About TUCCAN Project

Turning Community Concern into Citizen Action in Nigeria (TUCCAN) Project is a not for profit, Non – Governmental, Civil Society Organization (CSO) working to ensure the interest and representation of unnoticed, excluded, underprivileged and vulnerable Nigerian citizens are brought to the centre of National discourse to be included in development processes; ensuring participatory reform in the delivery and management of women, youth and children empowerment programmes to improve its effectiveness; develop strategies to ensure government meet her obligations to provide basic rights to her citizens by responding to challenges faced by these groups in HIV/AIDS, Human Trafficking, Reproductive Health, Child Survival & Abuse, Child Labour, Safe Motherhood, Basic Education, Youth Empowerment, Climate Change & Energy Efficiency and Economic & Political Empowerment. TUCCAN is also committed to promoting and implementing socio-economic development services in partnership with other local, national, and international organizations/agencies with focus on the well being of Nigerian citizens through Policy Advocacy, Behavior Change Communication (BCC), Community Mobilization & Participation, Research and documentation.

Vision

To strengthen the voice of excluded, unnoticed and underprivileged Nigeria citizens; and their inclusion in political, socio-economic processes; and in ensuring development policies translates into effective and accountable development actions.

Mission Statement

To provide accurate information; develop and implement activities that will tackle the problems faced by the often excluded or marginalized groups through proper integration of citizen participation at all levels into developing national strategies programmes towards effective implementation of local and national policies and strategies that reflect changing development needs of these groups.

Objectives
The aims and objectives of TUCCAN shall be:-

· To support the reduction of maternal mortality rate through policy advocacy; and to empower rural and low income earned women with skill for self reliance and encourage women participation in national development

· To support policies and activities towards reducing mortality rate of under five children, child abuse and child labour

· To help young people realize their potential as development actors; and create an enabling environment for youth to actively participate in the planning & implementation of development activities in their various communities.

· To ensure the excluded, unnoticed Nigerian citizens have access to their leaders/representatives through active and useful engagement as well get involve in opportunities around their communities through participation in policy development and implementation.

· To provide accurate knowledge on the issue of HIV & AIDs, Malaria, climate change, and energy efficiency where individual and communities have access to information that guides informed choice and informed decision.

Strategies

· Strategic Communication
· Capacity Building
· Behaviour Change Communication
· Policy Advocacy
· Community & Resource Mobilization
· Networking & Mentorship
· Research and Documentation
· Monitoring and Evaluation

Focus

· Ensuring local development priorities
· Centralizing women and children concerns in national development plans & processes
· Integration of citizen participation at all levels into National strategic planning, implementation and assessment
· Building legitimate governance mechanism for decision making & accountability
· Empowering youth to ensure sustainability
· Researches to access development needs

Get Involved

Be part of TUCCAN…………

· Contribute financially
· Join TUCCAN fund drivers
· Sponsor a TUCCAN event or program
· Sponsor a capacity building program
· Be a local implementing partner
· Be a volunteer

Partnership

TUCCAN seeks partnership with development organizations seeking to support advances in the effectiveness and scale of communication interventions for positive development of the often exclude or marginalized groups in Nigeria. TUCCAN also welcome support from:
· Corporations
· Charitable Foundations
· Government Agencies
· Private Organizations and
· Individuals

Contact Office:
C/O Communication Support Centre
98, Hadejia Road, Opp. Buhari Complex,
Tel : +23703 524 3360, +234702 846 9221
E-mail:- cimalpfuture@yahoo.com

The Almajiris Children - Empowering them to secure the FUTURE

The Child Rights Act 2003 seeks mainly to re-enforce the rights of the child to education, among other fundamental rights. Although rights abuse is not restricted to the girl-child, theirs is a precarious situation given their peculiarities and some misconceived and obfuscating variables with religious and sociological denotations.
The Almajirins syndrome or destitution, and religious misnomer have necessitated concerted efforts at tackling the factors militating against girl-child education, particularly in the northern part of Nigeria.
Child destitution, otherwise known as 'Almajiri', is another social problem in most parts of the north and has posed an obstacle to girl-child education, which is an integral part of the Child's Rights Act. The National Council for the Welfare of Destitutes in Nigeria says there are about seven million children and teenage beggars - or Almajirai, in the north of the country. Kano State accounts for more than a million. This classless homesapiens fall squarely into Frantz Fanon's classic: "The Wretched of the Earth". The World Health Organization says over three percent of this group suffers sexual abuse and neglect.
"Almajiri" is derived from the Arabic word "Al-muhajirin", meaning a seeker of Islamic knowledge but in Nigeria, Almajiri is any child or adult who begs for assistance in the streets or from house to house even though Islamic teachings strongly prohibit begging except in special circumstances when a man losses of property in a disaster, or when a man has loaned much of his money for the common good, such as bringing peace between two warring parties.
Children in their dozens are not only found roaming the streets in the north especially in Kano state which is the largest state in Nigeria with the population of about 14 million people and the state with the largest number of the Almajiris children; some of these innocent children have also been "exported" to other towns around the country as house helps. Car parks, sidewalks, filling stations and other public places have since been taken over by such children who are deprived of any form of formal education or skill acquisition to ensure successful adulthood. Health workers say they are vulnerable to diseases and social crimes. These beggar children are found on major streets in Kano city. In order to survive, they beg from dusk to dawn everyday. After begging, they return to their makaranta, or school, or are left on the streets.
“The Almajiri child is present only as a begging street child. People of the society have used the Almajiri system to abuse the right of these innocent children, to traffic the children for child labour, sometime use for rituals; these children are vulnerable to all source of diseases, unsafe conditions and to some extent expose them to terrorism, thuggery and other menaces, to be used as social destructors, and to some extent also be used as sex hawkers or homosexuals in particular.
The privileged ones among them have a few hours of Quranic recitations with their Mallams, or Islamic teachers, in a traditional Islamic schooling system called Tsangaya. Unlike in western school systems, Almajiris are taught how to recite and memorize the Holy Quran and Hadiths.
Education has been recognized as the most potent weapon used by man to conquer his environment and chart his destiny and even that of others.
Efforts by governments, international agencies like ENHANSE and non-governmental organisations at redressing the trend have not been quite successful. The senate is pushing a bill seeking to establish a national commission for the eradication of child destitution. The Bill aims at creating an agency of government charged with the responsibility of formulating policies and strategies from the eradication of child destitution in Nigeria. It is also to be mandated with the task of modernizing the "Almajiri" system of education.
Sponsor of the bill, Senator Umaru Tafidan Argungu (PDP Kebbi North), with 31 other senators from all parts of the country, argues that the menace of child destitution has become an embarrassing spectacle in our country. True, the menace of having children roaming the streets begging is not an attribute of a nation that targets to join the league of world industrialized nations in the next 12 years. There could be another BARRACK OBAMA in this neglected group.
“If the Almajiri system is reformed, that means the social and security threats will also be minimized. There’s also the issue of economy. If people are dependent on others, they become unproductive; they don’t contribute to the economy of a given society.

It is far easier to build STRONG CHILDREN than repair BROKEN MEN

Kano State is the largest city in Northern Nigeria with an approxiamtely population of about 14 million people. Islam is predomnately religion of the Hausa-Fulani ethnic populace. Kano State is characterized by over-crowding, high youth unemployment, over-burdened social and economic infrastructure, which results in occasional outbreaks of violent unrests. About 40% of the Kano population are children and majortity of these children are street children generally referred to as Almajiris who are sent out from local communities to major cities to acquire arabic knowlegde from Islamic teachers but end up begging for arms; run domestic errands and engage in minor jobs like cleaning of cars on major roads for their daily sustainance. These children ages 6-15years suffers hunger daily and are expose to various health & environmental hazzards to make a living. They are socially excluded and therefore grow up to be yandabas (unrest youths) who are mostly hijacked and brought into conflict by belligerent, insurgent and other terrorist war lords to meet their deadly goals in the past cultural and religious riots in Northern Nigeria. The Turning Community Concern into Citizen Action in Nigeria Project (TUCCAN) for the Almajirins is working with Mallams of Quaranic schools, Community Leaders, Religious leaders and other stakeholders through advocacy, sensitization campaigns, lobbying, and mobilization to demand for proper formailization of the arabic schools to cater for the socio-economic needs of these innocent childen who are our future leaders. The TUCCAN Project Positive Value Curriclum is used by the project volunteers in inculcating positive values in these future hope in different Islamiyya schools in Kano State.