Future Community Development Sustainability/Strategy

Communities of the future will be very different from the ones we live in today. These communities will need to be different because, as we move through the end of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first, we face a whole new set of socioeconomic, technological, and global forces that are unlike those that brought us to where we are today. The renaissance fueled by these forces will dwarf any we have experienced until now. It will alter dramatically the way we live in our communities, their form and function, and, most critically, the way we plan and develop them. At stake is the quality of life, not only for ourselves but also for our children and grandchildren. Local governments will need to understand these forces and to move one step ahead, using this knowledge to maximize the planning and development process and to improve the places in which we live.

Only by applying this knowledge can we sustain our communities and derive benefit from an increasingly complex future. The challenges that we as a nation face--economic viability, deteriorating infrastructure, natural disasters, environmental pollution, social disintegration, loss of community, crime and violence, urban blight, and unmanaged growth--can be viewed either as our shared doom or as our common call to action, a universal opportunity to change, improve, and optimize. Sustainable communities are nothing less than the key to optimizing our future.

What are sustainable communities? Why are they important? What benefits do they bring? How can we create them? How have communities successfully applied the principles of sustainable development? This article will address these questions and provide local governments with a framework of knowledge that they can use to sustain their communities through the planning and development of the built environment. Its objectives are, first, to demystify and "practicalize" the concept of sustainability and, second, to explain how local governments can apply the important tools of this process to achieving sustainable communities.


Benefits of Sustainability
Sustainability is good business from the social, economic, and environmental perspectives. When tied to a community's vision, sustainable development can resolve successfully many key issues faced by communities today. Within the context of the built environment, sustainable development is especially effective and in a tangible way.

For example, a park can be a sustainable component of the ecology and a community focal point when it is planned not as a parcel but as a system supportive of and accessible to all kinds of living things. It can be a catch basin for stormwater runoff, a means to mitigate flooding and pollution, a centerpiece for economic development initiatives, a place of serene beauty and contemplation, and a showcase and habitat for local plant and animal species.

Across the country, sustainable development has offered practical solutions to common problems. Seattle based its highly effective recycling and waste reduction program on sustainable themes and now applies the concept in its efforts to curb sprawl, to preserve the landscape of the Cascade foothills, and to enlarge the public's role in the planning process. Boulder, Colorado, created urban growth boundaries and improved transportation options to sustain its quality of life and scenic edge. Austin, Texas, established a Green Builder Program to encourage the use of energy-conserving building practices. Portland, Oregon, launched an initiative for carbon dioxide reduction based on sustainable changes to the built environment. And, Valmeyer, Illinois, used sustainable planning practices to relocate outside the Mississippi floodplain and to mitigate future flood damage.

These communities and others demonstrate the multiple goals of sustainable development. Sustainable development can enhance a sense of place, reduce crime, mitigate natural hazards, conserve energy and resources, preserve culture and heritage, improve traffic circulation, and reduce waste. It can attract more viable economic development as competition among communities for high-quality businesses becomes more intense. Perhaps most important, it can help relate and integrate the many components of a community to achieve a synergistic whole.

Future Community Development Sustainability/Strategy

Communities of the future will be very different from the ones we live in today. These communities will need to be different because, as we move through the end of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first, we face a whole new set of socioeconomic, technological, and global forces that are unlike those that brought us to where we are today. The renaissance fueled by these forces will dwarf any we have experienced until now. It will alter dramatically the way we live in our communities, their form and function, and, most critically, the way we plan and develop them. At stake is the quality of life, not only for ourselves but also for our children and grandchildren. Local governments will need to understand these forces and to move one step ahead, using this knowledge to maximize the planning and development process and to improve the places in which we live.

Only by applying this knowledge can we sustain our communities and derive benefit from an increasingly complex future. The challenges that we as a nation face--economic viability, deteriorating infrastructure, natural disasters, environmental pollution, social disintegration, loss of community, crime and violence, urban blight, and unmanaged growth--can be viewed either as our shared doom or as our common call to action, a universal opportunity to change, improve, and optimize. Sustainable communities are nothing less than the key to optimizing our future.

What are sustainable communities? Why are they important? What benefits do they bring? How can we create them? How have communities successfully applied the principles of sustainable development? This article will address these questions and provide local governments with a framework of knowledge that they can use to sustain their communities through the planning and development of the built environment. Its objectives are, first, to demystify and "practicalize" the concept of sustainability and, second, to explain how local governments can apply the important tools of this process to achieving sustainable communities.


Benefits of Sustainability
Sustainability is good business from the social, economic, and environmental perspectives. When tied to a community's vision, sustainable development can resolve successfully many key issues faced by communities today. Within the context of the built environment, sustainable development is especially effective and in a tangible way.

For example, a park can be a sustainable component of the ecology and a community focal point when it is planned not as a parcel but as a system supportive of and accessible to all kinds of living things. It can be a catch basin for stormwater runoff, a means to mitigate flooding and pollution, a centerpiece for economic development initiatives, a place of serene beauty and contemplation, and a showcase and habitat for local plant and animal species.

Across the country, sustainable development has offered practical solutions to common problems. Seattle based its highly effective recycling and waste reduction program on sustainable themes and now applies the concept in its efforts to curb sprawl, to preserve the landscape of the Cascade foothills, and to enlarge the public's role in the planning process. Boulder, Colorado, created urban growth boundaries and improved transportation options to sustain its quality of life and scenic edge. Austin, Texas, established a Green Builder Program to encourage the use of energy-conserving building practices. Portland, Oregon, launched an initiative for carbon dioxide reduction based on sustainable changes to the built environment. And, Valmeyer, Illinois, used sustainable planning practices to relocate outside the Mississippi floodplain and to mitigate future flood damage.

These communities and others demonstrate the multiple goals of sustainable development. Sustainable development can enhance a sense of place, reduce crime, mitigate natural hazards, conserve energy and resources, preserve culture and heritage, improve traffic circulation, and reduce waste. It can attract more viable economic development as competition among communities for high-quality businesses becomes more intense. Perhaps most important, it can help relate and integrate the many components of a community to achieve a synergistic whole.

Future Community Development Sustainability/Strategy

Communities of the future will be very different from the ones we live in today. These communities will need to be different because, as we move through the end of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first, we face a whole new set of socioeconomic, technological, and global forces that are unlike those that brought us to where we are today. The renaissance fueled by these forces will dwarf any we have experienced until now. It will alter dramatically the way we live in our communities, their form and function, and, most critically, the way we plan and develop them. At stake is the quality of life, not only for ourselves but also for our children and grandchildren. Local governments will need to understand these forces and to move one step ahead, using this knowledge to maximize the planning and development process and to improve the places in which we live.

Only by applying this knowledge can we sustain our communities and derive benefit from an increasingly complex future. The challenges that we as a nation face--economic viability, deteriorating infrastructure, natural disasters, environmental pollution, social disintegration, loss of community, crime and violence, urban blight, and unmanaged growth--can be viewed either as our shared doom or as our common call to action, a universal opportunity to change, improve, and optimize. Sustainable communities are nothing less than the key to optimizing our future.

What are sustainable communities? Why are they important? What benefits do they bring? How can we create them? How have communities successfully applied the principles of sustainable development? This article will address these questions and provide local governments with a framework of knowledge that they can use to sustain their communities through the planning and development of the built environment. Its objectives are, first, to demystify and "practicalize" the concept of sustainability and, second, to explain how local governments can apply the important tools of this process to achieving sustainable communities.


Benefits of Sustainability
Sustainability is good business from the social, economic, and environmental perspectives. When tied to a community's vision, sustainable development can resolve successfully many key issues faced by communities today. Within the context of the built environment, sustainable development is especially effective and in a tangible way.

For example, a park can be a sustainable component of the ecology and a community focal point when it is planned not as a parcel but as a system supportive of and accessible to all kinds of living things. It can be a catch basin for stormwater runoff, a means to mitigate flooding and pollution, a centerpiece for economic development initiatives, a place of serene beauty and contemplation, and a showcase and habitat for local plant and animal species.

Across the country, sustainable development has offered practical solutions to common problems. Seattle based its highly effective recycling and waste reduction program on sustainable themes and now applies the concept in its efforts to curb sprawl, to preserve the landscape of the Cascade foothills, and to enlarge the public's role in the planning process. Boulder, Colorado, created urban growth boundaries and improved transportation options to sustain its quality of life and scenic edge. Austin, Texas, established a Green Builder Program to encourage the use of energy-conserving building practices. Portland, Oregon, launched an initiative for carbon dioxide reduction based on sustainable changes to the built environment. And, Valmeyer, Illinois, used sustainable planning practices to relocate outside the Mississippi floodplain and to mitigate future flood damage.

These communities and others demonstrate the multiple goals of sustainable development. Sustainable development can enhance a sense of place, reduce crime, mitigate natural hazards, conserve energy and resources, preserve culture and heritage, improve traffic circulation, and reduce waste. It can attract more viable economic development as competition among communities for high-quality businesses becomes more intense. Perhaps most important, it can help relate and integrate the many components of a community to achieve a synergistic whole.

MISSION STATEMENT

Future Foundation is a pioneering organization with its innovative approaches for developmental efforts for rural areas and working with commitment for the development of underprivileged, irrespective of gender, creed, cast, class or ethnicity.

VISION:

To promote a society in which every body including poor, marginalized and disadvantaged communities have equal opportunities and facilities and work to their potential and be self-reliant with justice, equal and pride.


MISSION:
Enhancing the life standard in qualitative and quantitative terms so as to integrate the marginalized and vulnerable sections and help them to participate in the mainstream society.

OBJECTIVES:
Empowerment of marginalized and disadvantaged group and strengthening efforts to build self-reliance and to bring them to the mainstream of society.
To promote the development of rural communities.
To promote their participation in education, healthcare and economic activities.
To promote awareness and education for the target communities etc .

STRATEGY:
Sustainable community based initiatives for development of the target group through education, health, economic and social development efforts.

Campaign to Stop Gender Based Violence and Discrimination.

1.     Brief Summary:

Our proposed project titled, Campaign to Stop Gender Based Violence and discrimination in Essien Udim L.G.A. This has been a shameful ‘conspiracy of silence one in three Akw-Ibom women has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in her lifetime untimately such violence, and the costs associated with it hinder women’s and girls’ full participation in social, economic and educational activities, handicapping their contribution to the development of their communities and contributing to a cycle of gender inequality and poverty. A comprehensive approach involving strategies aimed at communications for social change, Advocacy for policy reform and capacity-building to strengthen referral system and delivery of services to survivors of violence have been developed to tackling these challenges. The project objective is to promote change in social norms attitudes and behavior to reduce gender based violence and to pursue for the enactment and enforcement of a legislation prohibiting all form of violence against women and girls in Akwa-Ibom State. Our organization has carried our similar project with other partners. For this proposed project, the sum of N2,910,000 has been estimated for the total project costs.

2.     background:

In Essien Udim Akwa-Ibom State, it’s a common sight to see cases of Abuse of women, women are sent out of the homes, Akwa-Ibom State has the highest number of such cases in Nigeria and this has led to abuses of women and girls sexually and otherwise, most of them have nowhere to run to nor any place to find refuge. One in three Akwa-Ibom Women/Girls within the ages of 15-24 has been the victims of domestic violence 50% of women have been subject to abuse from husbands and most believe that the Law will not protect them and endure this abuse: A shocking and staggeing 97.2% are not willing to report to police, continually shocking are married women’s acceptance of wife-beating, in Akwa-Ibomup to 70% of women find the practice acceptable.

Gender-based violence is a prevalent and deeply rooted problem in Akwa-Ibom especially in  Essien Udim that has recently witnessed an entrenched form of Gender Based Violence. These are Baby Factories:- using women and girls to produce babies for commercial purpose and accusation of women and girls being witchcraft. This project is designed to respond to these challenges through a comprehensive approach involving strategies aimed at:

1)    Communication for social changes

2)    Advocacy for policy reform

3)    Capacity building to strengthen referral system and delivery of services to survivors of violence.

This brief is focused primarily on the project role in facilitating an advocacy and mobilization effort that will contribute to the enactment of a legislation to prohibit all forms of violence against women and girls and making Gender Equality Education primary Prevention Technique mandatory at all levels of education in Akwa-Ibom State.

3.     Strategy/Project Objectives/Activities/Expected Result

The project is aimed to create a platform for action against Gender based violence, by convening and building partnerships among civil society and public sector stakeholders across the L.G.A. and State Exemplary of the Project’s intent to operate at scale.

Synegy Groups: This project will convene forums at Local Government and Community levels to bring together local authorities, services: providers and other stakeholders, to  coordinate the effort in providing comprehensive services and protect women community mobilizers: the project shall train volunteers as change agent at the community levels, these community mobilizers shall facilitate culturally sensitive dialogues and information sessions with the public around the causes and consequences of gender based violence, strategies to tackling the problem and act as resource person.

Project Objective:

1)    The enactment and enforcement of legislation prohibiting all forms or violence against women and girls and make gender based Equality Education mandatory in all level of Education in the state.

2)    Promote change in social norms, attitudes, and behavior to reduce gender based violence key activities for this project include:

(1) Mass media campaigns that involves letters to the media press conferences, call for actions, mobile theater and radio programs.

(2) Community level mobilization, dialogue and awareness raising activities to be facilitate by trained community mobilizers.

(3) Workshop, meetings and consultation between civil society, government officials traditional and religious leaders and the media to explore policy solution to Gender Based Violence.

(4) Mass action through peaceful marches and public pressure campaigns.

4.     PROJECT ORGANIZATION

FUTURE FOUNDATION is a non-profit organization, with its innovative approaches for development efforts for rural people and working with commitment to reduce violence against women and girls and developed underprivileged irrespective of gender. It was established June 2010 as a response to the instability following the all forms of abuse face by our women and girls in communities which caused the loss of women lives and leave many homeless. Vision: To promote a society in which everybody including the women and men have equal opportunities and work to their potential and be self reliant with justice, equity and pride.

Previous activities by our organization

 Campaigns for the cause and end violence against women of Ikot Akpaneka Communities; it was done through meeting with women and community Leaders.

Engaging men and women in struggle to end domestic and help Girls resist threat of sexual violence. The project will be coordinate within the existing FUTURE FOUNDATION infrastructure-hardware and software. As traditionally Campaign to Stop Gender Based Violence and Discrimination related programmes have been implemented by us, the proposed programme will be managed by the existing committee. We will invite consultants for the workshop and Training.

5.      MONITORING/EVALUATION

We shall develop evaluation form to access the participants understanding, planned action and usefulness of the workshop or Training and compare them with our project goal.

We shall be meeting once in 2 months to discuss and evaluate the impact of our project activities there we shall take the number of participants their contributions number of people reporting abuses and violence, we shall also note the changes in the bi-monthly meetings. The bi-monthly meeting is for evaluation purposes, to evaluate the impact of the project.

We shall also evaluate this project through the calls and the e-mails we receive, the number of prosecuted cases. The public shall also be access through an opinion poll by SMS to voice out their reaction about the project.

6.     BUDGET AND FINANCING

BUDGET                                               N

1	1 SPACE & UTILITIES SIX MONTHS	240,000
	Training Centre Rent @	140,000
	Utilities (Public address system)	100,000
2	SUPPLIES & EQUIPMENT	200,000
	Computer & Accessories	200,000
3	communication & postage	70,000
	Telephone, E-mail, and Internet	70,000
4	TRAVEL & PER DIEM	150,000
	Local Domestic Travel within Abia State	150,000
5	CONTRACTUAL/CONSULTANT SERVICES	1,200,000
	Workshop consultants 2 for 6days	400,000
	Training consultants 3 for 12weeks	700,000
	Workshop Organizer (Materials)	100,000
6	OTHER DIRECT COSTS	1,050,000
	Tea-break and Lunch for workshop, meeting with communities leaders and Training	200,000
	Radio program for 14 weeks	250,000
	Mobile threater rent 1 week	180,000
	Banners, Bill boards poster and handbill	100,000
	T-Shirts	200,000
	T.V Program for 6 sessions	120,000
	Total Program Cost	2,910,000

Total Amount Requesting from Embassy of Switzerland in Nigeria = N2,250,000

7.     ASSESSMENT OF OPPORTUNITIES AND RISKS.

There are no serious risks that can affect the success of the project. Opportunity: Breaking the silence, reduction in the level of abuse, access to treatment and care, knowing their rights, seek education and redress, learn to network, find reasons to refuse early marriage.

Community Service

Community is a unified body of individuals with a common characteristics or interest living together within a larger society" if we can all agree on this definition of a community then wouldn't it also be true that by serving the community we also serve our self-interest? Believe me, there are many citizens in our country Nigeria today that are live on as less as #100 a day. Isn't that shocking?

Most of us find ourselves in the cities and developed communities where we don't see some of these things about how others are suffering in this country.

Friends trust me there are lots of things we can do to help these less fortunate ones; is not always about the money but any service that could put smiles on their faces.
Daloui lama once said "the more we care for the happiness of others, the greater our sense of well being becomes,"

The poor rural communities needs your service at least to put smile on their face. Meet Future Foundation team and our volunteer come  22-24 June at Ikot-Umoh Essien TOWN HALL, Akwa Ibom State Nigeria, to learn more about community servicing and join the team impact the lives of the poor around you. For more information contact us: 07032616353, 08024098691. Thanks

Borehole Project

The aim of this project is to make clean water available through a cheap and affordable means to rural communities that can be easily maintained in Ikot-Essien.

The project achieved availability of portable water in the area for drinking, washing, Cleaning and other water needs ffrom now the next several years to come

Also improve the Health of the Beneficiaries and the entire community.
The was complete through the help of the United State Ambassador Small Grants Program.