Oxfam Nigeria has declared its partnership with Adamawa and Kebbi State Governments to improve transparency, accountability in governance, and market system toward reducing poverty as successful.
Oxfam made the announcement on Thursday in Abuja at the OSAID project closeout, and dissemination workshop to discuss the achievements, lessons learned, sustainability, and funding opportunities for the project.
The two-year European Union-funded project tagged “Oxfam Strengthening Active Citizenship and Improve Service Delivery, OSAID, was implemented in 8 Local Government Areas in Adamawa and Kebbi States respectively.
Speaking at the workshop, Oxfam Country Director, Dr. Vincent Ahonsi, said, he was proud to report that together with its partners, Oxfam has accomplished a lot from what it had set out to do from the start.
Ahonsi said, “In Adamawa State, the project in partnership with the State Government, through the Office of the Chairperson of the State Planning Commission has institutionalized a strategic citizens’ engagement platform leveraging ICT.
“This platform enables citizens to track the government’s performance and provide real-time feedback, which is a significant step towards improving trust between the government and the governed.”
“In Kebbi State, we’ve activated and supported the state committee on food and nutrition security and established food and nutrition security committees across four LGAs. The state has already been supported to develop a social protection policy that harmonizes all social protection programs in the state.”
“We’re also proud to say that the Gender Action Learning System (GALS) Methodology has positioned community members to become drivers of their development and empowered them to overcome negative gender biases.
“It is a tool we adopt to mainstream gender equality by addressing the power relationships at the root of inequality,” he said.
According to him, “The capacities of women in the 2 states have been strengthened to become active players in leadership at both the household and community levels through the Village Savings and Loan: Associations (VSLA)Program.
“Women now have increased access to and control over productive assets with better opportunities to contribute to decision-making processes both at household and community levels,” he said.
Also speaking, Chairperson of Adamawa State Planning Commission, Dr. Mary Paninga, said the OSAID project has impacted Adamawa State by strengthening its institutional support of technical monitoring and evaluation which has enhanced the relationship between the government and the governed.
“It has united the community in the fight against poverty making it create a document for its development that has been incorporated into the State’s planning and budgeting,” Paninga said.