About Pandiaspora - Charity Begins at Home!

Pandiaspora is a third sector organisation. We are a professionally-led, charitable organisation of Nigerians in the Diaspora mobilizing their skills to improve provision of health and education in Nigeria. Membership includes Highly Skilled Nigerian Professionals currently domiciled in Nigeria or working in the Diaspora (Africa, Asia and the Far East, Australia, Europe and the Americas). Membership is currently restricted to professionals who share our vision to reverse the brain drain.

Pandiaspora encourages Nigerians in the Diaspora to volunteer their skills to work on short term medical mission projects and to consider returning home to contribute to longer term sustainable development. We are a new organisation founded in April 2008, but our membership is growing and includes professionals drawn from academia and the health sciences - medical doctors, dentists, opthalmologists, laboratory scientists, nurses, academicians, lecturers, professors, research scientists. Our membership organisations and individuals have years of experience in their fields of work and collectively these skills are being mobilised to support the country to achieve the Health and Education UN MDGs by 2015. We are especially looking for Nigerians who have excelled and earned proficiency in their chosen careers and with at least 5 years senior level experience.

We work with and in support of other developmental NGOs in Nigeria, and have initiated joined-up working partnership with the Federal Ministry of Health and the Nigerian National Volunteer Service. Such initiatives will aim to harness the skills of professionals at home and in the Diaspora.

In July 2008, we will launch "Pandiaspora Medical Mission Fund", an independent, voluntary and charitable initiative of Nigerians in the Diaspora. The Fund is a professionally-led foundation to support funding for improved access to better health and education for the least prviledged in the country. Other initiatives currently being proposed are "Pandiaspora Health Awareness Week", "Nigerian Diaspora Come Back Home Programme", "The Pandiaspora Rural Health Initiative", "The Nigerian National Healthline - A Free and Confidential 24 Hour Health Information, Medical Advisory and Patient Support Helpline", and "DrNigeria" - an out of hours doctor-on-call helpline. When launched, Pandiaspora Medical Mission Fund, will seek to raise N500m through donations over the next five years, to support these initiatives.

There are eight core values underpinning our work: accountability, advocacy, independence,  partnership, professionalism, quality, transparency and social welfare.

Accountability:  We hold ourselves in very high esteem and at all times remain accountable for our actions to accomplish our mission and vision. We utilise donor money for the specific purposes intended to get the best value for money and the best outcomes for our service recipients

Advocacy:  While maintaining our neutrality, we will speak out without prejudice against any acts of injustices or wilful omission that deliberately and directly impact negatively on the lives and well-being of other Nigerians

Independence:  We are Nigerians first and offer services based on the need of the recipients and not dictated to by any third party. We maintain non-partisan neutrality in all our work, as such we are not influenced by donors or sponsors. We do not accept donations or sponsorships that have strings attached.

Professionalism: We conduct ourselves in utmost professional regard for our colleagues, our professionals and recipients of our services. Every member of our organisation represents the face of Pandiaspora.

Partnership:  We work alone and in most instances in collaboration and partnership with other International and National Non-Governmental organisations, individuals, groups, communities and government agencies. By working in partnership we seek to maximize the impact of our resources to achieve desired beneficial outcomes.

Quality:  We deliver to our patients, individuals and communities the highest quality service standards that we would wish to receive for ourselves and our families. We do not compromise on the quality of care, products and services we provide.

Transparency: We publish minutes of all official meetings, statements of income and expenses on our website, and list of donors and sponsors.we use donatons only for the reasons intended and specified in our business case presentation.  Any elections to elective office at Pandiaspora are held by open ballot of the national assembly of registered members.

Social Welfare:  There is no statutory social welfare system in Nigeria. Often, people fall through the cracks without the necessary social support services and are only supported by extended family memebrs. We work with both statutory agencies and non-statutory sector to implement social support systems and networks to assist those in need. Where possible we will directly intervene to provide humanitarian aid.

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