BMR
‘BACK TO MY ROOTS’ PROJECT
The Concept
There is a common saying that ‘charity begins from home’. For us as leaders, it is important we identify with our roots by impacting our communities in specific ways that will make the people feel our impact and relevance.
Leadership is about people impact, not about power or acquisitions.
Leaders need to give practical expression in their immediate communities the good work that dignifies them as leaders. Good work is about being socially relevant.
It is for this reason we created the Back to My Roots – BMR – Project.
The idea is to encourage and support each member of FLED to organize or implement a specific project in their community of nativity or community of residence in the city.
BMR projects are a way to get our members to go beyond the rhetoric of leadership principles, to actually demonstrating true leadership in the lives of people around them.
The aim is to help our members to re-connect with their roots through specific community benefit-projects. The project must have the possibility of self-sustenance. It must address specific problems, peculiar to that community.
BMR Implementation
BMR Project is hosted in the name of the FLED member who wants to carry it out. FLED provides the platform for members who want to carry out this project in their community, but do not have the platform to do so. Other FLED members will be expected to support other member’s project with their skills, physical presence, finances and other relevant resources, on a personal basis.
No levy will be placed for such support, but individuals are encouraged to support whichever member’s project that appeals to them.
The Months of August – December every year is designated as Back to My Roots (BMR) Months. During this five-month period, FLED members who intend to implement any projects of their choice in their community are expected to go ahead and implement it.
In order to facilitate and coordinate all BMR projects, members interested in carrying out a BMR project are to FILL OUT BMR PROJECT FORM and submit, from March – June each.
The submission is to allow tracking and mobilizing of support from members for the project.
Sample Projects for BMR.
There are different kinds of issues that someone may decide to pick up for BMR project, depending on the community and the capacity of FLED member. The truth is that every community is unique and has peculiar challenges. There is no limitation to what can be done; however, the following are sample of project ideas that could be explored.
Some projects include:
- Hold extramural holiday classes for students.
- Hold vocational skills training for women or youths
- Organize Entrepreneurship training for youths with possibility of providing seed money for business start-up.
- Organize medical outreach.
- Gather and distribute relief materials to the local poor including food items, bags, shoes, clothes, etc.
- Construct a bore hole in a community.
- Gather books and donate them to your local community library to encourage reading.
- Start a computer training centre
- Organize leadership training and mentoring program for young people in the community.
- Engage the youths in community revitalization activities like cleaning and greening community spaces, etc.
- Start an Adult Literacy Centre in the community.
- Hold Inter-denominational Ministerial Capacity building for local Pastors in the local Community
- Start a Sports Club for Youths in the Community.
Guide to Implementing BMR Projects
Here is a step-by-step guide on how to implement your BMR project. The steps are not mutually inclusive. Some steps may not be necessary, it all depends on you.
- Needs’ Assessment stage. You may need to visit the proposed community and interact with some of the people to find out what kind of challenges that confront them, and which ones they consider urgent.
- Project Identification stage. Prioritize the issues, challenges or needs you observe. Decide which one you can confidently carry out at the moment, based on your knowledge, expertise and resources.
- Project Planning Stage. Design and begin to plan how to implement your project. At this stage you should be able to answer the following questions about your project: What is the purpose? What are your objectives (what do you intend to achieve?) How will the project help the community? How long will this project last in implementation? Is it going to be a one-off or an ongoing project? What resources would you require for the project take-off? How would you secure these resources?
- Project Costing. Create a Budget. Make sure you do a proper costing of your project and be prepared to spend a little more than what you budgeted because of exigencies. Take note of everything that could cost money. Some other things may not require cash, but human activities – direct labour contributions.
- Advocacy Stage. You may need to visit some key leaders in the community to explain to them how your project will help the community. Such leaders include traditional, religious, women and youth leaders. The kind of leaders to be visited depends on the nature and magnitude of your project. This visit could also help you to get key stakeholders in the community to buy-into and support your project.
- Resource Mobilization Stage. Begin to mobilize resources for your project. There are different kinds of resources: human, material, financial and spiritual. You will need volunteers with different expertise to help you with the project. KIN members will be first line of volunteer supporters.
- Implementation Stage. Go ahead and begin the physical implementation of your project. Make sure you keep record of your event – photos, videos, etc, for documentation. You will need the information someday.
- Celebration Stage. Once you have completed the project. Celebrate the work. Invite friends, community leaders, the press, if possible. You may need to spend some money for this celebration. Celebrate yourself and the team the worked with you.
- Project Evaluation Stage. Once the project is completed, carry out a post-project review to see what worked, what did not work, and what can be improved upon in the future.
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER YOUR PROJECT
For inquiries, contact
BMR Projects Coordinator
Tel/Whatsapp: +234-708 015 7176
Dr. Joseph C. Ibekwe
Founder/Mentor
FLED GROUP