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About Project Cyma and Our Project
At Project Cyma, we strive to directly engage local populations in development projects that sprout prosperity and self-reliance within their very own communities. After all, "Cyma" is Latin for "sprout"! We've decided to team up with the American University of Nigeria’s (AUN) Peace Through Sports program. We are developing 3G and WiFi-capable tablets to be used by the program’s participants. The primary activities of Peace through Sports are to identify vulnerable youths, organize a Peace and Conflict Resolution workshop for the young people involved, organize the participants into unity teams, conduct training sessions, and organize sporting events. The initiative provides participants with an alternate route, as Boko Haram often lures young Nigerians to join their group through offers of loans, paychecks, and stability. One Peace Through Sports participant put it best: "it was this or Boko Haram."
With funding to support this effort, AUN plans to reach an additional 5,250 beneficiaries from all seven local governments in Adamawa. Adamawa is a state in Nigeria that has been severely impacted by Boko Haram's violence. The Peace through Sports initiative provides an opportunity for young people from vulnerable and marginalized communities to demonstrate their roles in the mission of global friendship, peace, and development through participation in sports and relevant workshops.
The Impact
It is our conviction that Cyma's tablets combined with Peace Through Sports' existing program will have a tangible impact upon the young people in northern Nigeria that have been affected by Boko Haram's violence, largely because it has already been proven to work. In past years of Peace Through Sports, 216 participants have secured employment through this program and 91 have gone back to high school or college. Some of the participants (29 thus far) have gone on to play for state teams in Adamawa, Gombe, Taraba, and Yobe. Participants also receive ICT training, free college entrance exam tutoring, business and entrepreneurship training, and peace and conflict resolution training.
Others continue in the program where they can constructively fill their otherwise empty days and continue to learn the values of teamwork, discipline, tolerance, and respect for and greater understanding of their teammates and opponents’ culture and religion. For some, this program is the only alternative to turning to a life of crime and violence.
The Challenges
We realize the risks and challenges involved in such an endeavor, and we are actively consulting professionals in the realms of humanitarian aid, international development, counterterrorism and counter extremism, nonprofits, and the private sector. We know what we’re attempting to tackle is no easy task, so please feel free to reach out if you'd like to get involved in some capacity — we welcome the help.
Your donation, your time, and/or your efforts to assist our project in any way is symbolic of the exact thing we’re trying to do on a larger scale: get individuals involved at the most fundamental levels and create a ripple effect with a far-reaching impact. Join us in challenging the existing concept of social responsibility and what it means to bring about lasting peace.
Where Your Donation is Going
With over 5,000 estimated participants in 2017, the task of providing a sufficient number of educational tablets is not an easy one, but we think we can do it (with your help). To start, we are hoping to raise enough money for the first 100 tablets, or $22,000.
Donations will be put towards the tablets which enable participants to learn crucial and fundamental skills regarding peace, conflict resolution, and countering extremist narratives. Additionally, a small percentage of the donations (6.5%) will go to Social Good Fund, which sponsors and develops projects that will help positively impact and develop local communities into healthier and happier places to live, work, and be.
Other Ways You Can Help
Money isn’t everything! If you want to contribute to international development and security efforts and help people in a tangible way, please share our mission with your friends, family, and social media connections.
Connect with us
Our website: http://projectcyma.org/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/projectcyma
Instagram: @projectcyma
Twitter: @projectcyma
To sprout conversation about our organization and mission, please use #projectcyma in your social media posts!