Solution to poverty found

The Community Driven Development approach is an effective method of reducing rural poverty and promoting development process of rural communities in Nigeria, a report by Community and Social Development Agency, which is based in Bayelsa State, has said.

The report was carried out by Dr. Edoumikeumo Gowon; Prof. Edet Abasiekong; Gun Ovuokerie and Appah Ebimobowei. The report, made available to our correspondent on Friday, focused on the impact evaluation study of community and social development projects in the state. 

It said, “The CDD approach is considered to be very effective and a major mechanism for ensuring the mass participation of rural dwellers in the poverty reduction and growth promoting development process of the country.

“This is so because all the stakeholders participate in the decision-making process of identifying micro-projects that help both the poor and the likes in reducing poverty. “The project development objective is to sustainably increase access of poor people to improved social and natural resource infrastructure services.”

The report said the inability of Bayelsa State Government to meet its financial obligation to the International Development Association (organ of the World Bank), had reduced the communities wherethe CSDP would have intervened.

Therefore, the Report recommended that in order to prevent the state government from defaulting, the World Bank should liaise with the Federal Ministry of Finance to deduct at source from their federal allocation for the counterpart funding. It believed that the strategy would help to increase timely completion of CSDP micro-projects in the state.It also recommended that the CSDA of Bayelsa  should collaborate with other donor agencies to sponsor a bill in the state House of Assembly on counterpart funding.

It urged the local government chairmen in the state to incorporate in their budgets sustenance and maintenance plan of CSDP micro-projects and replicate the CDD approach. The report said the CSDA in collaboration with the LGAs should organise workshops and training for employees.

The Managing Director, CSDA, Mrs. Oyintonyo Oboro, had said recently that the CSDP had increased the access of poor people to state’s infrastructure and incentives. She said the programme was to validate the reports of consultants that were commissioned to do the impact assessment survey on the projects in the state.

Oboro said, “We have invited a team of high- profile evaluators to examine the documents and to ascertain whether the reports represent the ongoing projects in the communities.” She commended Governor Seriake Dickson for being a community developer, who had the interest of the people at heart. “Dickson is a community developer. He was not here when the project started but he was able to clear the previous debts of N200m arrears by previous administrations,” Oboro said.

She, therefore, appealed to the state government to clear the N300m owed by the state to enable it to start CSDA2, which would cover all the communities in the state.

Governor Okorocha to focus on Youth Empowerment, plans Summit

The maiden edition of Imo State stakeholders' summit is billed to hold in Owerri in November, where the integrated young people's action plan would be formally presented to the public.

This plan followed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Imo state government and a non-governmental organisation, Forward Africa, on the process.

The MoU is an aftermath of the development of a three-year young people development action plan, which was produced through a coalition of Ministries, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), departments and Agencies. The action plan, for 2012 to 2015, was facilitated by Forward Africa, and sponsored by the Ford Foundation.

The action plan, which is the first of its kind in Nigeria, was presented to the state government through the Imo State Ministry of Youth and Sports, which also signed the MoU on behalf of the state. In a speech at the signing ceremony, the State Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Mr. Kenneth Emelu, commended the NGO for initiating such a noble project that would catalyse various youth empowerment programmes in the state that would be of immense benefit to the young people.

The commissioner, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Mr. Obinna Ofomadu, pledged that the government would render the necessary support and provide logistics to ensure successful implementation of the project.

Earlier, the Executive Director of Forward Africa, Chibuzo Oriuwa, had thanked the various government ministries and agencies for partnering the NGO to develop the action plan. Oriuwa expressed happiness with the Ford Foundation for funding the project.

The Imo state young people development action plan is a product of intensive collaboration and dedication by the core stakeholders that matter in the delivering of services to young people. Also involved in the formulation of the action plan are the CSOs and the media. The document had earlier been ratified by the advisory body on the integrated project to improve the young people reproductive health and development.
Commenting on the action plan, Oriuwa observed that the youths suffered a lot of neglect which had led them to various negative forms of behaviour.

"The societal ills associated with the young people can be checked if deliberate programmes are planned to involve the youths in the various activities of the government", the Executive Director stated.
She explained that Forward Africa was implementing a project titled 'Building and expanding partnership for promoting integrated programming to prove the sexual and reproductive health of in-school youths in South East Nigeria', with the support from the Ford Foundation.

According to her, Forward Africa has carried out advocacy visits to various officers connected with youth programmes in Imo. "So far, 147 teachers in various Junior Secondary Schools have been trained on the family life and HIV Education (FLHE) Curriculum and the training is still on-going, with plan under way to train all the Area Inspectors of Education (AIE) in the state before the end of 2012," Oriuwa said.

Source: All Africa