SSDO LAUNCHES PROJECT 100- RURAL ELECTION DRIVE

Since the inception of democracy in Nigeria in 1999, voter apathy has continued to rise, with a dwindling number of voters at the polls. This has led to massive disenfranchisement, especially in rural areas.

Nigeria’s rural population makes up 48 percent (99 million) of the nation’s size. Still, the rural community is nowhere to be found regarding citizen participation and its effect on governance.

These communities are characterized by high population density, poor infrastructure, high levels of illiteracy, and extreme poverty. These factors have negatively impacted the ability of the rural population to participate in nation-building. If about half of the

country’s population is shut out from the dividends of democracy and its processes, it is safe to say policies and government implementation will have an urbanized rather than a truly national impact.

However, for any of these pitiful circumstances to change, it starts with citizens’ active participation in the electoral process, especially in rural communities.

Understanding the challenge, South Saharan Social Development Organization, SSDO, launched Project 100- Rural Election Drive. The project aims to sensitize and educate rural voters in 108 communities in nine LGAs in Enugu state on the need to exercise their franchise.

The goal is to increase PVC collection and voter turnout by engaging town criers to disseminate information to communities across communities in Enugu state. Their proximity and constant access to the people make them an excellent information dissemination channel to reach rural communities.

On the 11th of November, SSDO organized an engagement meeting with stakeholders to commence the project. SSDO’s Executive Director, Dr. Stanley Ilechukwu, explained, “Nigeria’s socio-economic situation has served a toxic mix of unemployment and a loss of livelihood, impacting harder on those living in impoverished communities. These inadequacies have led them to turn a blind eye to the electoral process, which is the best way they can advocate for a better future.”

“We understand that change starts by voting, hence the project’s need. To reawaken the consciousness that the economic situation has stifled in the people.”

The overall objective of the project is to:

• To educate and sensitize the rural populace on the need to vote.

• To improve the expression and participation of the rural populace in the electoral process.
• To increase PVC collection throughout the month in sensitized communities.

• To increase voter turnout in the sensitized communities.

• To provide technical support to rural communities through radio jingles and IEC materials.

TOWN CRIERS ENGAGEMENT MEETING

The Project’s LGA coordinators across the nine LGAs have engaged the town criers and duly briefed them on the scope of their assignment. The goal is to sensitize and

The selected town criers would engage their communities over a ten-day period, consistently sensitizing the people to pick up their PVCs, where to pick them up, and vote.

The project would leverage IEC materials (flyers) in strategic places in the community and radio jingles to increase the message’s reach. The message is simple:

Get Your PVC

Vote

Protect Your Vote

SSDO NEWSLETTER, VOLUME 6, ISSUE 3.

Happy New Month!

More than ever before, there’s a need to focus on strategic sensitization and enlightenment of the public on many pressing issues. Over the past few weeks, we have seen the devastating effect of the floods across over ten states in the federation. Beyond creating awareness, there’s an urgency to directly interface with people more often through a behavior-centered approach to teach them what to do.

To have a functional society, people must realize that they have a role to play in the smooth running of the state. SSDO understands this needs and interfaced more with people, looking to elicit positive change on a deeper level.

Interventions like the Latter-Day Saints Charity Project and the Orphaned and Vulnerable Children’s Project help shine the spotlight on our endeavors to ensure that the health and educational needs of beneficiaries and their communities are met.

Over the past quarter, SSDO has also focused on women’s advocacy and empowerment, WASH infrastructure provision, capacity building, and needs assessment to improve service delivery on existing projects. Here’s a highlight of how SSDO has been contributing to nation-building.

ActionAid, SSDO Organizes a Sensitization Rally on PVC Collection

The Nigerian general election comes up in the next five months. Voter registration is over, and citizens must pick up their permanent voter’s cards and exercise their franchises. Over time, data has shown that only a handful of registered voters come to vote. In the 2019 presidential elections, only 37 percent of registered voters showed up on election day.

Understanding this, ActionAid Nigeria, in partnership with South Saharan Social Development Organization, organized a civic awareness and sensitization rally on PVC collection. The message for the rally was simple: “Your votes decide the future. Your PVC is your voice. Your vote is your power; use it wisely.”

PVCs registered from June 2021 to January 15, 2022, are ready for collection. PVCs registered from January 16th to June 30th, 2022, will be ready for collection in October. The PVCs registered from July 2022 will be ready for collection in November. Read on.

NCF, SSDO Organizes a Sensitization Rally on Vulture Conservation

The Nigeria Conservation Foundation (NCF) and South Saharan Social Development Organisation (SSDO) have carried out a walk and sensitization of residents of Enugu State on the need to conserve vultures. The walk, which is meant to commemorate International Vulture Day 2022, titled: “A Mile for Egyptian Vulture”, witnessed sensitization within major roads in Enugu metropolis for several hours on Thursday.

The rally aims to create awareness of the importance of vultures to the ecosystem and why they need to be protected, especially the Egyptian Vultures. Vultures are scavengers and natural cleaning agents. By feasting on carcasses, they remove pathogens and toxins from the dead animals that would have infected the

The stereotype, prejudice, and discrimination people have towards others based on age continues to present a significant yet not sufficiently discussed challenge to foster collaboration and solidarity across age groups.

Cases of ageism have been reported in political participation, employment, health, and justice. If not properly addressed, ageism causes poor physical and mental health, social isolation, loneliness, and decreased quality of life.

Understanding these challenges, ActionAid Nigeria, in partnership with South Saharan Social Development Organization, is implementing the Strategic

Partnership Agreement II project, funded by the Danish International Development Agency. The project aims to improve the realization of human rights, sustainable

livelihoods, and the protection of youths and women living in marginalized communities in Nigeria.

The objectives of the symposium is to:

• Discuss and brainstorm the best strategies for achieving youth empowerment through inter-generational collaboration
• Harness existing strategies and approaches by youth groups for shared learning and building solidarity for social change.
• To produce a demand charter as an advocacy instrument for youth empowerment

• Build a network of youths motivated and capable of carrying out effective advocacy

The 1-Day symposium to commemorate International Youth Day 2022 was characterized by effective discourse and dialogue among participants, which enabled them to listen to each other, welcome diverse perspectives, and seek new connections. The event’s success was hinged largely on the quality and motivation of the participants. Participants included

• Youth leaders from different groups

• Communities and organizations

• Media

• Representatives from Government Agencies

Discourses were facilitated and achieved through presentations by experienced speakers. Four different speakers spoke on the following topics:

• Youths and Advocacy: Bridging the Gap with the Internet and social media

• Achieving Youth Empowerment through Intergenerational Collaboration

• How Youths in Politics Leadership Can Bring Positive Change

• Women in Politics: The Importance of Equal Representation in Modern Leadership

Young people are awakened and ready to fight for change. There is also a need to involve the younger generation of youths in our activities to build their experience,

Women in southeast Nigeria face many hurdles in their quest for economic empowerment. They contend with gender discriminatory cultural practices, social norms, unpaid domestic labor, and low access to capital. These constraints keep women poor and financially dependent on their male counterparts.

Understanding these needs, the development Research and Project Centre, in partnership with South Saharan Social Development Organization, is implementing the Partnership for the Advancement of Women’s Economic Development

(PAWED) project.

In June 2022, the PAWED project held a follow-up policy dialogue session to provide a platform for synergy between the women’s economic empowerment stakeholders and the Enugu State government for effective advocacy for Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE). The stakeholders included:

Women-led, women-focused Civil Society Organizations

Women’s Economic Empowerment Cooperatives

Representatives from relevant government ministries.

Academia – University of Nigeria (UNN) Gender and Development Centre.

Media representatives

The PAWED project was formed to strengthen the capacity of women’s economic collectives in Enugu state to conduct high-impact evidence-informed advocacy to improve the livelihood of economically active women and girls in the state.

The dialogue session aimed to achieve the following:

Identify key policies and regulatory frameworks to facilitate the delivery of women’s economic empowerment projects.

To proffer solutions and recommendations to improve women’s empowerment.

To create an effective advocacy strategy for policy reform among stakeholders.

The Commissioner for Budget and Planning in Enugu state, Dr. David Ugwunta, addressed pressing women empowerment issues as fielded by participants. He urged women groups to take advantage of the economic empowerment opportunities provided by the state government.

Participants discussed and proposed several recommendations to tackle women’s economic empowerment issues in Enugu State. Proposed solutions include:

Advocating for the government to create a centralized database system to

access empowerment opportunities.

Ensuring economic opportunities are well publicized in traditional media.Capacity building for women in rural areas to access opportunities