Research is a core area activity for FOTE which has undertaken numerous research projects either singularly or in collaboration with reputable local and international organizations. Some of the Researches are:

LPG Perception and Consumption
A survey was carried out in Badagry LGA and Ojokoro LCDA in Lagos State with funding from the Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programme (GEF-SGP).

National Energy Policy
A Gender Audit was carried out with support from ENERGIA, the international network on gender and sustainable energy.

Economic Profile and Technological Expertise Available to Nigerian Women Entrepreneurs
A baseline study was undertaken on behalf of the United Nations Development Funds for Women (UNIFEM).

Enabling Urban Poor Livelihoods Policy Making: Understanding the role of Energy Services
Collaboration with ENERGIA (Netherlands) to conduct a DFID- Sponsored Project on Gender and Energy in Nigeria

The Assessment of the Lagos Lagoon for POPs sources, types and impacts
This project was sponsored by the International POPs Elimination Network (IPEN).

Strategic Assessment of the Status of POPs Pesticides Trading in Southwestern Nigeria
Collaboration with two other Nigerian NGOs in a study sponsored by the Pesticide Action Network (UK) under the African Stockpile Program (ASP).

Most of these studies are in the websites of the sponsoring agencies.

As part of our mandate, FOTE educates, creates awareness and conducts training, workshops and seminars on environmental and renewable energy issues for identified target groups. Some of these activities include:

• FOTE is currently working on popularizing the use of cleaner, modern fuel in the form of LPG, and create sustainable markets for its consumption and use in households, institutions (e.g. boarding schools) and small businesses in Nigeria for improved living conditions and enhanced forest conservation through reduced fuel wood consumption. We have started with two communities in Lagos State, South west Nigeria with support from GEF-SGP administered by UNDP in Nigeria, and hope to replicate the project across the country, funding being available.

• FOTE conducted training for some mechanics in Lagos State on the proper handling and disposal of Waste oil with particular emphasis on minimization and recycling.

• Under the GRESDA/UNIFEM programme, FOTE organized workshops on Rural Women Technician Corps (RWTC) designed for rural and peri urban women to teach them basic maintenance and repairs of their post harvest machinery. This programme was aimed at reducing the women’s dependence on male technicians while improving their earning capacity and by extension increasing the country’s food security. The workshops also taught the women basic environmental and sanitation issues, Gender sensitization and Book Keeping and Business Management

• FOTE in collaboration with ENERGIA organized several training workshops on “Strengthening Capacity for Gender Mainstreaming in Energy Planning” for Energy Project Planners, under the Turning Information into Empowerment program of ENERGIA otherwise known as the TIE-ENERGIA program.

FOTE creates awareness and empower women, youths and other vulnerable groups, in its effort to build capacity and inculcate in them, environmental consciousness and improve livelihoods. Several workshops, seminars and workshops on very important environmental and economic empowerment issues have thus, been organized, some in collaboration with relevant government institutions so as to effect policy changes. These, in most cases constitute part of the programmes lined up to commemorate the World Environment Day.

FOTE in this area of its thrust has organized workshops with the themes:
• Proper Waste Oil Management
• Climate Change and Global Workshop
• Ecosystems Changes and Poverty in Nigeria
• Wetlands Protection in Nigeria
• Sustainable Water Development and Poverty Alleviation
• Adolescent and Environmental Protection

FOTE established ‘Environmental and Sanitation’ clubs in some selected schools. The aim of this programme is to build a new generation of young people with a culture of environmental protectiveness and to imbibe them with a culture of environmental consciousness. The Y-FOTE clubs currently exist in about 15 secondary schools in Lagos State. Under the Y-FOTE programme, a workshop with the theme “Adolescents and Environmental Protection” was organized in 2002 in collaboration with the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA) for both private and public secondary schools in Lagos State to launch the programme.

From 2005 till date, FOTE has organized annual workshops in collaboration with the British Council some private sector organizations at the Federal Government College, Ijanikin, our adopted institution for our Y-FOTE programs, to mark the World Environment Day celebrations with the relevant year’s theme. The theme for the 2010 workshop being ‘Many Species: One Planet, One Future’ The workshop was attended by 20 schools.

In 2010, we were able to link Ijanikin with a German secondary school, and they are at present exchanging correspondences and maybe later projects and exchange visits.

FOTE organizes a minimum of two seminars and workshops annually on different energy, gender and environmentally related themes. The themes of some of these workshops are:

– Proper Waste Oil Management
– Climate Change and Global Warming
– Ecosystems Changes and Poverty in Nigeria
– Wetlands Protection in Nigeria
– Sustainable Water Development and Poverty Alleviation
– Enabling Urban Poor Livelihoods Policy making- Understanding the Role of Energy Services
– Stakeholders Reflection on the Nigerian Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) Situation
– Kick the Habit: Towards a Low Carbon economy
– Your Planet Needs You: Unite to Combat Climate Change