverse effects transverse all sectors of our national economy and the socioeconomic life of most people worldwide. The adverse effects was even felt by the poor rural farmers more.

The Covid-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (NG-CARES) Programme is part of some of the key initiatives in the Government’s Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP) to respond to the current economic crisis in Nigeria. It is in the furtherance of this objective that the FCT FADAMA CARES Programme was put in motion.

The programme which was designed to restore the livelihoods of the poor and vulnerable rural farmers was to provide free farm and agricultural inputs for farmers so as to help them recover from the losses incurred as the result of the COVID lockdown. The farm and agricultural inputs includes:

Fertilizers, chemicals and seeds for crop farmers
Knapsack sprayers with complete personal protection equipment (PPE) Kits
Fish feed and fingerlings for fish farmers
Bird feeds and Day-Olds for poultry farmers
Male and female goats for livestock farmers
Grinding machine in complete set each for women (especially, widows)

Bridging the Gaps between the Government and Rural Community Farmers

You will agree that when programmes and incentives such as this are carried out, a lot of rural communities and grassroots people are often not carried along as a result of challenges of communication gaps. This where DPat Foundation, known for its active roles in community and grassroots works, comes in. Aware that many communities within the FCT were unaware of the FADAMA Cares Programme, the President/Founder, DPat Foundation, Elder Mrs. Patience Ardey put her team together to reach out to the communities with this news.The foundation ensured that grassroots farmers and rural women were informed of this and their data were captured on behalf of FADAMA, according to the needs of each the farmer and women. After series of screening by FCT FADAMA, the farmers were called in batches and given the agricultural and farm input to their delight and amazement. Many of the farmers expressed pleasant surprises, because, according to them, they never believed the programme was going to be as transparent, targeted and on point as it turned out to be.

Pre-Disbursement Capacity Building Training for the Beneficiaries

Capacity building training was also agonized by FCT FADAMA for the beneficiaries. The training which took place at the DPat Foundation Secretariat in Gwagwalad FCT, focused on:

Group dynamics: covering the process of forming, managing/running cooperatives as well as the process of electing leaders/executives.

Book keeping for farmers: covering the art of business and financial record keeping.

Monitoring and evaluation: this focused on how groups can monitor the performance of members, especially in the areas of loan repayment.

Community based procurement: focused on how groups can do business as a body by procuring items at cheaper rates and reselling them to members at affordable prices.

Environmental and social safeguards: covering how rural communities can take care of their environment.

Nutrition and hygiene: covering the act of personal hygiene and family nutrition.

Questions and answer sections/Evaluations: there were also questions from the trainees which were satisfactorily answered by the facilitators. Questions were also thrown to the trainees by the facilitators to evaluate their level of comprehension and gains from the training.

The FCT FADAMA facilitators took their time to break down the contents of the training to the level that the rural farmers can understand by using both English and Hausa languages which was understood by most of the participants.

Skills Empowerment Classes

2024, like other years in the past, witnessed a growing attention on entrepreneurial skill training classes for women and girls. The outstanding results produced in this year’s classes underscored the resolves of the foundation to empower women and youths economically. In the month of August, during the summer holidays, several girls of secondary school age were engaged at DPAT FOUNDATION secretariat in Gwagwalada participating in fashion designing and tailoring as well as catering and other skill training classes. Likewise in the months of October through December several women and youths were trained in fashion designing, tailoring, catering and cake making. The participants show a lot of gratitude for the opportunity to be part of the classes.