Mastering the art of a resilient leadership: The Uche Isieke case study

 Uche leads and influences with a demonstrable leadership style which inspires many to action for more positive outcomes as it makes it easy to inculcating the transformative leadership ideology in the minds of those who follow him, and those who watch from afar.

In 2016, he initiated a rural advocacy campaign for his marginalized community through direct and online engagements, calling on community members to participate in community service, as an innovative way to achieve an uncommon rural transformation. He has equally used the various social media platform which he created for this purpose and engaged the relevant government authorities which attracted for the first time, road construction to his community, and other developmental efforts to his credit.

Uche's leadership style particularly in rural community development has received unusual commendations and also has inspired the many young, old, elites, and middle income, to participate in community development. He has also used his platforms and mobilized both in-kind and financial assistance worth millions of naira for indigent women and disabled groups which provided some with income opportunities, health -care, etc.

Presently, with support from his friends, associates, and volunteers who joined his third humanitarian campaign, during the #COVID 19 lockdown in Nigeria to raise funds for disabled fire victims which helped in settling their medical bills, feeding;  he's currently raising additional funds with friends and partners through his nonprofit, Rural Watch Africa Initiative for the completion of the ongoing construction of a three-bedroom apartment for the victim's, as well as provide water for 50 households in the community and empower the victims with an income-earning skills for a sustainable livelihood

Under the Sustainable development goals, Uche has mentored over 200 youths including students in primary and secondary schools in the areas of climate change leadership and innovative volunteerism for community development. This is not among the over 3,000 young students his nonprofit Rural Watch Africa Initiative(RUWAI), is engaging across Nigeria,  to help them become "environmentally aware, and socially active "  for future leadership.

 Today, he has further helped many of these youths to acquire necessary leadership skills on the various UN learning platforms and practical work in planning, social media engagement, fundraising, writing skills, communications and community engagement, and climate action. Some of these youths could now organize and raise funds for their various projects and programs both at school and at community levels.  Uche's initiative, RUWAI,  has established a climate change and environmental action club, so far in 5 secondary schools with over 3,000 members. 

Through his nonprofit initiative (Rural Watch Africa Initiative -RUWAI), he has impacted over 5000 vulnerable rural populations in 26 communities who are adversely affected by climate change.  Many of these women and youth have been equipped with knowledge and skill capacities to sustainably manage their natural resources, many are now creating income opportunities for themselves and their local communities through sustainable agriculture and land use initiatives, and other climate adaptation skills for sustainable livelihood.

Uche has led various efforts in planting over 5,000 economic trees as part of his legacy to building enduring agroecological systems for enhancing biodiversity integrity and generational climate action. 

He has volunteered in over 10 initiatives and organizations, including serving as a member of Nigeria’s National Technical Working group which developed the framework for the implementation of the country’s Degradation Neutrality by 2030 - a project or the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, making him the youngest with demonstrable capacity to serve in such a high national voluntary national assignment to combat climate change and enhance food security through sustainable land use.

Uche has been a privileged  practicing development professional for over 5 years by designing, managing, supporting, and fundraising for programs and projects in Nigeria. he is committed to continuing making a difference by leading or working in collaborative, multidisciplinary, cultural, and creative teams, within some of my specialties:

• Leading or supporting project concepts and management such as sustainable agro-ecological and land management, integrated ecosystem restoration and management, stimulating climate adaptation capacity, resilience, and livelihood support, climate action, individual and rural community empowerment, social integrity, and innovative financing for social impact initiatives.

• Evolving his strong writing skills and multilateral relationship-building exposure to lead or contribute to grant proposals, building upon the multi-million-naira worth he has helped acquire from various funding mechanisms for sustainable development.

• Strategic planning at the team and sectoral levels.

• Inspiring and leading high-performance teams.

• Leading and facilitating a variety of workshops leveraging his presentation skills to build staff or community capacity to acquire funding, or build partnerships.

He has a Bachelor's degree in Environmental Resource Management, a certificate in Safety and Security Management, M.Sc. (in-view) Agriculture, and Sustainable Development, with over ten professional certifications and memberships. He has over 10 online-published articles and research work covering relevant issues on sustainable development. He has several past and present appointment to his credit, including global coordinator, land degradation neutrality action group, among others.