The Creative Youth Community Development Initiative (CYCDI) is partnering the European Union and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to commemorate the 2018 edition of its annual ‘Vision of the Child’ to raise drug prevention awareness amongst youths and vulnerable adults. The event is also to spurn creativities and the rich intellectual resources of the targeted group.
The event is to showcase 17 VoTC participants drawn from 17 schools in Lagos nominated for 2018 Edition. They will be required to make creative presentations and solutions on the project focus: “Sensitization on the nature of drug use, drug dependence, prevention”.
Participants are to begin with awareness programme, followed by submission and presentation of a literary piece — essay, story and poem before a live audience by June 2018. They will undergo series of training, networking and group pairing before their final presentation.
The final research works of the participants are expected to be submitted on the 3rd of June through their customized page on (www.visionofthechild.com.ng). They will be invited for training on 8th of June, where participants will have opportunities to discuss their project work with UNODC staffs, art tutors, literature teachers, educationist and special VoTC facilitators that will guide them throughout their adventure.
On Saturday June 15, the 17 VoTC researchers will participate in a live Painting Presentation in Lagos. The VoTC exhibition will be opened formally later in the month of June; followed by a special event on the 26th of June 2018 to mark International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. The project outcome is expected to produce a sensitization movie to support the campaign against the menace of Drug Abuse in support of EU-UNODC “Response to Drugs and Related Organized Crime in Nigeria”.
The Vision of The Child is a yearly programme, inaugurated in April 2012 with the theme ‘The Vision of the Child’. The maiden edition laid the groundwork for subsequent editions, each of which addressed cogent and themes that touched on the socio-political and cultural realities of the country. These are
(2012) -“The Vision of the Child”
(2013) -“The Thousand and One Faces Of Corruption”
(2014) – “The Rule of Law And The Law Of Impunity”
(2015) – “The Road to Sambisa” – United Nations Sustainable Goal 5 and Goal 4
(2016) – “Sisi-Eko@50:Ageing gracefully? Or Na So So Pancake”
(2017) – “Enhance the Heritage, Advance the Future –Project Development.
Over 3000 children from primary and secondary schools, ages between 8 -16 years have benefited from VoTC since inception. The project has produced over one hundred and seventy-three (173) paintings and drawings by the student finalists, and these works are expected to be mounted in a permanent exhibition soon.
The Vision of the Child is being implemented by Creative Youth Community Development Initiative (CYCDI), an organisation committed to promotion of education and creative development, innovation and entrepreneurship in children, youth and women. One of CYCDI’s project; Creative Youth Initiative Against Corruption (CYIAC) recently won the United Nations SDG Awards in Innovator Category in Bonn, Germany in March 2018. A total of 740 organisations from 7 continents and 125 countries were nominated for the global award.
