Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Our client and the assignment

We have now begun our work.  

My teammate is Sundar Rao, a Project Manager from India currently working for the Office of the CIO.  At Monday’s press conference Sundar and I met our main client, Mr. Abiodun Oyeleye, who is the Executive Director of The New Initiative for Social Development.  
The New Initiative for Social Development (NISD) is a non-governmental organization that strives to make a positive impact by providing solutions for sustainable development and justice in Nigeria.  Their specific areas of interest and focus include child welfare, women’s rights, community development, and overall human rights.  As an example, NISD is currently running a program to assist orphaned children whose parents have died from HIV/AIDS.  Currently there are over 500 children in three cities who are extremely vulnerable and receiving assistance in the forms of psychological support, nutrition, healthcare, and education.  A second example involves their efforts to strengthen the criminal justice system to resolve problems such as overcrowded jails (350 inmates in a prison built to house 200) and extended waiting periods for trials (as much as 10 years in some cases).  NISD works closely with donor agencies across the world to receive funding for these initiatives.
Our goals for our assignment are to create a strategic plan that NISD can leverage, provide guidance to help them improve project execution in the areas of project monitoring and evaluation, and assess alternative solutions to improve their accounting system.   
I am very impressed by Abiodun, his team, and the organization’s mission to have a positive impact in Nigeria.  We look forward to contributing to this.

      Nigeria #ibmcsc

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