The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Advocacy

  • Comic book launched to fight malaria

    Comic book launched to fight malaria

    As part of effort to reduce death caused by malaria to the minimum, a comic book was recently launched to better communicate information bothering on malaria diagnosis, prevention and treatment.

    According to the author of the book, Mayowa Salau, Executive Director of Iba (Malaria) Eradication Foundation, the Malaria comic book is a culture specific advocacy book, which contains information such as malaria treatment, prevention, diagnosis and cause.

    Salau noted that the book is designed for in and out of school children, with the intention to translate into four major languages spoken in Africa thus potentially reaching millions of children all over Africa.

    “We are also making efforts to translate it in Hindi, largely spoken in Africa

    “Children are one of most vulnerable groups affected by malaria. There were an estimated 660,000 malaria deaths around the world in 2010, of which approximately 86% were children,” he noted.

    In her remarks, Mrs. Akintunde Ibironke, Advocacy, Communication, Sensitization and Social Mobilization Officer for Lagos State Malaria Elimination Programme, noted that the cosmopolitan nature of the state, coupled with peoples’ behaviour and the abundant distribution of coastal areas, encourage the availability of stagnant water for the breeding of anopheles mosquitoes.

    This, according to her, is responsible for the stable pattern and continuous transmission of malaria all the year round.

    Her words: “In 2015, 736,328 cases of malaria were documented through routine data collection processes. Malaria therefore remains a priority disease and the state Government will continue to demonstrate its commitment to its control.

    “The present administration has renewed the commitment of the state Government to tackle the scourge of Malaria using a multi-pronged approach including: Environmental management and integrated Vector control for the prevention of Malaria; Effective diagnosis and appropriate treatment of Malaria cases.”

    Students present at the launch in Lagos
    Students present at the launch in Lagos. Photo by David Lawal

    In addition to that, she mentioned good Monitoring and Evaluation with emphasis on operational control for the prevention of Malaria; Effective diagnosis and appropriate treatment of Malaria cases; and good Monitoring and Evaluation with emphasis on operational research and the use of its result for evidence based programming.

    Similarly, Deputy Public Affairs Officer, U.S. Consulate General in Nigeria, Frank Sellin recounted how vigorous efforts to fight malaria in Nigeria have reduced mortality rates among children under five by 18 percent, and malaria in children under five has declined by no less than 15 percent, Since 2011.

    Represented by Mr Austin Emeanua, Mandela Washington Fellowship Coordinator, Selling observed that in the same 15 years, worldwide efforts to control malaria have resulted in a global drop in infection rates by 60 percent.

    “We all have learned a great deal about the strategies that work. But even as we recognize the world-shaping power of volunteer efforts, international efforts, and government efforts, we also have to recognize the problem before us, laid out recently by U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, James Entwistle.

    “Ninety percent of all malaria deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa.  The vast majority are children under five.  Malaria is killing one of our children every two minutes.  Hundreds of millions of people get sick with malaria again and again.

    “Malaria accounts for more than half of all school absences, and it costs billions of dollars each year in health care and lost productivity.  I understand that Nigerian officials in the Malaria Elimination Program estimate that the Nigerian economy loses N132 billion annually, because of malaria. We can’t ignore this problem.  No one can,” he maintained.

    Speaking further, Sellin said: “If you want to see the chairs here, and the chairs in schools filled with promising young lives, then join the fight.  Learn how you can prevent malaria, and get treated early.  Teach others how to do that. Those missing children depend on everyone’s commitment to end malaria for good.”

    Salau expressed appreciation to the office of the United State Consulate and the government of Lagos state, maintaining that the comic books are not for sale.

    [news_box style=”2″ display=”tag” link_target=”_blank” tag=”Malaria” count=”6″ show_more=”on” show_more_type=”link”]

  • Building new civil society mindset for advocacy

    The STAR – System for Transformation and Result – methodology of measuring impact is a change process and a tool suite that seeks to promote sustainable organizational development. It also seeks to address elements of the complex environments in which Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) do their work. It is a programme developed by Root Change. Judging from lessons learnt from two decades of how CSOs do their work, the programme is what SACE – Strengthening Advocacy and Civic Engagement – project uses to assess the impact of NGOs and CSOs in bringing about transparency, accountability and good governance. Central to achieving transparency and good governance is the question of the ability of CSOs to interrogate policy makers and ask hard but sensible questions. Are civil society groups better equipped now to deal with the civilian government now than they were in the days of the military? If not what then seems to be the impediment in constructively engaging our civilian government and what impedes their ability to help with formulating policies that are people-friendly? Why is it that civil society groups seem to be working at cross purposes with the media and the civilian government? How should CSOs build capacity, network and form alliances that put them at the front burner of national discourse. Are CSOs sharing their knowledge, or are they tiny clusters of islands with ideas that are marooned in a sea of opportunity? Twenty years from whence CSOs began to be the 5th Estate of the realm in Nigerian politics, what impact have they really made?

    These were some of the questions that were to engage the minds of a distinguished audience put together at the Barcelona Hotel, Abuja on December 14. Under the Strengthening Advocacy and Civil Engagement, SACE, a project being implemented for the USAID by Chemonics, participants at an evening of discussion and conversation were to listen to three civil society icons well established in the fine art of civil engagement and advocacy:  Clement Nwankwo, founding member of the Civil Liberties Organisation CLO, now executive director of Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre, PLAC, Hajia Saudatu Mahdi of Women’s’ Rights Advancement and Protection Alternative, WRAPA, and Hon Igariwey Enwo, lawyer and politician and civil society advocate.

    That evening, Clement Nwankwo told us that the CLO of 1987 was set up with only one motive – to drive the military from power, and install a civilian government. The tactics and the ground rules favoured the use of linguistics and brashness of trench warfare: ‘they’ were there at the other side and we were here on this other side. We threw verbal bombs at them and they replied and charged at us like rhinoceroses, picked up and jailed our leaders. At the extreme, they would have killed our leaders just the same way General Abacha did Ogoni leader Kenule Saro-Wiwa and thereby provoke an international outrage. At that time as well, those at the forefront of the call for the military to leave were lawyers. Their argument then was that leadership as proffered by the military was antediluvian and an anathema to the concept of transparency and good governance. It’s a merry crowd now, and the merriment is apparent with the crowd of CSOs in the fray. But soon after the military were out of the system, several issues began to crop up. Corruption became rife – rifer than what we had with the military. Some of us wonder if indeed some of the monies said to be stolen actually exist. In a Citizens Score Card report published by the Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice, ANEEJ and Leadership Initiative for Transformation and Empowerment, LITE-Africa a few days ago in Benin City, more than 84 projects that were supposed to have been executed by the Niger Delta Institutions – DESOPADEC, EDSOGPADEC, Niger Delta Development Commission, the Ministry of the Niger Delta, OSOPADEC have been abandoned. Even the anti-corruption agencies set up to fight the massive cases of graft and corruption have been taken hostage by judicial, the executive and legislative shenanigans. Under the civilian governments from 1999, impunity, gross human rights abuses, poverty and underdevelopment have been institutionalized. And the questions were: what is to be the mode of engagement and advocacy for transparency and good governance in the Niger Delta in particular and Nigeria in general? Should CLOs continue as if we are still under the gulag of the military irrespective of the flowing agbadas and babanrigas?

    The one person who seemed to have developed an effective advocacy strategy and tactics in that hall that evening was Hajia Saudatu Mahdi coordinator, Women’s Rights Advancement and Protection Alternative, (WRAPA). Mahdi has helped to develop a national law on violence against women – the legislative Advocacy Coalition on Violence against Women, passed in 2015. To achieve this, Mahdi said she developed her own set of rules. The first thing she did was understand the context of what she was fighting for – a fight on behalf of very vulnerable persons – teenagers being married off to very wealthy senators and politicians. Two she interacted with, and formed a strong alliance with three key stakeholders – the media, the policy makers and took in the counsel of very knowledgeable persons. She carried everybody along, not minding if it was a big NGO or a small one. ‘I had a woman problem but the key persons who helped in the fight were men’, she said. Mahdi also spent some money to ‘make noise’ – underscoring the fact that if you have courage and conviction, you were not to consider the policy makers as enemies. You would see them together with the media, as partners in progress.

    But it was Otiveh Igbuzoh, executive director of African Centre for Leadership who nailed it at the end. He said that many CSOs still carry the mindset that the military is still in power. In trying to promote transparency, accountability, many CSOs are still in the trenches, hurling bombs and grenades at the civilian government. To strengthen the supply and demand chain, forge partnerships, sustain the dialogue, Otiveh believes that CSOs must collaborate with government as frenemies instead of seeing them as enemies.

    Coming from the standpoint that we cannot still be doing things the same old-fashioned way, I had an axe to grind with the WRAPA coordinator. In today’s world, we no longer talk of gender empowerment. People are talking of gender mainstreaming – a situation where you fight for the rights of both sexes instead of focusing on feminine issues. Focusing only on fighting for the girl child or fighting women issues effectively checkmates whatever chances that the boy-child – the Almajiri or the boy-child in eastern Nigeria would ever have in a dynamic country like Nigeria. I also believe that had Clement Nwankwo known that the civilians who would take over from the military would be this less than accountable and transparent, perhaps we would not be where we are today.

    Etemiku is of Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice, Benin City

  • Advocacy group to promote wellness in Lagos

    To promote improved wellness, Indulge Nigeria Limited, along with the Lagos State Ministry of Health and other partners, is organising its wellness programmes with a Lunch and Learn seminar on  September 30 in Lagos.

    Its Managing Director, Dr Bisi Abiola, said the event designed to promote healthy lifestyle will be followed by the Feel Good Festival (FGF), which is an outdoor wellness picnic.

    This, she said, is to promote quality family time and relaxation.

    She said there will also be aerobics, sports and healthy meals.

    Others are games, fresh air, music, and dance performances to thrill, along with free medical checks, including eye test,  dental and body hygiene.

    Mrs Abiola said parents should come with their children so that they can play at the exclusive ‘Children Village’.

    “The Feel Good Festival is a one-stop destination for a holistic lifestyle experience for the entire family,” she said.

    Mrs Abiola said there will also be the wellness award gala night on November 25 in Lagos, to celebrate wellness ambassadors who committed their resources in promoting healthy lifestyle.