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Tag: USAID

  • USAID implementing partners to synergise for greater achievement

    USAID implementing partners to synergise for greater achievement

    A two-day governance workshop for United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Implementing Partners (IPs) in Ebonyi State has ended with a resolution for a more robust synergy, to achieve collective and individuals’ goals and objectives.

    The workshop, held in Abakaliki, was attended by implementing partners working in the state, especially those from core sectors of Health, Education and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH).

    Acting Deputy Chief of Party, USAID Nigeria State Accountability Transparency and Effectiveness (State2State) Activity, Ahmed Mohammed, said the implementing partners had an important role to play in strengthening collaboration for sustainability of governance reforms in Ebonyi State.

    Read Also: British High Commission, USAID kick against GBV

    He noted that leveraging the strengths of each implementing partners had led to achievements, which if left alone for one IP, might not have been achieved.

    Mohammed called for development of sustainability mechanisms that would ensure the interventions and reforms continue even after the exit of the partners.

    He said this could be achieved if the IPs worked with the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to institutionalise the programmes in the state.

    Commissioner for Grants and Donor Agencies, Solomon Azi, hailed USAID and the implementing partners for the well thought out and development oriented interventions they were carrying out in the state.

    He, however, called for the integration of the IPs’ Activities with the Peoples Charter of Needs, which is Governor Francis Nwifuru administration’s manifesto.

  • British High Commission, USAID kick against GBV

    British High Commission, USAID kick against GBV

    The Deputy British High Commissioner, Ms. Gill Atkinson, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Deputy Mission Director, Ms. Sara Werth, hosted a panel discussion with women-led Gender Based Violence (GBV) prevention and response service providers that operate across Nigeria.

    The event was in commemoration of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence (GBV) is an annual international campaign that starts on November 25 (the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women) and ends on December 10 (Human Rights Day).

    The roundtable called for continued efforts to support women-led GBV prevention and response service providers who are helping victims and survivors across Nigeria. Discussions focused on the increasing rates of GBV as a result of the increase in crimi-nality and banditry in the country.

    USAID Deputy Mission Director Ms. Sara Wert said: “USAID will use its convening power to strengthen coordination for the GBV response. To start, we are looking at how to better integrate GBV interventions across all our programmes. We will work to address programming gaps we identified today in partnership with the government of Nigeria and the private sector.

    “In March 2023, USAID updated its Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment policy. The policy strives to eliminate GBV and mitigate its harmful effects on individuals and communities so all people can live free from violence. Often violence against women and girls becomes normalised. For each rape reported in connection with a conflict, the United Nations estimates that between 10 to 20 cases go unreported. Impunity, silence, and stigma are part of the problem.”

    Read Also: Sanwo-Olu donates 300 vehicles to security agencies

    Atkinson said:  We need to remember that gender-based violence does not occur in some distant place, it is happening in our local communities, potentially to our colleagues, neighbors, or even family members. Ending gender-based violence is a top priority for the UK Government and a cornerstone of our new International Women and Girls Strategy.

    “Our 2023 International Women and Girls Strategy outlines ending GBV as a top priority, and we have most recently supported the creation of the Mirabel centre in Lagos, the first Sexual Assault and Referral Centre (SARC) in Nigeria. Through our programmes, we also support victims and survivors of GBV in the Northwest and Northeast states. This includes legal advice, psychosocial support, and police investigation training.”

  • USAID-IHP, Kebbi avert deaths of 1,053 expectant  mothers, newborn

    USAID-IHP, Kebbi avert deaths of 1,053 expectant  mothers, newborn

    The USAID-Integrated Health Programme (IHP) has supported Kebbi State in averting 1,053 maternal and child mortalities.

    Shehu Salisu Dabai, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Manager of USAID-IHP in Kebbi, said this at a media workshop in Yauri Local Government.

    He said ” USAID-IHP in Kebbi supported facilities to generate 41 per cent of Couple Years of Protection (CYPs) in the state, which resulted in averting about 35,046 unintended pregnancies, 179 maternal deaths and 874 child deaths in the state.”

    Dabai added the state generated 75,336 CYPs as a result of provision of modern family planning methods.

    Read Also: Two dead, 37 rescued in Abuja building collapse

    According to him, this shows the state has witnessed improvement in its health sector, resulting to improved health outcomes since USAID-IHP intervention began in the state.

    “Therefore, the achievement indicates  USAID-IHP’s support and commitments, especially in  maternal and child mortality, malaria, malnutrition, training and retraining of health workers.

    “Overall, the USAID-IHP’s intervention in Kebbi State has had a significant impact on averting maternal and child deaths, improving family planning services and enhancing the overall health sector.”

    Salisu-Dabai emphasized the need for the state government to ensure the sustainability of the achievements through improved budgetary allocation to the health sector and enhanced capacity building for health workers.

    The manager also charged the media practitioners to be vanguards for improved health service delivery in the state. (NAN).

  • NGOs Empower Youths to Say ‘NO’ to Abusers

    Women at Risk International Foundation (WARIF) has sensitized about 500 youths at Makoko Community, a suburb of Lagos.

    The youths were sensitized against rape, sexual assault, abuse and gender-based violence.

    The program was sponsored by USAID and was in collaboration with Slum2School Africa.

    The organisations reached out to adolescent boys and girls between the ages of 12 and 19 who reside at the Makoko community.

    The youths were educated to speak out against rape and sexual violence in their community.

    Founder of WARIF, Dr. DaSilva- Ibru, at the outreach encouraged the youths to report the cases to authorities and also made them to know about the availability of the WARIF 24/7 confidential helpline for survivors.

    “At WARIF, we continue to emphasize the importance of tackling cases of rape and sexual abuse at the community -level, where access to knowledge on these issues and the services offered by Foundations such as WARIF and Slum2School are not readily available.

    “We hope to continue to collaborate with other organizations and to expand our outreaches to as many communities like Makoko as possible, across the country. By sensitizing these communities and offering counseling and healthcare services to all survivors – we can change the narrative of our youths to a more positive one and transform the lives of many, one community at a time.”

    Head of Operations at Slum2school, Ruth Ebe gave insight on the synergy between to two NGOs with focus on youths and fight agaianst gender based-violence cases in Nigerian communities.

    “It was a timely and worthwhile partnership between Slum2School & WARIF to create awareness on rape and gender-based violence as well as the interventions/support readily available to survivors.

    “The children and youth understand that they have a right to say “NO” to abusers, to be unafraid to seek help from the right people in the case of any form of violations and to remain advocates against rape and gender-based violence wherever they find themselves,” she said.

    The WARIF Know Your Community has previously visited Sabo Market, Yaba and the Oyingbo Brothel, for sensitization programs for men and women in those areas, and it also intends to expand its program to more underserved communities.

  • Fed Govt, USAID partner on low TB detection

    The Federal Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), has concluded plans to carry out a pilot intervention programme in Lagos and Kano states to address low tuberculosis (TB) detection.

    The Head of Advocacy Communication and Social Mobilisation (ACSM) unit of the National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control Program (NTBLCP) in the ministry, Mrs. Itohowo Uko, made this known at a workshop in Nasarawa.

    She said the decision to choose Lagos and Kano was based on data and their urban areas.

    The programme is being funded by the USAID through the Breakthrough Action project to show the value it will add to the sector.

    “We decided to deviate from the conventional way to go into the communities to interact with them and understand the situation from the community members’ perspective; not just sitting in Abuja and developing messages that might not really speak to the needs of the people.

    “In Lagos, we will be working in Ajeromi and Badagry local government areas (LGAs) where they have high TB burden. We will also be working in two LGAs in Kano. The pilot is going to last for 12 weeks, after which we will do a survey to see what impact it has added. We will also take data from various DOTS centres to see the rate of TB reporting and case findings in those centres. Then after two weeks, we will go back to see if there has been an increase in the number of cases reported in those LGAs from the DOTS centres. With that, we will be able to say whether the interventions are worth expanding,”she said.

    Read also: Woman kills cleric in attempted rape

    On funding, Mrs. Uko explained that apart from resources the ministry gets from the government (which is not enough), the Minister of Health, Prof Isaac Adewole, was keen to have in-country financing through the public-private mix (PPM) where the private sector and philanthropists were being encouraged to come and contribute to the fight against TB in Nigeria.

    According to Mr. Joseph Edoh, a Senior Programme Officer for TB at Breakthrough Action, TB findings in Nigeria have been very low over a long time, adding that this is happening because of programming, reach of information and awareness.

    “Stigma has also contributed to the low case finding that we have been having so far. The approach we are adopting is a human-centre design (HCD), which is using the user perspective to look at the situation of TB across the country. And the HCD has the intent phase is where Breakthrough Action Nigeria as well as the donor agency – USAID, NTBLCP – agreed that the main challenge that we want to address is the low TB case detection across the country.

    “The next phase is to understand the problem, which is the discovery phase. It helps us to understand the problem from the patient’s, provider’s and expert’s perspective who design programmes.This leads us to the third phase, which is the design and test phase. This is where we generate ideas, test them among people in which the ideas are designed to help improve cases around.

    “We went through a process of reiteration; then we came up with the final five interventions that we are taking to the next phase. The next phase is the feasibility; some people call it piloting. Here, we are going to test the strength and any other weakness that this approach has so that we can recommend for scale up nationally,” he said.

    Edoh further explained that it is obvious that funding gap for TB is so wide, and majority of the funding is donor-funded. He added that the NTBLCP will improve in her reach and activities if it gets more funding.

    “In this case, we will be looking at the private sector coming in and supporting the whole TB case programmes in the country. For policy, I think some are already on the ground and a lot has been done in these areas, but we also need the buy-in of legislators to come up with policies that will help people with TB by considering the human right context of not forcing people. But when they become a public health risk, we need to get these people to get treatment so that they will not put every one of us at risk,” he advised.

  • USAID, others kick off campaign against electoral violence in Rivers

    The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), United Kingdom Agency for International Development (UKAID) and United States-based National Democratic Institute (NDI) have launched a campaign against electoral violence in Rivers State.

    The campaign, christened: “Vote Not Fight”, is facilitated by a non-governmental organisation, Media Awareness and Justice Initiative (MAJI), and targeted at youths in rural communities and community leaders as well as traditional and social media users.

    Speaking at a one-day sensitisation in Port Harcourt, MAJI Project Coordinator Okoro Onyekachi Emmanuel said the campaign would change the negative narrative about Rivers State.

    Okoro said: “We are nonpartisan and work together for the development of rural communities in the Niger Delta. The Vote Not Fight Campaign is geared towards changing the negative narratives of elections in Rivers State.

    “You will agree with me that over the years, Rivers State has slowly built into a narrative that is negative as regards to elections. Some of the happenings in Rivers State has also created a state of unrest and in some cases, insecurity.

    “So, we thought that there was the need to reach out to vulnerable groups, the young ones and people in the communities who do not want who do not have enough understanding of the impact of their actions during elections, to be able to understand the impact of their actions and by so doing contribute to peaceful elections in Rivers State.”

    A community leader, Chief Owa Orlu-Orokor, lamented that most youths armed by politicians to wreak havoc during elections ended up as cultists and school dropouts.

    Orlu-Orokor said: “Unpopular politicians arm the youths, corrupt them with little token, caps and T-shirts to go and kill their political opponents. They don’t mean well for the masses; their target is to get hold of the treasury and squander same.

    “Our youths who were armed by these politicians have refused to go to school. They are in the villages causing mayhem, killing each other in the name of cultism and engaging in armed robbery and kidnapping.

    “The politicians can’t keep their children outside the country and tell our children to become cultists and political thugs for them. We need to go back to our families.

    “Let us as parents call our children and tell them the dangers of engaging in electoral violence. Let mothers talk to daughters and fathers talk to sons. If we do so, we will be able to achieve a violence-free electoral process.”

    A resource person at the event, Kentebe Ebiaridor, said majority of youths were cut down in their prime because of their involvement in cultism and electoral violence.

  • USAID, On All award firms

    United States for Agency and International Development (USAID) and On All, an energy solution firm, has awarded 10 winners that have demonstrated commitment to the development of off-grid electricity in Nigeria.

    The firms announced the winners at the 2018 edition of its summit in Lagos.

    The winners are Havenhill, Prado, Solmenz, A4&T, and Darway Coast. The enabling business category includes Auxano, Eastwind, and Alyx. Creeds and iKabin emerged as the recipients in the solar home system category. According to Chuka Umezulora, CEO of Auxano, a company that assembles solar panels locally, “With the award of this blended finance, Auxano is poised to raise its daily production to more than 100 panels and double its staff strength to meet the rising demand.

    USAID’s President C.D Glin said: “The firm is  proud to partner with All On to foster the growth of local enterprises to bring power and connectivity to underserved Nigerians,” says C.D. Glin, USADF’S President & CEO. “This partnership combines grant capital with private sector funding to support the selected Nigerian energy enterprises with the means to grow their businesses, increase access to power, and change people’s lives.”

    He said USAID provided the firms with  $50,000 in seed capital while All On provided up to $50,000 in convertible debt to selected energy. In addition to funding, the winners will also receive technical assistance from USADF and governance support from All On, with a view to enable them develop, scale up or extend the use of renewable or off-grid energy technologies to reach communities not served by existing power grids.

    Also, All On’s Chief Executive officer, Dr Wiebe Boer, said the ‘’The  biggest challenge hindering Nigeria’s economic and social development is access to energy. These off-grid energy companies are introducing innovations that will improve household livelihoods and local economies by providing affordable power to unserved and underserved communities.

    “We are proud to partner with USADF to provide an innovative blend of financing to these companies to enable them to scale up and meet the increasing demand.”

    Also, one of the winners,  Hannah Kabir of Creeds, a solar home system company, said: “The USADF-All On funds will facilitate the scale up of our lease-to-own standalone solar systems to over 100 SMEs in Plateau and Rivers states, with affordable instalment repayments. By transitioning to standalone solar systems, SMEs save up to 50 per cent on daily fuel spend on generators, which can be channeled into growing their business and productive activities.”

  • USAID increases support for good governance, health

    The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has announced more development assistance to support achieving the development goals outlined in the bilateral Development Objectives Assistance Agreement between the U.S. and Nigerian governments signed in 2015.

    Of the new funding, $25 million will strengthen good governance by supporting state governments’ efforts to bolster Nigeria’s Open Government Partnership commitments to improve transparency and fight corruption.  An additional $1.5 million will support a healthier, and more educated population in targeted states through the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), totalled at $26.5 million.

    USAID is also partnering federal and state health ministries to build stronger health systems with the aim of guaranteeing equitable access to quality healthcare services nationwide.  The additional new funding brings the total U.S. government assistance provided under the five-year Development Objectives agreement to $1.1 billion.

    “The United States believes that as the most populous country in Africa, with the largest economy on the continent, Nigeria holds tremendous influence over the future of Africa,” Acting Mission Director Erin Holleran said, adding: “USAID is committed to partnering with the government and the people of Nigeria to address its development challenges.”

    USAID collaborated with the ministries of Budget and National Planning, Health, Agriculture, Power, and Education, as well as state-level government counterparts to structure the bilateral assistance agreement, which runs through 2020.

  • USAID announces $26.5m to support good governance, health in Nigeria

    The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has announced a new funding of $26.5 million to support good governance and health in Nigeria.

    USAID, in a statement issued yesterday in Abuja, said the additional support is aimed at helping the country achieve the development goals outlined in the bilateral Development Objectives Assistance Agreement between the US and Nigerian governments signed in 2015.

    The statement reads in part: “Of the new funding, $25 million will strengthen good governance by supporting state governments’ efforts to bolster Nigeria’s Open Government Partnership commitments to improve transparency and fight corruption.  An additional $1.5 million will support a healthier, more educated population in targeted states through the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), for a total of $26.5 million in additional assistance.

    “USAID is also partnering federal and state health ministries to build stronger health systems with the aim of guaranteeing equitable access to quality healthcare services nationwide.  The additional new funding brings the total US government assistance provided under the five-year Development Objectives agreement to $1.1 billion.

    “The United States believes that as the most populous country in Africa, with the largest economy on the continent, Nigeria holds tremendous influence over the future of Africa.”

    USAID collaborated with Nigeria’s ministries of Budget and National Planning, Health, Agriculture, Power, and Education, as well as state-level government counterparts to structure the bilateral assistance agreement which runs through 2020.

  • NPC to conduct $11m national survey

    The National Population Commission (NPC) on Thursday announced a budget of $11m for the 2018 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS).

    The Director-General, NPC, Dr. Ghaji Ismaila Bello, on behalf of the Chairman, NPC, Eze Duriheoma, said this at the launch of the 2018 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey which held at the Ministry of Health at Abuja on Thursday.

    Bello disclosed that the census, which is set to take place from 15th August to 15th December, will be greatly supported by USAID, which donated $7m to the total budget.

    According to him, the NDHS will provide up to date, high quality data on fertility levels, awareness and uses of family planning methods, HIV/AIDS awareness and behaviors, early childhood mortality, malaria prevention and treatment, etc.

    Acting Director, USAID/Nigeria, Erin Holleran, explained that the census will give real information about the wellbeing of the women, men, and children of Nigeria.

    “This survey will provide more accurate data on the burden of HIV in Nigeria and help craft innovative and evidence-based interventions,” she said.

    “We aim towards ensuring that women have access to high quality antenatal care and skilled attendance at birth, coupled with proper newborn care, could eliminate more than half of newborn deaths.

    “We also want to improve coverage of routine immunizations, along with malaria prevention and treatment would save hundreds of thousands of young children’s lives every year.

    “Malaria, pneumonia, and diarrhea are all preventable and treatable diseases.

    “We will be able to measure our successes and challenges with this survey.

    “The US government is also supporting the Nigerian government in conducting the National AIDS Indicator and Impact Survey in every state, which is taking place between June and December 2018.”

    The 2018 NDHS will take place only in 42,000 randomly selected households in all states of the federation and the FCT.