About Us
The Elsophi’s Story
Elsophi Community & Childcare Initiative (ELSOPHI) is a nongovernmental organization working to improve community and family livelihoods and foster social inclusion for the vulnerable and marginalized in African communities. Our work is focused on poverty reduction through economic empowerment for youths, young women and adolescents, primary health strengthening and community health services including HIV/OVC interventions. We have previous partnerships with the US Embassy, USAID, Catholic Relief Services, The Global Funds among others.
Our Story
Our story began a few years back in Ofolikpa community, a village in Ofu LGA of Kogi State, Nigeria. Our founder met a family of four girls with their mother who just lost their breadwinner to an unknown terminal illness. The oldest of the girls was about 10 years old and their young mother had no sustainable livelihood to care adequately for the children. Moved with compassion, our founder began supporting this family out of his meager personal income to feed and for the children to go through elementary school, this personal compassion is what has today evolved into an organized institution with a vision to empower the vulnerable and marginalized to move out of systemic and extreme poverty, to live the fullness of life and maximize their God-given potentials.
Transformed communities where the vulnerable and marginalized, are empowered to live the fullness of life and maximize their God given potentials.
To develop partnerships that brings lasting transformation to lives and communities in Africa.
ELSOPHI operates under a 3-tiered governance structure; a Board of Directors (BoDs) made up of members drawn from different areas of the human development sector whose responsibility is to provide policy and governance support for the organization in line with her overall vision and mission statements, a Technical Advisory Board (TAB) that provides technical guidance for various professional/technical areas of project implementation and an Executive/management Council that provides senior level management leadership for the day to day running of the organization.
Governance Team
Ngozi Okeke (PhD, MPH, MS.c) – Technical Director/BoD Chair
Ngozi Orame has been exposed in HIV/Community development and humanitarian projects in Nigeria for the past 15 years. She has worked on various USAID funded project including; USAID-LOPIN, USAID-ASSIST and USAID SUCCOUR OVC with Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria.
Her areas of competence include monitoring and Evaluation of HIV intervention, reproductive Health and orphans and vulnerable children, NGO Assessment and Institutional Capacity Building, Advocacy and Implementation, Community Mobilization, and sensitization. Ngozi is a professional project manager with APMG international certification and an improvement science coach specialist with demonstrated skills in humanitarian service delivery.
Michael Olabode Tomori (PhD, MPH, MBA, MS.c. B.Pharm) Board Technical Advisor, Heath and Project Management
A visionary leader, knowledgeable, courageous, straight – forward, brave, a goal-oriented go-getter who leads from the front. With over fifteen years in development work in Nigeria. He holds a PhD in Public Health from University of Central Nicaragua South America and a Master of Business Administration in Supply Chain Management from Malaysia University of Science and Technology. His strongest points include his courage, honesty and integrity.
Sumaila Drisu, (MBA, B.Sc., ACA), Board Technical Advisor, Finance, Audit and Compliance
A finance expert and an associate of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) with over 10 years’ experience in various professional and responsible capacities. He has served in the capacity of Grants, Finance and Compliance Specialist during which he brought to the fore his diverse professional experiences that caused greater improvement in the financial management and reporting activities of the respective organizations.
Mary Ojima Onoja, Board Technical Advisor, Child Protection
A seasoned and passionate statistician with great love and affection for children and women. She has over 10 years of experience in social protection works. She willingly volunteers her resources to reach out to the vulnerable and marginalize around her with a commitment to contribute to ending extreme poverty. As a skilled fashionist, she provides fashion skills support for teenage and young girls as a means of empowerment and mentorship.
Rabiat Sule, Board Technical Advisor, Education
Mrs. Sule Rabiat is a seasoned educationist. Her love for humanitarian services and education motivated her to take a teaching/mentoring role at Eljojo DHA where she has successfully taught and mentored over 100 pupils/students. Her impeccable management skills have also enable her to serve meritoriously on the management team of Eljojo DHA.
Idoko Ichaba Joseph (Esq) Board Technical Advisor, Legal/Secretary
Idoko Ichaba is a Corporate Lawyer licensed to practice law in Nigeria. He is experienced in corporate governance, Regulatory Compliance and Corporate Legal Advisory Services.
Our Partners
