Home and Street Kids Welfare Initiative

The elevate prize program is both innovative and impact driven, whose goals align with that of Home and Street Kids Welfare Initiative which seeks to make a change in a very neglected sector of humanity. Our organization has re-invented an initiative through which Street connected children are equipped with the knowledge of computer software and hardware.

The recent pandemic has emphasized the importance of the understanding of I.T literacy/skills for students in various levels of education, due to the fact that the learning platform for school institutions are often done, virtually. This birthed the initiative we refer to as Smart Kids Creative Hub.

Often times, access to technological programs are seen by the street community as accessible only to privileged persons in the society, the hub is meant to empower and equip an average of 40 street-connected children annually with the knowledge of IT, exposing them to the huge possibilities of technology.

Our organization intends to create sensitization programs and Build partnerships with the community stakeholders, caregivers, and guardians of some of the children. To help them create enabling environment and to play effective roles in the development of street children, vulnerable children, and orphans in Ilorin, Kwara State.

My name is Funmi Omisope, the Executive director of Home And Street Kids Welfare Initiative, the believe that certain alarming situations can be combacted, had fueled from a young age the deep desire to help those around me who seemed less privileged at achieving specific goals. This passion pushed me to study guidance and counselling in the University of Ibadan.

This brought to a great perspective who my target audience for change would be, as I developed a burning passion to see street children have the same opportunities and a better shot at life as every other child and break the circle of generational street begging among them.

The vision of Home and Street Kids Welfare Initiative is to turn Craving hands to creative minds, our primary targets are street connected children and their mothers. Presently, HSKi has in the last 6 years impacted the lives of 50 street connected families in Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria. Plans are currently in place to establish a unique shelter for street children, which would contain all the basic facilities which would create a more systemic and sustainable impact in the lives of the kids (mostly street and vulnerable) we work with.

There is an alarming lack of exposure to IT literacy/skills for most school children, especially in a developing country like Nigeria. The poor IT literacy/skills can be attributed to the lack of functional facilities and inadequate computer studies teachers that can cater for all the school students. And with the recent changes in technological advancement in the world, the need for individuals who have vast knowledge in I.T has increased. The field of information technology in educational management (ITEM) has been mostly confined to the developed countries that its potential in the developing countries in regard to its usage and implications on the schools that use it has not been studied (Bisaso,2003).

Home and street kids welfare initiative (HSKi), a registered non-governmental, organization in Nigeria (CAC/IT/NO 66097) , who runs its operations in Ilorin, Kwara State. Since founded on September 9th, 2005, HSKi has developed structures, to ensure that street connected children are secured in terms of their health, Education and clothing. By conducting an impact program which basically involves identifying  locations in state that have a high population of street connected individuals, and figuring out their needs we in turn position our structures to accommodate those needs.

Our organization is supported by a strong team of passionate staffs and volunteers who bring wealth of knowledge and experience to HSKi ranging from youth development, education, adolescent and reproductive health and finance. Additionally, they have the leadership skills to ensure that the organization and its structures thrive. Our end goal is not education, but a total reformation in the lives of the children, to bring about technological advancement, improved social skills and ground breaking changes in all sectors of the economy. Our strategies are systematic, addressing

all the aspects concerning street connected children, which huge importance in addressing their psycho-social and physiological needs. 

Our organization has structures in place to tackle issues surrounding street connected individuals, these structures are listed below:

Creative Hub: A skill acquisition program where Creative arts, Shoe making, Bag making, Tailoring and I.T are taught to the street children. The aim of the hub is to instil in the children an entrepreneurial spirit and help them acquire skills that would  give birth to financial sustenance.

Empower Me: The program runs as a micro-credit agency, in which street connected women are provided soft loans, with zero interest to start up businesses. The condition to access these loans is based on, the fact that every child of the women, the loans were given to must be allowed to go to school.

TOSA (The Oasis academy): Every street connected child, has issues their dealing with, ranging from trauma due to abuse, or other causes like loss of a loved one due to lack of access of adequate health activities, or accidents that occur when they while they were walking aimless on the street. The aim of the academy is to equip the children with soft skills that would aid interaction with other students before being integrated fully into standard schools.