DPI is two years today! I am very excited that this is happening during my term as Executive Director of the organisation. In October 2004, we started DPI with one of the most ambitious initiatives to be carried out by a Nigerian youth organisation to facilitate youth participation in a major HIV/AIDS Conference- International Conference on AIDS and STI in Africa (ICASA 2005). Conference President Prof. Femi Soyinka remarked that " DPI contributed tremendously to the planning and execution process in ICASA 2005.DPI's input had impacted on the success achieved both in fundraising and planning of the Youth Programme." An online consultation was carried out in the months of October to November 2004 to X-ray Youth Participation at previous ICASAs, challenges to effective youth participation and what needs to be done to ensure the effective youth participation at the 2005 ICASA. The report that came from this process was shared at various forums both within and outside of Africa and was well received by both donors, the conference secretariat and young people from across Africa.
During the foundations of DPI, we took the responsibility of South Secretariat for the Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS. A responsibility we considered very important and worked through the two years of our corporate existence. GYCA is a dream for DPI's leadership. I had worked through the process leading to Bangkok 2004 AIDS Conference to advocate the establishment of GYCA and it is great to see that GYCA has become a vibrant youth network and space to ensure that the voice of youth are clearly heard in International AIDS Conferences. The messages that GYCA shared around: Listen, Sex and Leadership, are clear messages that reflect the vulnerability of youth, their ability to take effective leadership and the need to strengthen their participation in policy making processes. Two years after, we believe that we have played an outstanding role in both the development and continued existence of GYCA. We have decided to drop this role to enable us focus more on the processes that are ahead of us in Nigeria, and our expansion process into the African region.

Today, DPI is one of the most vibrant youth organizations in Nigeria working to promote youth participation by building their capacity to develop and implement effective, innovative and proactive social change and development actions, while linking them with their peers and resources from across Africa and globally, documenting best practices from their initiatives, and advocating space for youth participation in policy making processes. Our annual youth leadership summits have become gathering spaces for youth participation in national development discuss in Nigeria, and our office in Lusaka has been granted status of a youth organization by the Zambian government. The first Youth leadership summit was attended by over 130 from 25 out of 36 states of Nigeria. The second summit has formed the agenda for youth advocacy in health and development issues in Nigeria. The Enugu Declaration on health and development has formed the basis for youth advocacy at the National Adolescent Reproductive Health Policy Review and increasingly it is becoming a working documents for youth meetings across Nigeria. Our next summit will focus on youth leadership in HIV/AIDS Research for Development.

In August 2006, we launched the African Youth HIV/AIDS Best Practices Handbook, in collaboration with ACTALIVE and the International Federation of Medical Students Associations. The launch was held at the International AIDS Conference in Toronto and witnessed the participation of both youth, adult and development agencies. This is a landmark event and has been applauded by many. The Best Practices Handbook is a compendium of 95 youth-led HIV/AIDS Projects from 25 African countries and book has since been presented to the media in Nigeria as well as various national and international meetings. The second version of the handbook is being prepared and will be launched at the XV International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa in Gabon 2007. We are presently reviewing the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS I) and how it addresses the needs of young people in Nigeria. We will keep engaging with the government and political office aspirants on how they hope to sustain the reforms after the present administration.

DPI's board is focusing on health and education issues with particular emphasis on: policy advocacy and community mobilization, capacity building, networking and research and documentation. We will work on HIV/AIDS and education initiatives at the grassroots levels across Nigeria and we will strengthen our network across Africa. In 2007 we will work with various organizations to ensure that young people are effectively positioned to participate effectively in Health and education policy development processes. We have been involved in various national and international meetings and processes to move the agenda forward in these regards. I was recently a temporary adviser to UNAIDS in Geneva and currently serve as Nigeria's representative at the commonwealth Regional Youth Caucus.

We will like to thank DLB Concerns, UNFPA , Center for Creative Arts Education, Center for Development Support Initiatives, the Rivers State Government, Economic and Social Empowerment of Rural Communities, One Village Foundation, the Enugu State Government and the Rivers State Action Committee on HIV/AIDS for their continued support to DPI's activities. Without your support, we will not have come this far, and we hope that you will continue to support us to move forward. We will also like to thank ACTALIVE, the Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS and the Global Youth Action Network for being our partners through this process. Our Board of Trustees deserve to be thanked for their continued technical support to the development of the organization and we hope to continue working within the limits of resources to ensure effective youth involvement in the development and delivery in effective Health and education services across Africa.

Kindly follow this link for our annual report 2005 http://www.developmentpartnership.org/dpi/reports/DPI2005REPORT.pdf
DPI is two! Hip! Hip! Hip! Hurray!