Gearing up for scale-up to Sokoto state - Lafiya Nigeria Q1 update
Dear friends, supporters, and donors of Lafiya Nigeria,
With the new year come lots of new opportunities: we are gearing up for our launch in Sokoto state and further expansion in Jigawa state, and have recently launched our SMS reminders program. With 60 Lafiya Sisters currently in our team and operations running smoothly, it is our ambition to work with 120 Lafiya Sisters by June. The first step is our scale up in Sokoto, cemented by our in-country visit and successful stakeholder meetings. Read on for further updates!
Presentation at the Technical Working Group
Klau and Jefferson had the opportunity to present at the Federal Ministry of Health’s Reproductive Health Technical Working Group, a gathering convened by the Clinton Health Access Initiative and the Federal Government to knowledge-share and learn about everything related to reproductive health. With spaces generally reserved for larger global health organizations, our presence serves as a significant milestone for Lafiya’s future profile. We are also happy that we are invited for future meetings. The presentation on ‘Bridging the Gap between Primary Health Care Facilities and Rural Communities’ was well received by state and federal stakeholders in the government and third sector and has already led to concrete partnership requests. The attendees were particularly interested in Lafiya’s strategy for working with women in hard-to-reach and remote areas.
2. Successful country visit with stakeholder engagement
During the country visit to Nigeria, our technical team was able to meet with stakeholders from the Sokoto government. Our team was warmly welcomed and the state government is happy to support our program. Considering their low rate of modern contraceptive use (currently only 8.5% of women), we foresee a large addressable population of first-time users. We expect to roll out in this state after Ramadan (mid-April). Further, we have launched the baseline measure of our pre-post study at various locations in Sokoto, where we compare our program areas with control areas. In this way, we aim to quantify the counterfactual impact of our program and make more concrete judgments about our added value to the family planning landscape. If the results look promising, we are eager to continue our scale-up at a rapid pace. We look forward to sharing the results with you in due course.
3. New Programme Officer hired for Sokoto state: Salau Habibat
After receiving over 350 applications for this position, we are pleased to have hired a new program officer. Habibat has joined us in Sokoto and is our contact person on the ground for the scale-up, liaising with stakeholders, researchers and overseeing the Lafiya Sisters. She is a trained epidemiologist and an experienced professional in Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health. She has worked in both hospitals as well as the industry. We are really happy to have her on board as we scale to our third state Sokoto.
4. Lafiya featured on National Television
We have been invited for an interview about women’s empowerment in relation to family planning on one of Nigeria’s leading shows “Good Morning Abuja”, which was aired in early March. Our program officer Fatima got the opportunity to highlight our mission in a TV program that is watched nationwide, and is quite popular in our target areas. We are grateful to the Nigerian Television Authority for the opportunity and hope to have empowered many new women with the opportunities that family planning can offer them.
5. Collaboration with Effective Altruism ASML
Céline was recently invited to host a talk at ASML on the theme “Doing Good Better in Practice”. She highlighted some of our recent developments and dove into the practicalities of operating a highly effective charity. We have really enjoyed this collaboration and are proud to report that we are now one of 20 selected highly effective charities that ASML employees can donate to through payroll giving!
Skoll World Forum in Oxford from April 9-12, 2024
Our team will be in Oxford during the Skoll World Forum, April 9-12. We are hosting several events in the ecosystem, and we would love to see you if you will be around. Please consider this your invitation to join us!
Each year Skoll convenes a global community of social impact leaders and activists, chief among whom are dedicated champions in maternal and child health. So we want to carve out this key yet underfunded area and put it centre stage. We are introducing a unique but relaxed morning gathering designed for these passionate individuals to engage, connect, and empower each other.
So please join us at 10:30-12:30 on Thursday (April 11) in The Café in the Levine Building of Trinity College, Oxford for a delicious morning of coffee and pastries on us for some genuine conversation and community. Book your tickets here.
Breakfast Launch Event, Wednesday, April 10, 2024, 8:30 - 10:30 AM
Join us for our launch event! Fuel up for the first full day at Skoll, and build connections with the LGBTQIA+ network that will supercharge your Skoll World Forum (SWF) experience. Book your tickets here.
Thank you for your support and encouragement, always!
Best wishes,
Klau, Céline, Dr Fatima, Jefferson, and Nasiru
Do you want to support us with a (tax-deductible) donation?
UK (Charity number 1206952): Lafiya Nigeria Ltd, GB79TRWI 2308 0186 5420 48, sort code: 23-08-01
NL (ANBI 865927133): Stichting Lafiya Nederland, NL65TRIO 0320 7942 61
