Chidi’s donors want photos of the project. She was initially worried as she didn’t have a camera, until someone reminded her that she had one on her phone! She wanted the project to seem professional and remembered the photos from her graduation. She got the girls to make sure they looked their best, and photographed […]
Category Archives: All Articles
My story is a freedom song of struggle. It is about finding one’s purpose, how to overcome fear and to stand up for causes bigger than one’s self. Coretta Scott King The answers we get to the questions we have asked give us fragments, parts of a jigsaw puzzle. It’s always best if people can […]
Learning is a result of listening, which in turn leads to even better listening and attentiveness to the other person. In other words, to learn from the child, we must have empathy, and empathy grows as we learn. Alice Miller Sometimes funders request case studies – stories told in a way that details the situation […]
One of Chidi’s funders came for a visit. Chidi hadn’t expected it, but she was excited. If they were willing to spend extra time at her project, perhaps they were interested in giving more money. When they visited, they asked to see the evaluation forms that Chidi had spoken about. Luckily, she had everything stored […]
The greatest compliment that was ever paid me was when someone asked me what I thought, and attended to my answer. Henry David Thoreau In the previous section, we looked at how we ask wise questions to help young women tell us authentic stories. Here, we explore how we can give them the chance to […]
If you do not know how to ask the right question, you discover nothing. W. Edwards Deming Chidi asked her students to write about the cookery club for her donor, to send alongside their photographs. She asked them to explain what they liked about the youth club, why it was important to them, and why […]
Another way that we can show our youth clubs’ impact is through stories. Collecting stories and testimonies is challenging, although it is natural to tell them in many of our African traditions. Donors and funders want to see how their money impacts women’s and girls’ lives thanks to your youth project. They want to know […]
Another way that Chidi could look at her youth work is through Outputs, Outcomes, and Indicators. Chidi also has project outcomes. These are the changes that she promised that she could deliver for young women and her community. We have already explored this a little when we looked at the money that Oscar’s family gave […]
Chidi was successful in getting a grant for the girls’ club from the local branch of an international law firm. The law firm wasn’t experienced at giving grants, and they had looked to other funders to understand how they measured impact. The law firm asked Chidi to define her Outputs, Outcomes and Indicators when she […]
Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. Barack Obama Dr Brown, one of Chidi’s volunteers and a retired headmistress, spoke to Chidi after the cooking session. “The girls weren’t paying attention today. […]