Youths Against Disaster Initiative, YADI Organizational Overview

Youths Against Disasters Initiative (YADI) is a non-governmental, not-for-profit organization committed to disaster risk reduction (DRR), emergency response, public safety, and community resilience building. YADI works with youths, communities, and stakeholders to strengthen preparedness, prevent and mitigate disaster risks, and support effective response, recovery, and reintegration processes across Nigeria.

YADI was incorporated with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) on 7 September 2012 (CAC/IT/NO 55867).

The organization adopts a community-centred and multi-sectoral approach to addressing the growing risks associated with natural and human-induced hazards. YADI’s work spans emergency response and early warning/early response systems, ensuring timely action that reduces loss of lives, livelihoods, and assets. Through community-based disaster risk management (CBDRM), YADI empowers local actors to identify risks, develop preparedness plans, and implement locally driven solutions.

YADI places strong emphasis on disaster risk communication, promoting accurate, timely, and culturally appropriate information to enhance public awareness, behavioral change, and informed decision-making before, during, and after disasters. The organization also integrates food security and nutrition interventions into its humanitarian and resilience programming, recognizing the critical link between disasters, livelihoods, malnutrition, and long-term vulnerability.

In response to climate-induced risks, YADI advances climate risk management initiatives that strengthen adaptive capacity and promote sustainable practices. Its work in environment, land, and energy focuses on environmental protection, sustainable land use, and clean energy awareness as key components of disaster risk reduction and climate resilience.

YADI implements water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) programs to reduce public health risks in disaster-affected and high-risk communities, particularly during emergencies and recovery phases. In fragile and conflict-affected settings, the organization promotes community-centred peacebuilding, addressing the nexus between disasters, resource-based conflicts, and social cohesion.
Central to YADI’s mandate is community resilience building, strengthening the capacity of individuals, institutions, and systems to anticipate, absorb, adapt to, and recover from shocks and stresses. The organization supports post-disaster recovery and reintegration, facilitating the restoration of livelihoods, social services, and community structures while promoting dignity, inclusion, and sustainability.
Through advocacy, capacity building, research, networking, and strategic partnerships with government institutions, civil society, academia, and the private sector, YADI contributes to national and local efforts to build safer, more resilient, and disaster-ready communities.
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OUR VISION

To build a disaster resilient society.

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OUR MISSION

To enhance public safety through improved capacity and ability to prevent, prepare for, respond to, and recover from emergencies, disasters, and threats.

OUR OBJECTIVES

YADI places strong emphasis on disaster risk communication, promoting accurate, timely, and culturally appropriate information to enhance public awareness, behavioral change, and informed decision-making before, during, and after disasters. The organization also integrates food security and nutrition interventions into its humanitarian and resilience programming, recognizing the critical link between disasters, livelihoods, malnutrition, and long-term vulnerability.

  • Strengthen national and sub-national disaster risk management systems by promoting coordinated frameworks for public sensitization, safety awareness, and risk-informed decision-making;
  • Empower youths, communities, and civil society actors with the knowledge, skills, and tools required to prevent, prepare for, respond to, and mitigate the impacts of natural and human-induced disasters through multi-stakeholder collaboration;
  • Enhance community access to timely, reliable, and actionable information and resources for public safety, disaster preparedness, and emergency response;
  • Increase community awareness and adoption of locally appropriate disaster risk reduction and mitigation practices to reduce vulnerability and exposure to hazards;
  • Build institutional and individual capacities through the design and delivery of workshops, trainings, conferences, and knowledge-sharing platforms on disaster risk management and resilience;
  • Support government disaster management institutions at national and sub-national levels to strengthen the implementation, coordination, and localization of disaster risk management policies, plans, and strategies;
  • Generate, document, and disseminate evidence, data, indigenous knowledge, and good practices to inform policy, programming, and learning on disaster risk reduction and resilience;
  • Develop and disseminate context-appropriate educational and communication materials to support learning, behavioral change, and risk-informed actions among diverse target groups;
  • Strengthen youth leadership and participation in disaster risk management by delivering targeted training and awareness programs across secondary, tertiary, and post-tertiary institutions;
  • Promote knowledge management and learning on disaster risk reduction through the publication of research outputs and the establishment and maintenance of accessible digital knowledge platforms and resource centers.