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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction ..................................................................... 1-3

2. Who We Are ..................................................................... 4-5

3. Our Theory of Change ....................................................... 6-7

4. Our Innovation .................................................................... 8

5. Our Area of Focus ........................................................... 9-10

6. Funding Our Programs ....................................................... 11

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LIST OF ACRONYMS

CSO Civil Society Organization

FBO Faith Based Organization

NGO Non-Governmental Organization SDGs Sustainable Development Goals M&E Monitoring and Evaluation

KTI Knit Together Initiative

FGM Female Genital Mutilation

HIV Human Immunodeficiency virus

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KTI STRATEGIC PLAN - 2019-2022

1.Introduction

Knit Together Initiative (KTI) was established/registered with the Cooperate Affairs Commission in 2017, and became operational in 2018. Our core mandate is to empower young people, to build resilience, determination in themselves and the society. In less than a year we became operational, the organization has grown into one of the leading national non-profit organization building strong network of individuals and communities in the Niger Delta region to promote, lead and/or support the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and other internationally agreed conventions that promote the health, rights & well-being of all persons. This is KTI’s 1st strategic plan and covers the four-year period from 2019-2022.

The narrative of Niger Delta that KTI subscribes to is one of resilience. While we are not blind

to the challenges of the region, we strongly believe that its citizens, acting as part of a robust

civil society, can play a powerful role in transforming the region. This strategy reflects how

we, as KTI, aim to contribute to build a resilient society.

The strategy begins with our understanding of the Niger Delta today, the rapid changes, the

emerging challenges and opportunities and the development ecosystem within this context.

Based on the assessment of our environment, we present our vision, our unique mission in

contributing to that vision and equally important, and our theory of change, which is

centered on meaningful youth engagement as a powerful driver of sustainable development

in the Niger Delta. The rest of the strategy is dedicated to describing what we plan to do in

the next four years to fulfil this mission, namely the ambition for our programs and how we

will organize ourselves to deliver on this agenda. We conclude with a summary of how we

intend to fund our ambition with a focus on projected income and expenditure from2019-

2022.

As with any strong strategy, the value is derived not simply from the words on paper but

from the consultation and reflection process that led to development of the document. The

preparation of this strategy involved rich discussions, a survey and feedback from KTI’s staff,

Board members, implementing and funding partners. This strategy is a reflection of

collective thinking.

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2. Niger Delta: An Evolving Society

The Niger Delta region of Nigeria, located in the south-south zone of the country, is the region that produces oil – the lifeline of the Nigerian economy. Since 1956, when oil was discovered in commercial quantity in Oloibiri in present day Bayelsa state, Hydrocarbon resources have been the engines for Nigeria’s economy, as oil provides 95% of Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings and 80% of the government’s budgetary revenues (Davis 2010:1–2). According to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, Nigeria’s oil production accounts for 8% of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) total daily production and 3% of the world’s volume. However, the discovery of oil, which was expected to improve the lot of the communities where it is sourced, has become a curse rather than a blessing because of oil exploration activities and its attendant hazards, such as air and water pollution. This has led to the indigenous people demanding compensation as well as control of the oil wealth. This demand has led to a confrontation between activists and Multinational Oil Companies operating in the region as well as the Federal Government. The struggle which started as a peaceful protest metamorphosed into armed conflict after the killing of a renowned activist and playwright in the region, Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni men. The new wave of protests after this has included the abduction of foreign oil workers, bombing of oil installations and destruction of lives and property including other foreign expatriates in the development space.

The Niger Delta region of Nigeria comprises the nine states Abia, Akwa-Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross

River, Delta, Edo, Imo, Ondo and Rivers. About 31 million people live in the region which is

renowned as one of the World’s ten most important wetland and coastal marine ecosystems.

The Niger Delta is rich with a diverse mosaic of ecological zones, five of which are the Mangrove

Forest and Coastal Vegetation Zone, the Fresh Water Swamp Forest Zone, the Lowland Rain

Forest Zone, the Derived Savannah Zone and the Montane Zone.

The Niger Delta is also the location of massive oil deposits, which have been extracted for decades

by the government of Nigeria and by Multinational Oil Companies (MNOCs) (Ajodo-Adebanjoko

and Ojua 2013:2). Since 1970, the country has earned at least $300 billion from energy

development and in 2005 it made $450 billion. With about 40 million barrels of proven oil

reserves, it currently produces 2.4 million barrels of oil per day, which constitutes about 90% of

the government’s revenue and 95% of the country’s foreign exchange earnings (Ajodo 2002:6).

Nigeria is West Africa’s biggest producer of petroleum and the sixth largest supplier of oil in the

world, thanks to oil from the Niger Delta. Oil wealth has been instrumental to Nigeria’s

emergence as a leading player in world and regional politics. Specifically, Nigeria has been playing

a leading and dynamic role in African politics as a member of several regional organisations, such

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as the Africa Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and an

active role in global politics under the United Nations.

With the oil boom in the early 1970s, Nigeria began to assert her influence around the globe and

till date whatever influence Nigeria has, is credited to the discovery and exploration of oil.

However, the region which bears this economically important oil has been enmeshed in conflicts

for more than four decades – owing to the negative impact of oil exploration. The region is a tale

of poverty, squalor and gross underdevelopment in the midst of plenty which has affected the

people’s means of livelihood, Health and development.

Amnesty represented an opportunity to stabilise the region for constructive conflict resolution

negotiations. It was not the first time that an amnesty initiative had been put forward to resolve

the violence in the region, but this time it was an offer backed with solid proposals for the

necessary disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of the region’s militants (Davis 2010).

Despite this, however, the programme was not able to address regional violence, largely due to

the lack of attention to the peculiar type of conflict in the region. Thus, in order to fully appreciate

the task of conflict resolution there, it is important to look at past attempts at conflict resolution

in order to consider ideas for the future.

Inspired by these challenges and opportunities in the region, and in Nigeria – including in health

and well-being, youth entrepreneurship and promotion of quality education, KTI is building a

strong network of individuals and communities in the region to promote, lead and/or support

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the implementation of the sustainable development goals and other internationally agreed

conventions that promote the health, rights & well-being of all persons.

3. Who we are Vision To build a society where individuals mutually support each other and live life together as friends and confidants by extending knowledge, empowerment, justice and dignity in the lives of individuals Mission

To extend knowledge, empowerment, justice and dignity in the lives of individuals, helping them build resilience, and determination in themselves and the society

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Values

• Leadership: We practice what we

preach. We model our work to

empower young people by setting

exemplary leadership and standards of

organizational management and

governance.

• Diversity: We celebrate our diversity,

thus we set the pace for efficient,

effective, influential and sustainable

community that reflects the region’s

rich socio-cultural diversity.

• Excellence: In all our activities and

relations with partners, and donors we

strive for excellence as the minimum

standard in the quality of our work.

• Ethics: We abide by the highest ethical

standards of transparency,

accountability, human rights and

social justice.

• Collaboration: Our multisectoral

partnership approach is one of our key

assets.

We build Partnerships, networks and

strategic mutual relationships with

relevant development stakeholders.

• People-Centered: We value the

people we work with; we recognize

that our staff, interns, volunteers,

resource persons, beneficiaries and

partners are the backbone of our

operations.

• Innovation: We constantly explore

creative ways to enrich our work. We

are agile and responsive to the

changing needs of the people we

serve.

• Non-discrimination: We believe in and

respect the principles of equity,

inclusion and non-discrimination. We

are committed to working with all

persons, without discrimination, to

promote open, democratic and

developed societies in West Africa.

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Organizational strategic Objectives a. Promote access to healthcare service delivery including sexual reproductive health and supplies with

focus on adolescents and youth. b. Implement, advocate for and support initiatives aimed at ensuring inclusive, equitable quality

education for all and life-long learning c. Bring development strategies to the field of youth entrepreneurship, through innovative approaches

to building lifelong skills and strong economy d. Advocate for the enactment and effective implementation of policies that promote better

health and well-being for all. e. Provide platforms for community building, partnership, and multisectoral collaboration

among organizations in promoting development in the region.

Our Strengths and Limitations

We are aware that our strength lies in the quality of programs/projects we implement in the

society. Feedback from the government, project benefactors and development partners who

have worked with us indicates a high level of satisfaction and this has earned us a strong

reputation and brand even beyond the region. We are able to achieve this because of the

approach we use, our diverse team, innovative work culture and strong policies. To leverage

these strengths, during this strategic period, we will continue to improve the quality of our

programming, invest in our human resources and build our organization to be the reference

point for the people we serve and our donors.

We also acknowledge our limitations. We recognize, for example, that we have limited

human and financial resources to meet all the demands from our benefactors. We are under

enormous pressure to work with many young people and community groups on a wide range

of issues. We recognize we cannot do it all alone. We are thus trying to get better at

prioritizing and focusing on our core mandate: mutually supporting each other to live life as

friends and confidantes. We also strive to strengthen our collaboration with key partners to

effectively deliver services in response to demand from the society. Another limitation is that

we are yet to harness adequate capacity to deepen our engagement in all the nine (9) states

of the Niger Delta. We are thus, constrained in responding to the demands from the

remaining eight (8) states. We intend, therefore, during this strategic period, to seek

innovative ways to increase our capacity to strengthen our engagement in those states.

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4. Our Theory of Change

We appreciate that it is not young people alone that will contribute to this vision for the

region. Equally important will be accountable and responsive governments, strong

institutions both within and outside government, a conducive global environment and the

private sector. Our focus, however, as KTI, is building a strong network of individuals and

communities as drivers of change within the region and enables it to better engage with

governments, the private sector and other actors.

For KTI to play this role, it must be and do a number of things. It must be responsive to the

needs of its diverse constituencies and be accountable to these citizens on whose behalf it

speaks and acts. The different actors within the society, whether organized as NGOs or as

organic social movements, need to be able to work together and leverage each other’s

strengths to provide a strong collective force for change. KTI will also have to be resilient and

able to adapt to rapidly changing contexts and find innovative means to sustain their work.

This is about meaningful youth engagement that is influential in setting the agenda and

holding governments and non-state actors accountable for transforming the region and

prioritizing their needs.

KTI’s purpose is to contribute to the growth and continued existence of this type of youth

engagement and society in the region.

For civil society in West Africa to grow into this role, we believe two things must be in place.

The first is engaged youths who are left behind, recognize the value of organizing to effect

change and therefore participate and take ownership of the various spaces of in

development interventions. Without meaningful youth engagement, the society’s legitimacy

and credibility will continue to be challenged by problems associated to young people. The

second is an enabling environment for promotion, and support the implementation of the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and other internationally agreed conventions that

promote the health, rights & well-being of all persons.

Our theory of change is that young people are valuable community leaders in their own rights,

capable of leading sustainable change and influencing investments for their health, development

and well-being delivers ripples effects in building a resilient society.

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Our entry point, as KTI in this transformational process is at two levels. On one level, we will

work with a range of partners such as the Government, Donors, the Private Sectors, the

United

Nations Systems, Community-Based Organizations (CBOs), Academia, Social Movements,

Faith-Based Organizations (FBOs), Professional/Voluntary Association, and Media, to

strengthen their ability to play a powerful role as agents of change. Social Accountability and

Human Rights will be critical in this respect. On another level, we will work with young

people, community members to create an enabling environment everyone to thrive and

grow.

In our work with young people, we will use three key strategies:

• We will capacitate;

• We will connect and convene; and

• We will curate knowledge and facilitate learning.

In our work with governments, regional bodies, the private sector and donors, we will

influence and advocate.

One of KTI’s capacity building session for young people

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Our Innovation

As it’s expected of organizations to evolve and change, we too have to shift and adapt,

especially with the 21st century trend . We have also listened carefully to voice of young

people, from our partners about which of our approaches are more effective than others.

Based on this, there are some things we will continue to do and there are some new things

we will start to do in this strategy.

❖ We will continue to leverage on technology to share information;

❖ We will continue to facilitate rather than assume we are in the heart/minds of the people we serve; and

❖ We will continue to implore multisectoral collaboration/partnerships in our work.

What is new is that we will go beyond the traditional partners to engage more with emerging

organic youth groups and social movements. We will strengthen their capacity while building

knowledge about what are the most effective approaches to work with them .We will also

connect these groups with more formal organizations/systems and encourage them to

leverage their comparative strengths. In addition to reaching these new actors within

society, this strategy will include a concerted effort to reach smaller, rural and less-

resourced groups through Training of Trainers(ToT). We will roll out high impact grass root

programs through innovative regional ecosystem. We will also begin to engage more with

the private sector as key partners in the sustainability of meaningful youth engagement. This

strategy, therefore, includes a much more diverse range of partners for KTI.

In this strategy, our policy influencing and advocacy agenda will be more people centered.

This will be reflected in more focused policy dialogues and follow-up actions after the

convening. We will build on where there is ownership, energy and momentum and where

we can be of added value. This ensures that we continue to facilitate rather than take over

youth engagement. In practice, this may mean that we may focus on a limited number of

states during the strategy rather than seeking to achieve impact in all nine (9) states of the

region. The aim ultimately will be to be more strategic and focused to achieve our desired

objectives.

Engagement with the most vulnerable groups is more effective when it is informed by an

understanding of this complex and vibrant sector. For this reason, this strategy includes our

intention to conduct research and analysis about these groups in the region and share this

regularly with a wide range of stakeholders. This is to ensure that efforts to strengthen and

transform the region are driven by evidence.

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5. Our Area of Focus

KTI has prioritized three (3) program areas to enable adolescents and young people become

a powerful driver of change in the region. In implementing all these strategies, we will give

particular attention to strengthening the agency of women and youth in recognition of the

central role they should play in the transformation of this region. We will also seize the

opportunities that technology is offering in opening up the space for civic engagement in the

region.

These are our areas:

We expect to see:

▪ Increased awareness creation in the region for reproductive, maternal & child health;

female genital mutilation; malaria; communicable diseases + HIV

▪ Increased partnership with the government, agencies, private sectors, media and

individuals activists to mobilize domestic resources to sustain development efforts.

▪ Strengthened capacity of young people to demonstrate exemplary leadership/roles

to foster change in their communities and for the achievement of the Sustainable

Development Goals (SDGs)

Health & Well-being 1:

We will seek to ensure health and well-being for all, at every stage of life. We will address specific

health concerns, including reproductive, maternal & child health; Menstrual Health Management

(MHM); Female Genital Mutilation (FGM); malaria; communicable diseases + HIV. We will

continue to take a long-term approach to advocacy and social/community mobilization and will

focus on shared learning rather than teaching.

Promotion of Quality Education 2:

We will create spaces and platforms for the promotion of quality education and life-long learning.

Achieving inclusive and equitable quality education for all, especially for vulnerable adolescents

(teen mums, and youth) in the region will require increase efforts. Our approach will focus on

facilitating back to school support; reintegration of teen mums to formal education, capacitating

teachers, advocacy and roll out of education trust fund.

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We expect to see: ▪ Increased partnership with the government, agencies, private sectors, media and

individuals activists to mobilize domestic resources to sustain development efforts.

▪ Improved school enrollment among adolescents and youth in the region

▪ Inclusive and engaged civic voices that shape public agenda, proffer policy

alternatives, monitor performance and demand accountability.

We expect to see: ▪ Increased interest in private enterprise, use and adoption of new and/or high-tech

approaches by young people to inform their crafts

▪ Increased financial and/or livelihood sources among young people

▪ Increased civic engagement on laws, policies and regulations that foster open

economic growth of people, promote decent jobs and advocate for gender equality

in economic empowerment.

Youth Entrepreneurship 3:

We will increase employment opportunities, especially for young people, reduce informal

employment and labor market inequality (particularly in terms of gender), promote safe and

secure working environments and improve access to financial services to ensure sustained and

inclusive growth for all. Importantly, we bring development strategies to the field of youth

entrepreneurship, through innovative approaches to building lifelong skills and strong economy.

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Funding ourPrograms

In the next four years, we will seek a sustainable and diverse revenue stream to fund

planned programs and organizational development. Given the ambition of our

program, we will aim to increase our revenues and ensure that they are flexible

enough to fund our priorities and grow our reserves. The sustainability of our income

will be contingent on us growing our internally generated revenue. During the

strategy period, therefore, significant attention will be given to developing these

alternative sources of income.

Our expenditure during the strategy period will reflect our program priorities and

where we hope to achieve the maximum impact. Out of our total expenditure on

program: 34% will go to capacity development. This is followed by 31% for knowledge

management, 25% for convening and connecting and 10% for policy influencing and

advocacy.

During the strategy period, we will ensure that our percentage of program to support

expenditure does not go beyond 85%as we find innovative ways to minimize our

operating costs. All our expenditure will be governed by a commitment to achieving

value for money where we maximize the impact of each naira/dollar spent. In

addition, we will continue to comply with established practices for effective financial

management at all times employing highest standards of transparency and

accountability.

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