Rebuild & Rise Humanitarian Initiative

About Rebuild & Rise

Built from field experience, and the questions it left behind.

Rebuild & Rise Humanitarian Initiative is a Nigerian organization founded by two Nigerian university students and shaped by their 2022 relief work in Abuja’s internally displaced person communities.

  • Registered in Nigeria
  • Pilot 001 · In design

Purpose

What we are building toward.

Mission

Our mission is to work alongside internally displaced communities, Almajiri and out-of-school children, and other underserved Nigerians to strengthen access, capability, and local systems through integrated health, education, and skills-building initiatives designed with communities, guided by trauma-aware practice, measured honestly, and built for long-term continuity rather than dependency.

Vision

We envision a Nigeria where displacement, poverty, or social exclusion does not determine whether people can access healthcare, education, and other basic needs—and where communities can rely on durable local systems instead of temporary aid alone.

Origin record

Relief was the beginning, not the conclusion.

This is an origin record—not an impact timeline. The 2022 fieldwork predates Rebuild & Rise.

  1. 012022

    Relief work in Abuja

    Before Rebuild & Rise existed, our founders organized relief in Abuja’s IDP communities. Volunteer teams packed and distributed meals family by family. The work mattered: people ate, and trust was built.

  2. 02What we learned

    Temporary relief could not create continuity on its own.

    The supplies ran out in days; we left; and we could not say clearly what had changed. Those limits belonged to our method, not to the communities.

  3. 03What followed

    The lessons became a model.

    Rebuild & Rise grew from that reckoning. Its model begins with listening and partnership, then moves through practical training, referral pathways, follow-up, measurement, and local ownership.

  4. 04Now

    Pilot 001 is in design.

    Rebuild & Rise is registered in Nigeria and is designing its first focused community pilot around a specific community need, a clear local partnership, practical training, referral support, and simple outcome tracking.

Field archive · Abuja · 2022

Where our story began.

These nine photographs document the founders’ prior relief work in Abuja in 2022. They predate Rebuild & Rise and are presented as an origin record, not as evidence of current programs or organizational impact.

Founders’ prior relief work · Abuja · 2022 · archive

Children, families, and volunteers gathered at the camp beside a chalkboard
Community and volunteers gathered beneath a treeAbuja · 2022 · founders’ prior relief work
Women of an Abuja IDP camp community gathered beneath a tree, dressed in vivid patterned fabric
Women gathered beneath a tree at an Abuja IDP campAbuja · 2022 · founders’ prior relief work
Makeshift shelters and trees on open ground at an informal IDP settlement in Abuja
Informal settlementAbuja · 2022 · founders’ prior relief work
Volunteers packing food supplies inside a camp structure in warm afternoon light
Volunteer packing lineAbuja · 2022 · founders’ prior relief work
Volunteers seated on wooden benches packing seasoning cubes and supplies into small bags
Volunteer packing lineAbuja · 2022 · founders’ prior relief work
Rows of packed meal containers tied with napkins and spoons, prepared by volunteers
Meals prepared for distributionAbuja · 2022 · founders’ prior relief work
A volunteer and a young community member smiling together at the camp
Friendship at the campAbuja · 2022 · founders’ prior relief work
Community members and volunteers gathered together under a large tree at an Abuja IDP camp
Community & volunteersAbuja · 2022 · founders’ prior relief work
Wide view of families and volunteers standing beneath the tree canopy at the camp
Community and volunteers beneath the tree canopyAbuja · 2022 · founders’ prior relief work

Our principles

The standards come before the work.

Pilot 001 is in design. These seven principles are the standards by which its design—and the work that follows—must be judged.

  1. 01

    Dignity first

    People are partners, not projects. Their knowledge, priorities, and agency must shape decisions that affect them.

  2. 02

    Community & faith partnership

    Pilot design should be shaped with community leaders, women leaders, religious leaders, and existing structures that already hold trust and local knowledge.

  3. 03

    Continuity, not drop-and-go

    We will prioritize clear roles, repeatable schedules, follow-up, and capability that can remain after an external visit ends.

  4. 04

    Referral pathways

    When a need falls outside a pilot’s scope, the model should define an appropriate facility or service, how a connection is made, and how follow-up can happen.

  5. 05

    Safeguarding

    Any work involving children or vulnerable people must be governed by clear safeguarding standards and ethical conduct.

  6. 06

    Trauma-aware practice

    Pilot design should recognize how displacement, street-connected life, and chronic poverty can affect safety, trust, learning, and wellbeing—and respond with psychosocial sensitivity.

  7. 07

    Practical accountability

    We intend to track simple outputs and outcomes, state evidence gaps honestly, and let what we learn from each pilot improve the next.

Founding team

The people responsible for what comes next.

Rebuild & Rise is led by two Nigerian university students whose roles span community relationships, research, program strategy, operations, and technology.

Rebuild & Rise Humanitarian Initiative is registered in Nigeria.

Portrait of Aisha Adamu, co-founder and CEO of Rebuild & Rise

Aisha Adamu

Co-founder & CEO

Psychology and neuroscience student at the University of Toronto, researching the Almajiri education system as a Laidlaw Scholar. She leads community relationships, partnerships, and on-ground judgment, work she began at fifteen.

Portrait of Salim Salim, co-founder and CTO of Rebuild & Rise

Salim Salim

Co-founder & CTO

Human Development student at Howard University working across research, program strategy, and community-centered technology. He leads systems, operations, and everything technical, including this site.

Documentary standard

Field archive photographs come from our founders’ prior work and are published with consent. Representative photographs are clearly labeled and never presented as Rebuild & Rise field evidence. Illustrations are original artwork.

Next chapter

See how the lessons became a model.

The seven-step model moves from listening to partnership, training, connection, follow-up, measurement, and local ownership. Pilot 001 is still in design.

Explore our model