azukaify.com/youth-empowerment
Youth Forward Initiative
2,000 young people. A future being built right now.
From health access to farm income, we're equipping young people aged 18–35 with the tools, training, and support to build their own futures, one project at a time.
2,000
Youth to be reached
4
Active projects
3
Focus sectors
Since 2010, Azuka & Ify Foundation has worked in health, education, and farming across Delta State. Our Vision 2000 programme set a target, 2,000 young people who need real support to build a future. Youth Forward is how we get there, four programmes built around what Delta State's youth actually told us they need.
Youth unemployment across Nigeria stands at 53%, with over 80 million young people out of work. In Delta State specifically, our own community assessment found that 80% of youth in surveyed communities need empowerment in some form. Many have a skill but no capital, no structure, or no way into the market. Informal work, with no protection and no stability, accounts for 93% of what's available to them.
53%
Youth unemployment
nationally, the highest barrier to opportunity for young Nigerians.
80%
Need empowerment
of youth surveyed across our Delta State communities.
93%
Informal employment
leaving most young workers without protection or stability.
What We're Doing
Four projects. One mission.
Each one stands on its own, with its own goals and its own way for you to help, but together, they reach the full 2,000.
HealthCode Ambassadors
We train 40 young health workers, CHEWs, nursing and pharmacy students, and NYSC members on health postings, as certified community ambassadors. After five days of training, each one spends ten months delivering health education and referrals in their own community, reaching more than 500 neighbours along the way.
40
Ambassadors to be trained
500+
Youth Targeted
Foundation Health Cover
A sponsored insurance scheme, run in partnership with a registered HMO, giving 500 young people six months of real coverage each, including consultations, malaria and HIV screening, blood pressure and blood sugar checks, and essential medication. No one should have to choose between treatment and rent.
500
Youth to be insured
2
Cohorts of 250 persons
SkillStack Bootcamp
Six weeks, fourteen cohorts, 700 graduates. The first two weeks cover digital literacy, including Google Workspace, Canva, and basic Excel. The next four weeks go deep on one vocational track, fashion, confectionery, phone repair, hair styling, shoe making, or construction, chosen by demand already documented on the ground. Every graduate leaves with a certificate and a starter kit.
700
Youth to be trained
14
Cohorts planned
GrowSmart + Founders Fund
Three hundred young Deltans are trained as agripreneurs, focusing on tomatoes, pepper, cassava, plantain, and other fast cycle crops suited to local terrain, with a starter input pack and six months of follow up support. Alongside it, the Founders Fund puts ₦500,000 behind Delta State's strongest young idea in health, education, or agriculture, with ₦200,000 awarded to the runner up.
300
Farmers to be trained
₦500,000
Top grant
$10,000 to $16,500 funds the full programme. Every donation moves a project forward.
Ways To Get Involved
Three ways to be part of this.
Donate
Fund a project directly. Every gift goes toward programme delivery, with quarterly impact updates sent to every donor.
Become an Ambassador
CHEWs, nursing and pharmacy students, and NYSC members can apply to join HealthCode and lead health education in their own community.
Join a Cohort
Young people aged 18–35 can apply for SkillStack, GrowSmart, or the Founders Fund grant competition.
Help us reach all 2,000. Your support funds real outcomes, not just good intentions.