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By: Felix Ikpotor
In a bid to ensure that all challenges associated with the implementation of the Rivers State Community Action Resilience Stimulus (RIV-CARES) Programme is effectively addressed, the State Cares Coordination Unit (SCCU) under the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning has held a three-day capacity building workshop for its officers.
The workshop which is on grievance mechanisms and gender-based violence is a stepdown programme aimed at equipping safeguard officers, management officers and other key implementors of the with the requisite knowledge for addressing grievances that may arise from the field as they go about implementing the programme.
Speaking at the workshop, the Chairman of State Cares Coordination Unit, SCCU, and Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Professor Peter Medee, stated that the programme was earlier held at the National Cares Coordination Unit for State Officers with the charge to step it down for state and local government implementation officers.
He said the unit realises that people’s perception and expectation from the programme varies and could lead to grievances which could affect the smooth implementation of the programme that’s why the Unit has organised the trainning for officers to be adequately equipped to tackle them whenever they arose.
Medee said: “I’m here today to be part of the this capacity building programme that has to do with gender and grievances and to say that there is no way you will implement a programme of this capacity around the 23 local government areas of the state, around all the wards, units and villages and the programme would not be characterised by one level of grievance or the other. This is because some people who expect more may not get and some people who expect less are not also getting and so the people who are implementing are at one point or the other being suspected, and when you are dealing with persons inter-relatively and suspicion comes in, that would breed alot of situations”.
He added: “For those of you who are safeguard officers and other technical members of this implementation, I want to say that organizing this programme for you is to build your capacity so that you know what to do when you are faced with the inevitable situation that is associated with interrelationship between humans as there is no way humans would inter-relate and you don’t have issue of disagreement”.
While charging them to take the trainning seriously, he stated that the Rivers State Government is concerned about alleviating the living standards of the people.
“Today we have brought you here to train and build your capacity so that as you go back, in course of implementing, you would be able to deal with the issues that would arise. We want to encourage you that in as much as Rivers State Government would continue to do our very best to implement this programme to the letter, you who are the officers that we have entrusted this programme to, to go down to the vulnerable, to go down to the less advantage, to go down to the poor households to make them have a feeling of government, you need to see how you do this with all amount of experience and capacity that is needed. So that’s why we are organizing this programme.
“I want to encourage you and to say that the government of Rivers State would support the federal government in the bid to ameliorate the level of suffering as a result of one government programme or the other.
“Every situation we are in is like a shock from a policy or programme, so the situation down there in the communities are very pathetic, our people are hungry, our people are poor and this programme is designed by the federal government to reach out to some of them,” he noted.
In his goodwill message at the event, the National Cares Coordinator, Dr Abdulkareem Abaje, represented by Tunde Falola, commended Rivers State Government for being among the first states to implement the stepdown programme for its CARES officers.
He congratulated Rivers State for being one of the performing states of the NG-CARES Programme.
“Let me appreciate and congratulate the Executive Governor of Rivers State, Sir Siminialayi Fubara for being one of the performing states under the NG-CARES Programme. “Let me state that as at the end of the third result verification exercise the state has been reimbursed to the tone of N28.7bn and equivalent of $25.5m. This amount is more than the nominal allocation of $20m contained in the subsidiary loan agreement. This remarkable achievement was made possible through adequate and timely funding of the NG-CARES Programme in Rivers State which has culminated into the results that we have been able to achieve,” he said.
The National Cares Coordinator commended the government of Rivers State for being particular about alleviating the plight of the poor in the state.
“Rivers State has constantly and consistently demonstrated visionary leadership in implementing initiatives for the poor and trying to address the issue of poverty in the country and this is exemplified through the leadership demonstrated once again by the state by being among the states to commence the implementation of the minimum wage and also the second state to step down this grievance mechanism trainning for their staffs,” he said.
He charged the participants that the trainning is not just an event but part of a broader and sustained effort to make sure that “We make a real difference in our communities. It is a call for action for every one of us to be attentive, reflective and internalise the knowledge gathered here and apply them in the course of our various roles and I believe that at the end of this trainning, we would be better equiped with the knowledge and skills and resolutions to make a lasting impact in our communities”.
He reassured that the Federal Cares Coordination Unit remains committed to providing technical support to states under the NG-CARES Programme.
On her part, the State Cares Coordinator, Mrs Imaoyani Ephraim-George, said the trainning is important because the resources to meet the needs of all the people are limited, hence there is bound to be grievances.
She said the trainning also covers issues on gender-based violence, sexual harassment amongst others.
Mrs Ephraim-George, promised that the trainning would be implemented at the grassroots and community levels to ensure that all implementors and beneficiaries know how to channel their grievances when they feel dissatisfied.
In a keynote address, Head of Sexual and Gender-based Violence Unit of the Rivers State Ministry of Health, Dr Mary Obisike, noted that the Ministry of Health have trained personnel in the 23 LGAs for prompt response on gender-based violence especially rape cases.
She noted that gender-based violence also has to do with inequality and power and further called on participants to take the training seriously as she said all of them are advocates of gender-based violence.
