TheCable

Nigeria’s Creative Youth Community Development Initiative (CYCDI), winner of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Action Award in 2018, has partnered with CITC Global Consulting, a leading strategic management outfit in Lagos, to drive SDG projects globally.

CEO/project director of CYCDI, Foluke Michael, while signing the memorandum of understanding in Lagos, said the partnership resulted from a desire to deepen impact of the SDG goals in Nigeria and other countries.

“CITC comes with a pedigree in strategic management and implementation and as the current Innovator Award winner of the UN SDGs, we have entered into this partnership to find more innovative ways of deploying solutions to global problems,” she said.

CYCDI’s ‘Solution17’ project, one of the vehicles used to deliver simultaneously on the 17 SDG goals, has been acknowledged as one of the best delivery systems for the project globally.

Managing consultant of CITC, Tayo Orekoya, also said his firm has created strategic solutions for leading local and international organisations in Nigeria and is committed to extending one of the unique competencies of the firm to exploring and delivering solutions to global problems.

“Each of the 17 SDG goals is critical to the realisation of political, social and economic goals of a decent nation and for most countries in sub-Saharan Africa; what is needed is a strategic integration of these goals into their current and future plans which our firm would be helping to give life to,” Orekoya said.

Already, India and Switzerland have indicated interest and sought permission to run the award winning ‘Solution 17’ model that earned the CYCDI group the UN SDGs Action Innovation Award in Germany last year.

CYDI, along with 17 students from 17 schools, embarked on a global campaign in 2018 to raise drug prevention awareness amongst youth and vulnerable adults through school awareness and creative programme.

The project which is supported by the European Union and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime produced the short sensitisation movie, TRAPPED and Solution17 Booklet, currently being circulated across educational institutions, to ignite creativity among youth.