Impact and Community Engagement

Our Record

Measuring What Matters

Impact, for SCD, is not measured in numbers alone — though the numbers matter. It is measured in the young person who re-engaged with education after months of disengagement. The family that learned to communicate differently. The community that became more aware, more protective, and more supportive of its young people.

For nearly thirty years, SCD has gathered evidence of its impact — through formal outcome monitoring, feedback from young people and families, and the accumulated professional judgement of our staff and partners. This page presents some of that evidence, alongside the stories and the community engagement work that give the numbers their meaning.

15,000+ Young People Supported

Over fifteen thousand children and young people have received direct support from SCD across our three decades of operation.

30+ Years of Operation

Founded in 1995, SCD has maintained a consistent, growing, and improving presence across Nigeria for over three decades.

11 States Active

From Borno in the north-east to Akwa-Ibom in the south, SCD operates across eleven Nigerian states and the FCT.

200+ Staff and Volunteers

A dedicated and growing workforce of trained, supervised, and passionate staff and volunteers committed to positive change every day.

Outcomes

What Our Programmes Achieve

SCD tracks outcomes for every young person across five core domains. The following data reflects outcomes from our most recent reporting period across all eleven states of operation.

78%%

Improved Emotional Wellbeing

78% of young people who completed SCD's emotional wellbeing support programme showed measurable improvement in emotional regulation, self-esteem, and reported wellbeing over a six-month period.

82%%

Re-engaged with Education

82% of young people who were disengaged from school at the point of referral to SCD showed improved attendance and engagement within three months of beginning SCD support.

74%%

Reduced Challenging Behaviour

74% of young people referred for behavioural support showed a meaningful reduction in the frequency and severity of challenging behaviours over a twelve-month period of engagement.

89%%

Families Report Positive Change

89% of parents and carers whose children received SCD support reported positive changes in their child's behaviour, wellbeing, or relationships at home within six months.

91%%

Young People Feel Safe

91% of young people engaged with SCD's programmes report that they feel safe in SCD's environments and that they have at least one trusted adult at SCD they feel able to speak to.

76%%

Improved Life Skills

76% of young people completing SCD's life skills programme demonstrate improved scores across communication, problem-solving, and personal responsibility assessments conducted before and after the programme.

Community Voices

Impact in the Words of Those We Serve

From a Parent, Kano State

When SCD first became involved with our family, I was at a loss. My son had stopped attending school and was spending time with people I was worried about. I did not know how to reach him.

"The SCD worker never gave up on him, even when he pushed back. Slowly, I watched my son change — he started talking to me again. He went back to school."

Parent of a young person supported by SCD, Kano State

From a School Principal, Kaduna State

We have worked with SCD for several years now. The young people they support often arrive at our school carrying significant difficulties that classroom teachers are not equipped to address alone.

"SCD fills a critical gap. Their staff understand these young people. I have seen students transform over the course of a year with SCD's support — it is genuinely remarkable."

School Principal, Kaduna State

School engagement through SCD programmes

Community Engagement

Working With Communities, Not Just in Them

SCD's community engagement work is grounded in a conviction that the best outcomes for young people happen when the whole community is working in the same direction. Our community engagement model moves beyond delivering services to individuals — it seeks to build the knowledge, attitudes, skills, and relationships that make communities genuinely safer and more supportive for all of their young people.

Across our eleven states of operation, SCD's Community Engagement Workers build relationships with schools, religious institutions, traditional leaders, local government, and community groups — developing the partnerships and the shared understanding that multiply the impact of our direct services.

Community engagement at SCD includes awareness-raising, safeguarding training, family support, advocacy, and capacity building — all delivered with sensitivity to local culture and context, and always in response to the expressed needs and priorities of the communities we serve.

Get Involved in Your Community

Safeguarding Awareness

Community-wide sessions equipping families, teachers, and community leaders with the knowledge to recognise and respond to safeguarding concerns.

Family Strengthening

Workshops and support sessions that build positive parent-child communication, parenting confidence, and family resilience.

School Partnerships

Collaborative work with schools to provide integrated support for at-risk young people and to strengthen the school's own pastoral and safeguarding capacity.

Community Leader Engagement

Building relationships with traditional leaders, religious figures, and local government representatives to strengthen community-level support systems.

Advocacy and Voice

Advocating for the rights and needs of children and young people at state and national level — ensuring their voices are heard in decisions that affect their lives.

Development

Promoting Development in Every Dimension

SCD takes a whole-person approach to youth development — addressing social, emotional, educational, physical, and civic dimensions of each young person's growth.

Social Development

Building the relational skills and community connections that young people need to thrive in family, school, and civic life.

Peer relationship skills
Conflict resolution and communication
Community belonging and identity
Civic awareness and responsibility

Emotional Development

Developing the inner resources that enable young people to manage difficulty, regulate emotions, and maintain a positive sense of self.

Emotional literacy and self-awareness
Resilience and coping strategies
Self-esteem and positive identity
Mental health and wellbeing

Educational Development

Strengthening young people's engagement with learning and their belief in their own capacity to achieve educationally.

Re-engagement with school and learning
Academic motivation and goal-setting
Study skills and learning strategies
Transition support

Creating Opportunities

Opening Doors for Young People

SCD's work is ultimately about expanding what is possible for young people — creating pathways to futures that might otherwise have been closed to them.

Educational Pathways

SCD supports young people to re-engage with education, complete their schooling, and access further education and training opportunities — opening the doors that education unlocks for their futures. Our educational support programme has helped hundreds of young people who were at risk of permanent exclusion to return to school and to achieve educational qualifications that have changed the direction of their lives.

Skills and Employability

Through SCD's life skills and vocational development work, young people develop the practical capabilities — communication, problem-solving, self-management, teamwork — that employers and communities value and that young people need to build sustainable independent lives. For many, this represents their first real preparation for the world of work.

Community Participation

SCD actively creates opportunities for young people to contribute positively to their communities — through volunteer activities, community events, and structured civic engagement. Young people who feel they have a valued role in their community are more engaged, more motivated, and more resilient — and the communities they live in are stronger for their involvement.

Safe and Stable Environments

For young people in residential care or coming from unstable home environments, SCD provides the consistent, safe, and nurturing environment that is the foundation of all development. Safety and stability are not simply desirable outcomes — they are preconditions for learning, growth, and the building of positive futures. Every night a young person spends in a safe SCD environment is a night that matters.

Looking Forward

Our Commitments for the Years Ahead

SCD's record of impact over thirty years is a foundation, not a ceiling. We are committed to deepening the quality of our work, extending our reach to more young people, and strengthening our evidence base — so that every decision we make is informed by the best available evidence of what works for children and young people.

We are also committed to amplifying the voices of young people themselves in the design, delivery, and evaluation of our programmes — because the young people we serve are the best experts on what they need, and their perspectives must shape what we do.

Most fundamentally, we remain committed to what we have always been committed to: being there, consistently and compassionately, for every young person who needs SCD's support — regardless of where they live, what they have been through, or what challenges they are facing.

Expand to New States

Extend SCD's direct services to additional Nigerian states where the need for youth support is high and community partnerships are developing.

Strengthen Outcome Measurement

Invest in more robust, longitudinal outcome monitoring that tracks the long-term impact of SCD's work on young people's lives.

Deepen Community Integration

Build deeper, more sustained community partnerships that strengthen local capacity and complement SCD's direct services.

Amplify Young People's Voices

Create formal mechanisms for young people to participate actively in the design and evaluation of all SCD programmes.

Grow and Develop Our Workforce

Invest in staff training, career development, and wellbeing to build the high-quality, sustainable workforce that SCD's mission requires.