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Many Hands on Deck for Development - NGOs - Global policy Forum Many Hands on Deck for Development
This Day
November 22, 2002
Rural development, reproductive health and HIV/AIDS are issues being grappled with by governments at all levels in the country. Agha Ibiam writes on the intervention of non-governmental organisations in these areas.
Despite numerous promises made by the Federal Government to increase budgetary allocations to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to enable it transform the lives of rural dwellers, much has not been seen in that regard.
President Olusegun Obasanjo described the transformation of the rural sector as the "backbone" of the present administration's development strategy, which deserve priority attention, based on the fact that 70 per cent of the nation's population still resides in the rural areas.
He therefore said that the formulation and implementation would help to make up for years of ineffective action, due to neglect and poorly coordinated approach to rural development programmes. The national policy if adopted, will give positive expression, direction and guidance to current and future initiatives of government on rural transformation and poverty reduction, the president said. No doubt, rural development is a major way of bringing about a nation's accelerated economic advancement. Countries all over the world emphasise rural development apparently because they know its importance to their economic growth and development. Rural development helps in mobilising rural wealth, which in turn boosts a nation's gross domestic product and overall standard of living.
It is for these reasons, among others that some institutions, individuals and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), have been contributing remarkably to rural development. Recently in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, Femope Foundation, a non-governmental organisation with focus on health development and management, organised a workshop aimed at giving support to some communities. The project, sponsored by DFID and Comic Relief in the United Kingdom, through International Family Health (IFH) London, attracted about twenty-one NGOs operating throughout the seven geographical health zones in the country as mapped out by Femope.
They also contribute in capacity building of community organisations in order to contribute to the overall development of individuals and families within the communities. They do this through an integrated health and development programme, targeted at different categories of people including prisoners and prostitutes.
The organisation, since inception in 1998, according to Mrs. Zebib Kavuma, international project manager of IFH, its collaboration with Femope has been yielding dividends. "I think the support we have been providing to most communities is necessary, but in terms of monitoring the progress and the achievement of the objectives, is something that is still a challenge to us. And that we have to continue building more indicators, ways of recognising the impact our effort in achieving", Mrs. Kavuma said.
Emphasising on reproductive health in relation to HIV/AIDS, STDs, safe motherhood, family planning, spacing of pregnancy, post-abortion care, the project manager explained that they work in such areas where those unsafe practices are very rampamt.
She observed that culture and religious differences between the Christians and Moslems, have been posing a major challenge, but that the organisation was poised to breaking such barriers, especially in the northern part of the country. Mrs. Kavuma said IFH would do this by bringing in more organisations on board to focus more on health-related issues.
Sustainability of the project is something she said must be given due attention, as government has abandoned such communities to their fate. "We come in because government has not provided some basic needs to its communities. This is not new, and they are things they should do for their people or the ordinary person. "
Government's lackadaisical attitude to community development, Mrs. Kavuma said, could be attributed to the diversity of the country, which has made it difficult for rural people and government to see eye to eye for meaningful achievement. But in addition to absence of communication, lack of proper network has also been identified as major reason for government neglect of providing social amenities, health care, education that could transform lives of rural dwellers.
Femope has created a lot of awareness on HIV/AIDS in communities that fall within the axis of its operation. Even at that, they have also alleviated the suffering of some communities economically. A peculiar situation, though not part of their programme, was to build wooden bridges for Akoore village in Ado-Ado Otta, Ogun State.
The organisation's Executive Director, Chief Isreal Moradeyo, explained that when they started discussing HIV/AIDS and reproductive health in Akoore, the villagers refused to pay attention. Reason, according to him, was that the community needed an urgent solution to making a bridge across some streams to facilitate their farm work.
"When it rained, the villagers wouldn't be able to go to their farms to harvest their crops, which are perishable. We therefore decided to construct wooden bridges for them at the cost of N1.4 million", he explained.
Moradeyo enumerated some problems that are wrecking the lives of most communities as diseases, poverty, lack of education, lack of infrastructure like hospitals, good roads and portable water. The fact that these villagers are producers of most foods consumed in urban areas, is enough to take care of them, he argued.
In Akure, Ondo State, Mrs. Jewel Bolade-Alabi, Executive Director, Multi-view Advocacy Network (MANET), is also transforming and saving the lives of many prostitutes in that area. What spurred her into that advocacy was the observation she made that most women were engaging in prostitution without the use of condom.
A base line study, she said, revealed that most of them signed some bond of sorts with the hoteliers to be harboured for some time to enable them engage in it. But one of the offers they are making to prostitutes is provision of alternative income generation opportunities.
At present, MANET is training some prostitutes who want to be rehabilitated. About 30 of them are receiving training at different vocations in Akure, ranging from catering, hair dressing to tailoring. On graduation, they are supported with necessary tools to operate with. "If they have alternative to prostitution, I think they will leave that job, especially having some little loans to start with", Bolade-Alabi said.
She has mapped out ways of reaching out to them on the day-to-day use of condom in their business. To their suprise, she said, some of the sex hawkers don't even use it at all, when dealing with different men.
She said a test carried out by her organisation proved that out of 100 ladies tested for HIV/AIDS, over 70 per cent of them tested positive. From her calculation, that in 1999 the per centage rate of HIV/AIDS in Akure was 2.9 per cent as against 6.8 per cent it has risen to recently.
Jewel said that reasons most of them give for going into prostitution include lack of jobs, training themselves in schools, taking care of their siblings and aged parents, friends' invitation without revealing purpose of such adventure and other flimsy excuses of hustling for survival.
Agbara-gba community in Cross River State is also receiving from Rural Environment Protectors (REP),Calabar. Its programme director, Mr. Roy Ndoma-Egba, partnering with a number of other NGOs on advocacy and community change, has been able to bring succour to the people, especially those of the rain forest zone of the State.
Their primary focus is on rural communities, educating them on public hygiene and sanitation. They also provide basic education on how to manage faces and waste, which may later be transformed to manure.
Like any other civil society work, Ndoma-Egba enunciated that basic constraints challenging his organisation have been that of funding. Though not neglecting their primary assignment on campaign against HIV/AIDS prevention and also in reproductive health care, REP is still in collaboration with the Cross River State Ministry of Health and the local government councils to make some impact on the lives of the people.
They have been able to educate 500 adults on family planning and child health, while 500 adolescents have benefited on reproductive health and HIV/AIDS and STDs. Equally, they are also into campaign against female genital mutilation and early marriage, which used to be prevalent in that area. According to Ndoma-Egba, the community sees themselves as part and parcel of one family and are ready to encourage their daughters to go to school, which he described as a fundamental achievement.
In Lagos, Mrs. Dora Ofobrukweta, Coordinator, Life Link Organisation, having identified cases of prison inmates who have tested HIV positive in six states her organisation is into, is providing counseling, test and drugs.
Categorically, she could not say how rampant inmates have fallen victim of this deadly disease, due to inadequate statistics to back her argument, but no doubt possess enough evidence to generalise. "The community requires our support to be educated on HIV/AIDS. We should all join hands, not leaving the work to only NGOs. There should be a diversification of resources to life-saving projects", she pleaded.
Strong arguments have been held by observers that there is need to provide some basic infrastructure in the rural areas. This, no doubt, will bring significant reduction in population drift from rural to urban areas.
The transformation of the rural areas, if actualised as posited by President Olusegun Obasanjo will help in redressing social dislocation caused by exodus of people from rural communities to the cities. Such problems like accommodation shortage, traffic hold-ups, inadequate water supply and power outages in cities would be remarkably curbed.
In effect, reasonable employment opportunities would be created in the rural areas and a lot of the youths will have worthwhile jobs to do in the villages. There will be significant reduction in crime wave, as research has shown that many people, especially the youths are forced into crime and girls into prostitution by unemployment. Most importantly, providing essential amenities will help boost the morale of the rural people in producing more food. But the question is, when will it take place.
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