The HEADSTART program is an educational support and career development program aimed at getting secondary students prepared for the tertiary education system and the entirety of their career phase by enriching them with the skills and tools to manage the demands of the present age tertiary institutions and the labour market.

The target beneficiaries are Senior Secondary One to Two students. Each class cohort is a maximum of 140 students. The senior secondary school two to three students who enroll on the program will be taken through various stages of training both theoretically and by practical demonstration on skills and personal development initiatives that will empower them to successfully finish their secondary education, prepare them for tertiary education and make them fully endowed personnel in their chosen field of study/career of interest and/or empower them to be employers of labour.

Staffing:
• 5-7 Trainers are assigned to each school.

Learning Style:
• (7) interactive workshops
• 3 weeks
• Three full day Saturday sessions
• 9am – 5pm with a one hour lunch break

Structure:
• Skills Workshop: Six (6) workshops are skills based:
 Session 1: Introduction to Employability Skills
 Session 2: Communication Skills Session
 Session 3: Teamwork Skills Session
 Session 4: Leadership Skills Session
 Session 5: Problem Solving Skills Session & Business Challenge
 Session 6: Commercial Awareness Session

• Career & Education Workshop:
 7th Workshop
 General overview about pursuing degrees in Nigeria, US and UK and admissions process for these countries
 Mini break-out sessions organised in themes according to broad careers of interest e.g. Media, Medicine, Law, Nursing,  Business Administration, Accounting and Finance, Engineering, IT, Fashion etc.

• Business Challenge:
 Occurs in problem solving skills workshop
 Each group will be directed to think of an innovation within their chosen fields
 Each group will be guided to agree on a particular innovation out of those submitted
 The chosen idea will be developed and presented
 All presentations will be judged by the trainers from other teams

Additional Support & Services
• Continued support is available through:
• Web space offering careers resources
• Updated Careers and higher education information guide
• SOS Careers program


The primary duties of the volunteer trainer are:
a. Selection of the Participants
b. Coordinating the 7 skills workshops for the participants
c. Coordinating the career development journey of the participants
d. Writing a progress report which must be submitted to the Program Officer
e. Administering the robust skills workshops and career and education workshop evaluation framework
f. Managing the Applications process for external opportunities for the students
g. Facilitating the Business challenge workshop

This is a volunteer role so there is no remuneration but stipends to cover your travel expenses to and from the venue, allocations for data and credit for phone calls will be provided.