By Peter Akpah
The waterAid Nigeria at the EU- WSSRP III Technical Assistance to civil society organizations (EU-TAC) project close out event in plateau state as part of the support and making water a necessary project and water for all and to also advocate for water support to every person in the county and as part of the teams work to train and also work with the state government and also support the government by providing 70% of founding to water projects in the state, the director of programmes Adebayo Aloa in his opening remarks has highlighted some very important achievement made so far since the inception of the programmes . Adebayo who said he is highly honoured to join the occasion of the close out of the EU-funded technical assistance to civil society organisation the project in plateau state, the project is part of the overall European Union support of over EUR 260 million to reach more than 10 million people with improved access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene facilities in 14:states of Nigeria, and in plateau state, the project was implemented by waterAid Nigeria in collaboration with society for water and sanitation (NEWSAN) a coalition of CSOs with mandate to support the development of the WASH sector in Nigeria, The project aimed at strengthening the capacity of civil society organizations (CSOs) to work in partnership with public and private agencies in driving the governance of the water sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector in the state and using the partnership to demonstrate improved WASH service delivery in Riyom and Shendam local government Areas in plateau state. Adebayo further said he is also delighted to say that the EU-TAC Project has delivered on it’s objectives and over 25 CSOs have been strengthened to drive the process of improved water and sanitation governance in plateau state for improved health, equity and inclusion in service delivery, gender mainstream in WASH services, creation of livelihoods and socio-economic outcomes.
A critical part of the project was focused on strengthening the capacity of CSOs to support state WASH institutions to fulfill their mandate of sustainable water and sanitation services, To achieve this result the CSOs had capacity building trainings on budget advocacy/policy analysis, human rights based approach to water and sanitation fundraising, gender and inclusion, case study gathering and project monitoring and evaluation, all of these have enabled them to engage the state WASH institutions including the ministry of water Resources and Energy, plateau state Rural water supply and sanitation Agency (PRUWASSA) , plateau state water Board, to improve on the delivery of their mandate in the state’s WASH sector, these engagement also led to the approval of the state WASH policy by the state executive council and the fastracking of the development of the state water sector Bill, which was eventually passed into Law, Additionally, a gender Audit in the ministry of water Resources and Energy was conducted and it was followed by development of an action plan for gender mainstreaming in the ministry and agencies. The implementation of the action plan has commenced and it is our believe that it will be fully implemented, Also continued engagements have led prioritisation of water and sanitation by duty bearers in the state and such budgetary allocation to the WASH sector increased from 4.9 billion naira in 2019 to 15.47 billion in 2020 , This is seen as a demonstration of the state government commitment to improve the sector and in the course of the project the CSOs had their capacity strengthened to support citizens including women and people with disabilities in Riyom and Shendam LGAs, to demand their rights to water and safe sanitation and ensure their voices are heard in decision making platform within the sector, the CSOs moved quickly with the knowledge gained and implemented the Vote4WASH campaign which focused on leveraging on the 2019 general election to educate and empower citizens to demand for their WASH rights from duty bearers, the campaign was a success with 29 Signed pledge cards ate currently facilitating sustainable WASH access in their constituencies, these political office holders include senator I D Gyang, Hon Livinus James Kwapfuan, Shendam house of Assembly, Hon Komsol Alphonsus Longgap Member House of Representative Mikang, Quanpa’an and Shendam for federal Constituency and Hon Dantong Member state House of Assembly, The CSOs are following up with the keep your promises campaign to ensure elected official translate their commitments to realistic and sustainable actions,
And also speaking to journalist in an interview Dr Mohammed Tigani EU-WSSS RP III, Team Leader said the project in Riyom and Shendam was a success and the plan is for them to be able to carry and train the other local government along to also develop their water supply and the EU is also providing a Dam to be able to reduced the water problems being faced by the people and also the plan and their target is the entire 17 LGAs. For the people be enable to access good and hygiene drinking waters and good sanitation, Dr Tigani Loaded the team performance and say the will do more although according to him is a long time plan is that will take up to 3 years but the results at the end of the day will be very good and of a beneficial to the people. And also Dr Vings J Lomak the state coordinator society for water and sanitation (NEWSAN) Has said the project on the plateau was also a success and the are working closely withe CSOs and the state government to achieve sustainable and good hygiene drinking water and also to make the citizens know that access to good and hygiene drinking water is their rights and they should demand for it, and as part of their plan is to keep educating the citizens and promote the WASH campaign and also keep partnering with the government to ensure that the people get access to good hygiene drinking water, and he has commanded the state government for the support for the campaign and call on all to join the campaign.
Sourcenews24/update.com 