By Beatrice Gondyi
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has organized a three-day action plan development workshop for its funded activity in Bauchi State under the State Accountability, Transparency, and Effectiveness (State2State) Activity.
Deputy chief of party, USAID, Mr. John Onyeukwu who disclosed that the intervention will enhance good governance in the implementation of government policies and programmes, explained that the three days orientation meeting for members of the state committee held at the Yankari Resort and Safari will increase transparency.
Mr. Onyeukwu said the purpose of the USAID State 2 State activity is major to increased Accountability, Transparency, and Effectiveness in governance with particular emphasis on public procurement, monitoring, and evaluation for effective service delivery in three critical areas that include basic education, primary healthcare, and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH).
He further revealed that activities of the intervention will also seek to strengthen government responsiveness to citizens through civil society engagement, by increasing government ability to respond to citizens’ needs and priorities.
Another area of focus of the USAID State 2 State activity, according to Mr. Onyeukwu, is improving government and civil society capacity to manage conflict through prevention, mitigation, and reconciliation with sectoral partners.
Sharing further insights on how the USAID activity will be implemented in the state, the deputy chief of the party said, “our approach towards achieving set goals will be participatory, strengthening governance systems and to facilitate effective citizen engagement and participation.
“Another approach is to ensure gender and social inclusion as well as conflict mitigation and to ensure capacity building of partners from government citizens and CSOs.
“Also, the approach will support the efforts of local reformers and building on locally derived solutions that are found to be working in other parts of Nigeria, said Onyeukwu.
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The DCoP seized the opportunity to commend Bauchi state governor Senator Bala Mohammed for the commitment shown towards the USAID State 2 State activity saying, “office space has been given by the state government and the state governor had personally attended (virtually) the launch of the activity. This has clearly demonstrated the commitment of the state governor and we are grateful for that”.
The USAID State 2 State Activity is an intervention targeted at six states comprising Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Ebonyi, Gombe, and Sokoto.
The orientation meeting and development of the state action plan workshop attracted participants from relevant MDAs, that had the presence of five permanent secretaries, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), Faith-Based Organizations (FBOs), and other key stakeholders.
