CURRENT INITIATIVES
As outlined on our programming page, we work in arts and cultural, educational, social, environmental, infrastructural areas. Our initiatives are the specific programs we are doing in those areas and they are outlined here.
Àsàlayé Academy
Àsàlayé Academy is an educational initiative of the DuniaForé Foundation. In collaboration with the Araba of Osogbo, Baba Ifayemi Elebuibon. Sharing a deep commitment to education, arts, and culture in Africa and the diaspora, DuniaForé, the Araba and members of the Elebuibon family partner to run Àsàlayé Academy, which is an educational program for traditionalist children in Osogbo, Nigeria.
In 2005 the Osun Grove in Osogbo, Nigeria was designated a world heritage site by UNESCO. Osogbo is also a burgeoning tourist location where people go to experience Yoruba traditional culture. Neither the Osun Grove nor the huge festival that has brought Osogbo so much fame would be possible without the tireless devotion of hundreds of traditionalist families in Osogbo. The children of these families are the future of traditional Yoruba culture in Osogbo, and Àsàlayé Academy will be providing an important service for them.
Designed as a “summer” or “holiday” school, Àsàlayé Academy teaches an enrichment curriculum to traditionalist children ages 8-18. In addition to standard age-appropriate curricula, Àsàlayé Academy will have cultural components that motivate and instill pride in Osogbo’s traditionalist children as cultural custodians of the future. Last year Academy enrolled 125 students and operated for 4 weeks in the summer. We provide all funding for operations including: renting chairs and tables, providing school lunch, paying teachers and administrators, buying supplies and uniforms for the children, and paying for educational equipment like computers and projectors, shipping etc.
We need and are eternally grateful for any monetary contribution our donors can make. Every bit counts. Please, also spread the word and share our campaign! The more people working together to bring this vision to fruition, the easier it will be to birth the dream! Àsàlayé Academy has been a huge success and we expect it to continue to be in the future. Contribute now and be a part of our legacy…If you value African culture and wish to preserve it, please invest in its future…support Osogbo’s traditionalist children by supporting Àsàlayé Academy.
Prefect’s Literacy Program
Literacy is one of Sierra Leone’s most pressing issues. Our prefect’s literacy program is one small effort to combat illiteracy by tapping in to local resources through incentivizing the best students at multiple Sierra Leonean schools with scholarships to teach basic reading to local children who may not be able to afford to attend schools. The prefect’s literacy program pays high school prefects and provides basic materials and space for these students to teach reading to school aged children and others who may want to learn several times a week in their own neighborhoods using local curricula.
Volunteer Expert Program
Our Volunteer Expert program allows people who work from 9-5 to volunteer in their area of expertise in a community that can benefit from it. We also aim to provide an opportunity for our volunteer experts to travel abroad at minimal expense to themselves . By doing this we provide international travel and cultural exchange opportunities for people for whom this may otherwise be out of the question. We design both short and intermediate term volunteer experiences. These programs can span a period of 2-8 weeks depending on funding, the availability of volunteer experts, and the need at a given location. The variety of work to be done by volunteer experts and the types of programming to be created are limitless since we design our programming specifically to the skill set of the expert volunteers involved and the needs of the people for whom they will be working. By using our in-place networks to scout out opportunities, we perfectly design positively impactful programming for all involved.
Consulting
Are you interested in developing programming but not sure where to start? DuniaForé will consult with you to create programming that fits with your organization’s mission and goals. Outside of assisting you in conceptualizing, organizing and planning your initiative, DuniaForé can be involved in implementation according to your needs or preferences.