Agreement with Working Life Partner

Finnico Organisation for the project execution in Ideato North local Govern-ment. The agreement process was written in line with global best practices in project ethics (Diak, 2018).

Table 1 Elements of the Agreement with the Working Life Organisation

The table 1 above outlines the different elements required for the working life organization before the commencement of the first phase of the exer-cise with the working life partner which was reached in 2017. A minimum of three months was allocated for the first phase of the project which is the pre-project planning. Table 2 below presents an overview of the project schedule within the three main phases of the project.

(Placeholder1) Duration Tasks Evaluation by Working

Done by Supervisor May - June. 2017

Field work Three months

Data collection, work-shops

Done by Supervisor August – Nov.2017

Post Project Four Findings, evaluation and Done by Supervisor Dec.2017 -Mar.2019

months report writing

Table 2 Schedule of Project Phase

The field work of this project includes data collection, data analysis and workshops, which was carried between August to November in 2017. The data collection exercise was carried out in the host community in Nigeria using both paper questionnaire formats and online survey tool (survey monkey). The last phase of the project was scheduled to be finalized in three months, but the timeline was not feasible as we saw the need to ex-tend the schedule to enable us to refine the project documentation with the project partners.

While the practical project execution was carried out in accordance with the spirit and letters of the attached agreement from the working life or-ganization: Finnish-Nigerian Forum for Commerce and Investment (Finn-ico Organisation), guided by the project manager in accordance with the project ethics and good scientific practice issued by the National Advisory Board or Research Ethics in Finland.

Figure 7: Project Process flow diagram (Anthony, 2017)

6.THE PROJECT CYCLE MANAGEMENT - PROJECT PROCESS

The project process laid out by the management of Finnico Organisation, is particularly connected to several working interfaces such as: the con-ceptualizations, the planning, the budgeting, the data collection, the pro-ject execution and the evaluation of the propro-ject outcomes. This is to en-sure due diligence and to guarantee that the paths followed in this project process aligns with the project goals and objectives.

According to figure 7 above, the project execution is tailored to a process flow that allows the management to verify and rectify anticipated loopholes that may come up either in the early, middle or concluding aspect of the project exercise, and of course to ensure integrity of the project outcomes and sustainability of the entire concept.

Against the above backdrop therefore, the Finnico Ry project became a tool for social welfare intervention for the people of Ideato Local Govern-ment Area because of the benefits it attracted to the community such as:

skills optimization trainings, connected the small-scale traders to available funding opportunities, networking and market accessibility.

The first phase of the seminar was organized on the 5th day of August 2017, while the second and third where finished in September and No-vember 2017 respectively. Lack of adequate means of information dissem-ination initially almost stalled the project, but for the resilience of our local partners to reach out to as many participants as possible. Convincing and getting other stakeholders and speakers for the seminar, and other logis-tics, including my efforts to commence the writing of this report, consumed extra resources and time than earlier estimated.

6.1 Resources and Project Organization

In my position as the social welfare officer, the organization earmarked a substantial budget for the entire project execution from start to finish. Each interface of the project was considered separately by the management team. All cost and resource implications were taken into consideration be-fore the commencement of the project to avoid any bias in the project out-come. The team also rallied support from the organizing partners.

The team also realized that the seminars require a large capacity hall to accommodate all the participants. About forty (40) participants signed up during the first phase of the training workshop. One of our partners - Cor Mariae high school Urualla, provided a conducive venue at a cost friendly rate.

Most of the partners were drawn to the project because of its target on women empowerment, and especially Cor Mariae as a girl only school, was also established to train and empower the girl-child, towards growing to be responsible to herself and the society. Incidentally, the hall has enough chairs and tables. As the social welfare officer, my job priorities

were on planning, organizing, evaluating and execution of the project in-terfaces. The anchor team members were helping with coordinating and managing logistics and the recruitment of the resource persons.

The team recruited suitable resource persons from the agricultural sectors, banks and the governments department of trade, including financial insti-tutions. These were taken care by our local partners too, including record-ing the events with some electronics gadgets like camera and video etc.

belonging to Finnico Organisation. In no doubt, the seminars wouldn’t have been possible without the participants, and I give kudos to our local partner ‘Mind Miners Initiative’ for making it a huge reality.

My flight ticket to Nigeria for this project going and coming back cost me 900 euros, stationaries and printed handbills for the local advertisements and awareness cost around 50 euros. Refreshments and transport fares for the resource persons and myself to the seminar venue throughout the duration of this project was about 100 euros. The funds were provided by the work life organisation, Finnico Organisation, while the rest of the logis-tics were provided by our local partners.