TRAINING FOR YOUTH GROUPS ON ENVIRONMANTAL SUSTAINABILITY AND CLIMATE RESILIENT LIVELIHOODS IN ILELA AND JIBIA
Samaritan Ark Global Foundation, (SAGF) – in partnership with UNDP, and funding support from the Norwegian Embassy – is implementing a project title, Northwest Climate Peace Hub: A Climate Security Approach to Conflict Prevention. The project addresses issues of climate change vulnerabilities in Sokoto and Katsina States. The impact of climate change reverberates across entire Northern Nigeria, has deeply affected the fabric of communities such as Jibia and Ilela, with youth, finding themselves at the frontline of the challenges posed by extreme weather conditions, scarce resource, and devastating environmental degradation – including floods, erosion of top soil, drought, and etc. It is hoped that these youth would take up off-farm businesses.
To expatiate, youth and women in North West Nigeria, are engaged in climate-sensitive
sectors like agriculture value chain and pastoralism, where livelihoods are directly linked
to weather patterns, water, and grazing. In Jibia and Ilela particularly, the impact of
extreme weather conditions, such as floods, droughts, and storms, disrupt agricultural
cycles, exacerbated by insecurity have led to displacement, environmental
degradation, loss of bio-diversity – including fertile top soil – poor crop yield, loss of
income, and economic instability. As a result, of these anomalies, the youth in Jibia and
Ilela, who should play active roles in contributing to food production, find their livelihoods
and future hang in the balance as they grapple with the impact of these climate induced vulnerabilities.
As one of its implementation strategies, Samaritan Ark Global Foundation and UNDP is
conducting a training for 500 female and male youth (250 in Ilela, and 250 in Jibia) on
Climate Resilient Livelihoods, and Environmental Sustainability, to build the capacity of
these youth, to build and clear drainages, evacuate refuse dump, carry out waste
disposal, as well as recycling to generate sustainable income – as opposed to relying
solely on farming or climate-dependent livelihood sources.
Additionally, these group of youth are expected to also mobilise resources within their
respective communities to renovate social assets – such as round about, public buildings,
palaces – which ae symbols of unity or their cultural heritage, to foster social cohesion,
reduce social tension, and enhance peace in Ilela and Jibia. To ensure that this
intervention is inclusive, we therefore appeal to public spirited and philanthropic
individuals, financial institutions, business leaders, representatives in Katsina and Sokoto,
to support the work of the youth with resources – shovels, diggers, wheel barrow, paint,
brush, tree seedlings for planting – to enable our youth play active roles in the
sustainability and care for our environment, as well as increased social cohesion and
development of not only Ilela and Jibia, but also the entire Sokoto and Katsina States
