Entrants's Name: Patrick Ebbah

Country: Nigeria

Field: Aging

Innovation - idea: The core of my social entrepreneurship is to work for and with older people in nigeria to address the increasing social risks faced by older people ranging from socio- economic changes,deterioration of cultural values,man-made and natural disasters and the deadly HIV/AIDS etc. T he iniative will among other things entrench the United Nations principles for older persons etc.

Innovation - why it is pioneering: Ageing issues has been an age long issue but neither the nigerian government nor the civil society have addressed this matter as an national discourse before 1989 when the Government of Nigeria(GoN)made a passive action of developing a national policy titled,CARE FOR THE ELDERLY in the social development policy.After this documentation nothing has been done practically.

Strategy - how it achieves impact: The model will work on three prongs:a)PRACTICALLY to support and fund micro-projects to combat economic insecurity.b)AT POLICY LEVEL to promote awareness of rights,needs and participation.c)IN EMERGENCY to respond to specific needs of olderpeople affected by civil conflicts,natural disaster etc.The 3 broad strategies would be acheived through the following activities a) programmes and services:.provide advice on rights and legal matters.tackle deprivation(hospice,social service etc.acquire and allocate fund micro-stall.education for healthier lifestyle ) b)education and research:.public awareness campaign.workshops.media coverage on an ongoing basis.network and collaborate with other orgs.carry out participatory research.escalate policy research results c) policy and advocacy:.advocate establishment of agency and appointment of a rapporteur at all levels of governments to work with and for older people.identify sympathetic policy makers to allocate resources thorugh the budget

Strategy - growth plans: The country is politically divided into 6 geopolitical zones and it is the plan of this organisation to grow on the basis of this zoning.It is hoped that 3 zones are targets now,with concentration on major towns.the 3 zones will cover the 3 major tribes. After some progress,the next zones are brought on board.This process of gradual dissemination will be the basis for replication.

Impact to date: Cuurntly not much have been done to date.at any rate, a little public awareness is being created via publications, for example,articles titled 'ACTION ON AGEING IN NIGERIA' a 'EQUALITY,LIBERTY, EMPOWERMENT AND NIGERIA'S OLDER PEOPLE' were published in November 2004.Stickers and Flyers have been designed,printed for distribution.The next plan is to develope small bill boards to be fixed at selected motor parks and hospitals. Cuurently no similar initiatives arising from mine have arisen except for some friends and colleagues who are actually waiting to see my success rate before the veer into the social business.

Future impact: In the ten years period, this model would have impacted older people in the following areas:-created a database on information about older people,-Changed the social lifes of older people through intergenerational social activities thrugh care homes,collective centers,-provide material support for home carers and volunteers,- conflict/disaster reconstrution,-funded micro-businesses increasing their independence,-provided respite holidays,- counselling and reminiscene therapy,- exposition of the vienna nutrition recommendations to improve healthierlifestle,-TACKELD ISSUES on HIV/AIDS as it affects them,-improved thier dignity,-escalated them to be heard in national issues.

Sustainability - resource base: The initiative currently share office space with a firm of engineers who are my friends and basically have few staff,a secretary,business developement officer, interim board of trustees and adhoc field volunteers for adhoc jobs,for example distribution of stickers.In terms of financial resources,the initiative depends solely on contributions by trustees.We have not been able to mobilize funds locally or internationally due to the low level of our operatrions.We are trying to starting partnering with some faith-based organisations espacially the Catholic and Anglican churches that have some sought of age based committees in their workings.Making money through sales of products or serrvices have not been contemplated beacause of the dearth of such due to our scale of operations.

Major challenge for the field: Major challenges i see include:-paucity of local staff with requisite knowledge of this sector,-there is the major issue of scarcity of fund for human and other capital development,-initial resistance by policy makers espacially in escalating it to national discourse and includind it in the budget.

Contact Information:

Name: Patrick Ebbah
Mailing address: p.o.box 4092, kaduna-nigeria
Country: Nigeria
Email: patebbah@yahoo.com
Tel: +234 8023084958
Website: 0