Section One (Header):

SPROUT: Breaking a wave of power amongst displaced people

SPROUT: Breaking a wave of inclusion amongst excluded people

“You can cut all the flowers but you cannot stop spring from coming”

“Long live the rose that grew from concrete when no one else cared”

“The seed must grow, regardless of the fact that it’s planted in stone”

Section Two (History/Story):

Version two: Years ago, our founders were at a crossroads. Born and raised in Nigeria, we had grown up witnessing the disconnect between the humanitarian aid organizations in Nigeria and Nigerians themselves. Relief organizations centered their programs around providing scant material aid to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Nigeria, with little regard for the dignity of the recipients or the aid’s long-term impact. To many NGOs, IDPs were numbers to be checked off on a list. We knew that they were human beings with agency. In 2007, we founded Caprecon to support IDPs in northern Nigeria on their journey to empowerment.

Caprecon is built on the belief that every person has the right to design their own future. Through Sprout, we provide them with the tools to do so. Sprout is our anti-trafficking initiative, aimed at reducing child trafficking in IDP camps by providing IDPs with marketing and business skills training, entrepreneurship programs and anti-trafficking education. We work with local leaders within IDP camps to create community based anti-trafficking defense forces to provide IDPs with the tools to protect themselves and their communities.

Section Three (Our Values);

Quality, Not Quantity: The success of an organization isn’t defined by the number of people that it reaches, but by how deeply its impact is felt. At Caprecon, we committed to deeply impacting each individual with whom we work, and will expand only when we know it won’t decrease the quality of our work.

Collaboration: Working with community leaders is the only way to make real, lasting change. We believe in always involving local leaders and community members in the implementation of all of our projects,

Investment: Development aid isn’t an excuse for laziness, it’s a leverage for independence. Caprecon’s efforts aren’t just projects-they are investments in people and investments in livelihoods.

Showing Up: The size of a problem isn’t an excuse to not tackle it. We are not intimidated by problems that seem large in scale, or that have long since gone unaddressed. We believe that with the right team, change is always possible.

Section Three (Initiatives):

Sprout Foods: Sprout Foods was created with a simple philosophy in mind: economic security is the key to freedom from traffickers. We work with IDPs to develop innovative recipes for popular Nigerian snacks and equip them with the marketing and financial literacy skills needed to sell these foods in large scale to grocery stores and local markets. 100% of the profits are kept by IDPs to support their families and build their path to financial independence.

Up Against Trafficking: Education that transforms IDPs from defenseless to defender. Through Up Against Trafficking, we educate IDPs on how to spot human trafficking, and train local IDP leaders how to spot, report and prosecute instances of trafficking within their camp.

Poetry and Art Centers: Self expression in the midst of fear. These centers provide children and teenagers in the most conflict-affected areas of Nigeria with a safe, positive environment in which to spend their time after school. We teach children to create art and poetry as a way of processing traumatic memories and encourage them to enter their work into local competitions to win school scholarships.

Apprenticeship Programs: There is no one route to success. While we value the benefits of a traditional education, we believe in supporting everyone on their path to success, no matter what this may look like. Through our Apprenticeship Program, we seek out aspiring entrepreneurs and tradesmen and match them with mentors in their local area, supporting them while they learn to excel in their field.

Section Four (Impact):

Sprout is bringing safety to those who need it the most
59% of Madinatu Camp’s 5,000 residents report being sexually exploited in exchange for food
88% of Madinatu Camp’s 5,000 residents that a lack of camp security allows traffickers to walk freely within the camp
40% of Madinatu Camp’s 5,000 residents report high rates of human trafficking to North Africa and the Middle East from the camp

Structure:

- Header
- As seen in
- What we do/story
- Founders

Dollin Holt: Dollin has spent every weekend for 10 years working to empower impoverished communities and at-risk children in northern Nigeria. Dollin works to reconstruct post-conflict Nigeria by creating art and poetry centers for teenagers, funding startup costs for small businesses and returning at-risk children to school in northern Nigeria. Dollin holds an LLM in human rights law and trauma-informed psychological care.

- - Phil Obaji Jr: Philip has committed himself to protecting the rights of children and vulnerable peoples across Nigeria. He has spent the last 10 years reporting on child trafficking in internally displaced persons and refugee camps across the country, and his publications have appeared in Al Jazeera, The Guardian, and The Daily Beast. During 2019, he led a team of experts to carry out an assessment on human trafficking risks in IDP camps in northeastern Nigeria on behalf of the United Nations.

John Abu: John is a social engineer and development specialist who has dedicated the past 10 years exclusively to serving marginalized populations in Africa. He has built systems to protect orphans and vulnerable children, provide reproductive health services for adolescents and young adults, and expand treatment to adults with HIV/AIDS. John is a member of various government accountability mechanisms and is a fierce advocate of an open and inclusive government in Nigeria.