On the 14th of August, 2021 volunteers of the FAME Foundation in partnership with Leap Africa were joined by other youths in Ibadan to carry out the “walk and clean” sanitation exercise at Bodija Market, one of the biggest local markets in Ibadan. This project is in commemoration of the International Youth Day, 2021. Over 40 youth volunteers showed up and the sanitation excercise kicked off at approximately 7:00 am and brought to a fruitful close at about 9:30 am.
The Fame Foundation donated sanitation tools to Ibadan’s largest market for food commodities, and also demonstrated to traders and residents how to keep the community clean.
Part of the highlights for most volunteers was having to engage the market traders on the need for a healthy environment. They shared the benefits of clean market stalls and environment and in turn got prayers and encouragement from the traders saying that this, in fact, was a welcomed development and they would make effort to keep it up.
The YDoS is an open initiative that is meant to foster strong collaborations for like-minded individuals and organisations. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a collection of 17 global goals designed to be a “blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all.” The SDGs, set in 2015 by the United Nations General Assembly and intended to be achieved by the year 2030, are part of UN Resolution 70/1, the 2030 Agenda. The YDOS campaign featured other projects championed by young people in various communities across Nigeria.
Founder & Executive Director of the Fame Foundation, during the closing ceremony, expressed his joy about the YDOS project, stating that FAME’s main objective for the partnership is to inspire Nigerians and young people that we can all do something.
He said “the only thing we can’t do is nothing and urged Nigerian youths to continue to be “youthful and useful.”
About YDOS
Youth Day of Service is an annual week-long, pan-African youth-led social impact campaign that begins on August 12 every year which is also ‘International Youth Day’. YDoS is designed to ignite the agency and creativity of young people across Africa towards sustainable development and promote a culture of communal support and community development. The week-long campaign fosters the spirit of volunteerism within the youth population and inspires them to be active change agents in their communities continuously. The campaign theme for this year is ‘Youthful and Useful.’
