By Abayomi Elias
As Vision Spring Initiatives (VSI) celebrates 15 years of commitment in making sustainable impacts in the lives of women, girls and few vulnerable men, development partners and beneficiaries since inception of the organisation showered encomiums and words of encouragement in their respective remarks as they give account of VSI’s intervention.
Newsconnect gathered that VSI a non governmental organization who didn’t allow challenges to deter them from touching lives of vulnerable groups celebrated 15 years of persistence and tenacity of making lasting impact.
The Special Adviser to the Governor of Abia State on Vulnerable Groups and Poverty Alleviation Mrs Ifeoma Thomas gave kudos to VSI for the phenomenal impact they’ve been making across Nigeria in different states and in different capacity in their sphere of influence of empowering women, girls.
In an interview with Newsconnect correspondent at the event, Ifeoma said;”VSI has helped us in Abia State to train law enforcement agencies even the vigilantes to help them better understand how not to turn a sexual and gender based victim to become the victimized. We have this happening a lot of times.
She educates the police how to better report and better manage the situation.”She recently trained 64 young women across the 17 local governments in Abia state. There is no hiding place for sexual offenders in Abia State.
Vision Spring Initiatives is helping to propagate that information, sensitize our people, create better awareness so that people can know when to speak up.”A close mouth is a close destiny, VSI is telling Abia women open up, speak up, let your voices be heard.
The change we so crave, we so desire, would happen.”For this I say thank you to Vison Spring, I congratulate them once again on their 15 years anniversary, my state is very happy for the impact they have been creating in our state through their projects strengthening support for feminism, for social justice, for the rights of women, for every woman to have rights to her sexual health and capacity building”. She said.
Cesnabmihilo Dorothy Nuhu-Aken’ova, the founder of ‘INCREASE’ a sexual rights Non-Governmental Organization domicile in Niger State, Minna and a 2023 aspirant on the platform of Social Democratic Party (SDP) talked about her association and relationship with the Programs Director of VSI and her expectation from younger people in the development space going forward.
“I have known the founder of Vision Spring Initiatives for decades. We were younger women and we were working with feminist and women who were active in what happened in Cairo 1994 and in Beijing in 1995.
“We were mentored by strong, fierce feminist women who taught us how to change our goals and be very intentional and tenacious about it. They make us understand that it will not be a work in the park, because there would be backlash every here and there but that we needed to be resilient to go through.
“With Ngozi, we have worked. Carrying out interventions at the grassroot level, also advocacy spaces in the UN and other international spaces within the African region, trying to ensure that government produce policies that protects women’s human rights.
“We share the principle of feminist movement together. We are committed to mentoring younger people to take our space. The mentorship starts when we deliver services to younger people until they are conscientize and are able to speak for themselves and on their issues.
“We are basically family in the movement. I identify myself 100 percent with the work that Ngozi does.
Vision Spring Initiatives has touched lives. When we go through the statistics, the number of impacts she has made are in millions, that is remarkable and it was possible as a result of tenacity and passion for her purpose.
”Going forward, am encouraging the young people that have come on board to also submit themselves to the training like we did in our time so that they too can come out strong in impacting on their generation and impacting on the corridors of power.
”Let them submit themselves to leadership skills development, so that in the future, they can also gather people like Ngozi has done today and celebrate the gains that they have made. It’s not going to come easy, but with resilience they will come through”. She said.
Odi Agev, a Programs Consultant with the Emerging Markets Foundation Empower told newsmen at the event that he has known Vision Spring since inception. He said he worked with Mrs Ngozi as a mentee.
“I have been under training when she was facilitating and at some point I grew to co-facilitate training with Ngozi. So when I work with organisation that funds organisation, and when we were looking for organisation to partner with, it was just no brainer for me to recommend Vision Springs initiative for the amazing work they have been doing in working with young people and women and girls.
“In the cause of my relationship with Aunty Ngozi, I have also heard how she is committed in building a community center for young people, to train young people, give them vocational skills and a safe space for them to just be themselves and grow and develop.
“So I am looking forward to the actualisation of that dream and more projects reaching out to more young people, more girls, more women, economically empowering them, ensuring that they know their sexual health and rights, and just having access to justice and everything that they need”. He said.
Mayaki Evelyn, one of the beneficiaries in the Empower Her program, a project of VSI enjoined the organisation to keep doing what they know how to do best.
“It’s actually not easy for you to pick people from the street and empower them. It is rarely done.”They should keep it up because it will definitely pave way for them”. She said.
The Project Director Vision Spring Initiatives Ngozi Nwosu-Juba said they have set-up leadership institute somewhere in Ikorodu, and looking forward to partnering with Lagos State Government to see how they can help young women and girls get out of the street and engaged them meaningfully to become contributors.
“It is so pertinent to us that women and girls contribute to the development of Nigeria, we are hoping as we go forward, we have partners who can come on board, share our vision, Government jumps into our vision, to see that we use this facility to enhance women and girls and of course few vulnerable men.
“We know that there is a change to be made, despite the challenges, we didn’t allow it to deter us. Today what you are seeing is the celebration of those year of persistence, those years of believing that we can transform the lives of women and girls. and few vulnerable men”. She said.
Ngozi averred that the awardees at the 15 years anniversary of VSI are people they respect so much because they have contributed to the growth of organisation. She said she hopes they take this message out and they recognize that;
“The award they received is not just a plaque, it is the fact that they have sowed into our lives and they should continue to do that so that we can have a better society”. Ngozi concluded.