Environmental,Educational NGO

The name  OdikaOdi, is an African/Igbo phase that means”Those that are alike / like minded” come together as friends / partners and is a call to action to all who share the same passion about maintaining the health of the planet we all call home.

The motto of the NGO is an old Igbo proverb ” Ndu Mmiri, Ndu Azu” meaning “If the water/river has life, the fish in that water/ river will have life / live. This is the NGO’s view of humanity’s relationship with Gaia -Mother Earth. If she has life, then we dependant on her for our well being will also have life.

NGO’s are organizations that work in many different fields, but the term is generally associated with those seeking social and or environmental transformation and improvements in quality of life. NGOs vary in their methods. Some act primarily as lobbyists, while others primarily conduct programs and activities. For instance, an NGO such as Oxfam, concerned with poverty alleviation, might provide needy people with the equipment and skills to find food and clean drinking water, whereas an NGO like the FFDA helps through investigation and documentation of human rights violations and provides legal assistance to victims of human rights abuses. Others, such as Afghanistan Information Management Services, provide specialized technical products and services to support development activities implemented on the ground by other organizations.

Operational

Operational NGOs seek to “achieve small-scale change directly through projects. They mobilize financial resources, materials and volunteers to create localized programs in the field. They hold large-scale fundraising events, apply to governments and organizations for grants and contracts in order to raise money for projects. They often operate in a hierarchical structure; with a main headquarters staffed by professionals who plan projects, create budgets, keep accounts, report, and communicate with operational fieldworkers who work directly on projects[8] Operational NGOs deal with a wide range of , but are most often associated with the delivery of services and welfare, emergency relief and environmental issues. Operational NGOs can be further categorized, one frequently used categorization is the division into relief-oriented versus development-oriented organizations; they can also be classified according to whether they stress service delivery or participation; or whether they are religious or secular; and whether they are more public or private-oriented. Operational NGOs can be community-based, national or international. The defining activity of operational NGOs is implementing projects.

Developmental

NGOs are the most highly visible and includes both international and local organizations, as well as those working in humanitarian emergency sector. Many are associated with international aid and voluntary donation, but there are also NGOs that choose not to take funds from donors and try to generate funding in other ways, such as selling handicrafts or charging for services.

Environmental NGOs are another sub-sector, and sometimes overlap with development NGOs. An example is Greenpeace.  Just like other NGOs networks, transnational environmental networks might acquire a variety of benefits in sharing information with other organizations, campaigning towards an issue, and exchanging contact information.

Campaigning

Campaigning NGOs seek to “achieve large-scale change promoted indirectly through influence of the political system.” Campaigning NGOs need an efficient and effective group of professional members who are able to keep supporters informed, and motivated. They must plan and host demonstrations and events that will keep their cause in the media. They must maintain a large informed network of supporters who can be mobilized for events to garner media attention and influence policy changes. The defining activity of campaigning NGOs is holding demonstrations. Campaigning NGOs often deal with this issues relating to human rights, women’s rights, children’s rights. The primary purpose of an Advocacy NGO is to defend or promote a specific cause. As opposed to operational project management, these organizations typically try to raise awareness, acceptance and knowledge by lobbying, press work and activist event.

OkO intends to be an 80:20 NGO,

• 80% of the time it will be focused on operational  objectives.  We will be seek to “achieve small-scale change directly through projects. Our projects will be largely focused on education. Working within the educational systems of the host country we intent to develop and share interesting and challenging educational content aimed at promoting greater awareness of environmental issues such as Climate Change, Deforestation, Air and Water Pollution; etc. among the young.

•  20% of the time on Campaigning for change We will be seeking to “achieve large-scale change promoted indirectly through influence of the political system.” We have in the past year been very active in campaigning on behalfe of the peoples of Delta State Nigeria in their efforts to get compensation for the massive environmental damage done to their lands due to oil spills by Shell Nigeria.

• “Our Vision : Through our actions to create “A world in which everyone acknowledges and embraces their duty of care toward  “Gaia – Mother Earth”.

• Our Mission : “To educate, motivate and mobilize the young of West Africa (ECOWAS) into taking a more active role in the conservation and preservation of their environment and in so doing to secure their own collective future.

• Our Motto : Ndu Mmiri, Ndu Azu – Igbo / African  proverb that means “Water has Life then Fish have Life”

We have started on the first part of our mission which is to Educate. Working at grassroots level with schools ,Colleges . Churches and other institutions to raise awareness of environmental issues  and the effect that our modern life styles have on the environment.

We teach about personal and collective responsibility with regards to our “Carbon Footprint” and its impact on Climate Change. In short we wont to help raise the level of awareness of the immanent ELE (Extinction Level Event) that will occur if we do nothing to address “Climate Change”.

Through our Global Landmark Challenge (GLC) We aim to bring global attention to “At Risk” Environmental sites with the hope that the relevant governments will be encouraged to take action were possible.