UNICEF seeks community ownership of project to sustain ODF status of Yakurr LG

Fri, Aug 3, 2018 | By publisher


Politics

UNICEF has called for continuous engagement of communities to take ownership of the Open Defecation-Free (ODF) project in Yakurr Local Government Area of Cross River to sustain its ODF status.

Mr Collins Njoku, the UNICEF Consultant on Yakurr Local Government Area (LGA, made the call in Abuja on Friday in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

Njoku, who commented on the recent attainment of ODF status by Yakurr LGA, after meeting all criteria in the ODF Protocols, underscored the need to put in place pragmatic measures to prevent the communities from relapsing to open defecation practices.

He also said that it was important to review previous Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) targets, milestones and results.

“It is imperative to identify achievements, best practices, gaps, lessons learnt, challenges and way forward.

“Continuous engagement with communities is crucial to community ownership of the programme because it confers on the community members a sense of recognition, pride and fulfilment.

“The role gender mainstreaming plays in the programme implementation and development cannot be over-emphasised, as it is imperative in addressing the specific needs of men and women,’’ he said.

Njoku listed some challenges facing the programme as conflicts among some Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Committee (WASHCOM) members, communal conflicts in some centres and uncooperative attitude of some traditional rulers.

On gender mainstreaming in programme sustainability efforts, the UNICEF official stressed the need to promote women empowerment, poverty reduction and gender equity, as part of efforts to impact positively on the lives of children and the people.

He stressed that the sustainability of Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) and ODF projects would foster disease reduction, safety of the girl-child and promotion of school enrolment and overall human dignity.

“Elimination of Open Defecation by 2025 and Achievement of the SDGs, which are milestones set aside by the United Nations for domestication by member countries, provided the leading lights.

“With deliberate policies through multi-sectoral collaboration and communities’ ownership of these programmes, ODF communities could sustain their status,’’ he said. (NAN)

– Aug. 3, 2018 @ 17:45 GMT |

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