The goals of the Strategic Partnership Agreement Phase II include engaging youth groups in demanding socially responsible gender-responsive public services, enhancing youth resilience and their role in crisis response, influencing policy and legislation through evidence-based advocacy, leading collective actions to reduce vulnerabilities and build resilience.
After the Community Accountability Committees completed the project tracking and monitoring, they proceeded to present their findings to their various LGAs in a town hall meeting. SSDO organized a 1-day Community Engagement for Inclusive Development Town Hall Meetings in each community, aimed at fostering dialogue and collaboration among stakeholders in the four communities.
The community town hall meetings employed a participatory approach, featuring presentations of assessment findings, discussions, interactive sessions, and group deliberations. Stakeholders present included traditional rulers, women, men, youth, LGA representatives, Community-Based Organizations, and officials from the Enugu State Ministries of Budget and Planning, Youth and Sports Development, Education, Health & the Enugu State Economic Planning Commission.
The town hall meetings were an avenue for:
1. The committees to present and discuss the findings from the youth-led budget tracking/monitoring assessment.
2. The committees to engage in dialogue with community and government stakeholders to determine the way forward based on the assessment results.
3. The SSDO team to conduct a community needs assessment to identify priority projects for inclusion in the next budget cycle.
4. The committees to document and present the meeting outcomes as an advocacy brief to the respective Local Government Areas (LGAs), Enugu State Ministry of Budget and Planning, and the Enugu State Economic Planning Commission.
The SSDO team guided the needs assessment process using a pair-wise ranking to determine the most pressing needs after the men, women, and youth identified their needs. Here’s a rundown of the needs assessment prioritized by the LGAs for the next budget cycle:
NEEDS ASSESSMENT FOR ANINRI LGA
1. Construction of Community secondary school
2. Allocation of Farm machinery and Farm inputs.
3. Skills Acquisition centres with starter packs
NEEDS ASSESSMENT FOR IGBO EZE NORTH LGA
1. Rural Electrification (Transformer) for Umuogili
2. Women and Youth Skills Acquisition Center.
3. Establishment and construction of Community Primary school Umuogili.
NEEDS ASSESSMENT FOR ISI UZO LGA
1. Construction of Ogbuzor Farm Road/ improved road access
2. Skill Acquisition Centres
3. Agricultural support for farmers (Farm Implements/ machines and inputs).
NEEDS ASSESSMENT FOR ENUGU SOUTH
1. Construction of roads (Achara Layout, Idaw River)
2. Construction of display slabs/ tables for petty traders.
3. Provision of instruction materials, teaching aids, training and retraining of teachers and effective monitoring and supervision of teachers in Enugu South L.G.A
