Children take the initiative in monitoring development projects in Biase LGA
Youth volunteers in Cross River State get trained to monitor development projects in their communities in real time.
In the effort to make communities safer and more supportive for children and youths, it makes sense for the children themselves to help drive change.
Sylvia Onda Pham, 19, of Biase Local Government Area (LGA) of Cross River State, is one of those change agents. She proudly displays a new digital tool provided by UNICEF through funding from telecom company IHS Towers Nigeria, one that she will use to help track and document the progress of development programmes and interventions in her community in real time.
“I was inspired to volunteer for this project to help sustain development in my community,” says Pham. “I appreciate the contributions of UNICEF and IHS Towers Nigeria for empowering us with skills on real time monitoring. I am happy to be involved because I love volunteering and anything that will bring positive change to my community”.
Pham is one of 60 youth volunteers and LGA facilitators in Biase LGA whose efforts support the IHS Towers funded, Child Friendly Community Initiative (CFCI), which is facilitated by UNICEF.
Maureen Zubie-Okolo, Planning and Monitoring Specialist, UNICEF Nigeria and CFCI point person, says the CFCI is an approach to ensure that children and youths are empowered to bring about change in their communities.
“The children and youths are change agents and we know that when they have the right skills they are able to work within the community to drive change, particularly in the areas of health, nutrition, water sanitation, hygiene, education, as well as child protection,” she said.
One of CFCI’s key objectives is to empower and strengthen the capacity of local governments and rural communities, including local development councils, religious and traditional leaders, to adopt child-centric attitudes, behaviors and practices and improve access to basic services that promote child well-being and development.
“There are a lot of potentials in working with (children) as change agents because they form a major part of the community who can mobilize and sensitize other community members,” said Zubie-Okolo. “You realize that we can bring about an improvement in service delivery in those communities, particularly when we empower them and collaborate with the local government.”
Volunteers such as Pham receive training in development concepts, messaging and digital tools through the CFCI program. With these skills, they are now working to establish a community-based Digital Community Information System (DCIS) through development of standard packages of community engagement and social accountability tools.
For UNICEF, the programme is line with its goal of promoting child-friendly communities everywhere for every child and young person to be valued, respected and treated fairly by their local authorities.
“UNICEF’s decision to go into the CFCI was based on the need to converge support for children in areas consistently experiencing the highest levels of deprivation and poverty, with a view towards helping Nigeria achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030,” says Zubie-Okolo. “This was the major reason for the selection of Biase local government.”
Barrister Lawson Ekpe, Vice Chairman of Biase LGA, says he was delighted that Biase was selected for the pilot project.
“This initiative is about working together with young people, and we expect the volunteer youths to effectively engage in tracking and documenting changes and progress being made for our children,” he said. “We as a council will key into it and draw from the pool of volunteers in domesticating the CFCI. We will continue to partner with UNICEF to ensure that the programme succeeds.”
