By John Meze
One of the Sub-Saharan Africa’s foremost sustainability consulting, advocacy and training enterprise, CSR-in-Action, has entered a partnership agreement with It-Begins-With-U (IBWU) Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation based in Canada and led by a volunteer team passionate about bringing about positive attitudinal change in Nigerian communities.
The team is working on a collective passion to give back to the community through sustainable environmental project leading to the birth of a core initiative of the partnership, inclusive of Junior Chamber International (JCI), a not-for-profit international non-governmental organization of young people between 18 and 40 years old, the Cleaner Communities Initiative (CCI).
The Cleaner Communities Initiative is aimed at driving cleaner neighbourhoods through encouraging individual acts of humanity. The initiative will run for 12 months during which participants embark upon and complete community cleaning exercises of their choice, and upload before and after videos of two minutes or less, in order to stand a chance of winning N100,000 per month. The Cleaner Communities Initiative aligns with Goal 6 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which is centered on sanitation, a green environment and healthy living for longevity of life. Goal 6 has particularly been adopted by Nigeria for national development.
Speaking on the partnership, Bekeme Masade-Olowola, Chief Executive, CSR-in-Action, stated that “We chose to partner with IBWU because we share the common vision that leadership is driven by citizens and CSR-in-Action is constantly pursuing innovative ways of positively influencing the values of the wider grassroots community in Nigeria.” As a sustainability consulting and advocacy company, we are keen on enhancing sustainable values and habits that contribute to the development of the country.
Mr. Michael Emeka Dibua, the Board Chair of IBWU, explained that the Cleaner Community Initiative is aimed at “ridding our communities, throughout Nigeria, of filth, by pushing for the return of simple, cleaner habits, and the removal and disposal of waste, especially as we are aware of the effects dirt and pollution has on our lives, climate, health, wellbeing and so much more.”
IBWU is a not-for-profit organization whose mission and values are inspired by simple acts of charity and by working in partnerships with communities as participants and encouraging social and community responsibility, beginning with each individual. IBWU ascribes to a simple universal concept to love and respect human dignity and to be able to improve human dignity through simple but impactful poverty alleviation programs.
The CSR-in-Action Group is a conglomerate of three sustainability-driven businesses: Consulting, Training and Advocacy. Its mission is to redefine the sustainability terrain in Africa, through collaborative strategies with stakeholders aimed at attaining higher levels of corporate governance, workplace and sustainable philanthropy. The organisation has a clear vision to propel collective transformation in Africa by promoting responsibility amongst all levels in their day-to-day individual or business activities.