The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), through its Lagos Urban Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (LUWASH) programme, has awarded grants worth N1.72 billion to eight local organizations for anti-malarial interventions. anger.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the grants were awarded to the organizations at a two-day signing and onboarding workshop on Monday in Lagos.
The workshop was organized to officially launch the grant activities and provide relevant orientation to the new grantees.
The initiative aimed to support the state government's effort to reduce cholera transmission, promote behavioral changes and prevent future outbreaks.
The grants were awarded under the Capacity Building, Research and Advocacy Fund (CAREVO Fund) to enhance the operational and outreach capacity of Community Based Organizations (CBOs) providing WASH services, with a focus on underserved communities for public services.
The organizations are the JAM Foundation, the Nigerian Equal Access to Health Initiative, the Southern Sahara Social Development Organization and the Humanity Family Foundation for Peace and Development.
Others are the Program for Women's Right to Education, the Bread of Life Development Foundation, the Society for Water and Sanitation and the Chamagne Foundation.
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Party Chief and USAID contractor for LUWASH, James Racicot, urged the awardees to positively use the grants to achieve LUWASH objectives.
Racicot noted that through the initiative, LUWASH aims to reduce cholera transmission, morbidity and mortality rates in Lagos State.
It added that it would promote behavioral changes to prevent communicable diseases and improve WASH facilities in low-income communities.
“We have no doubt that all of you will be successful with the proposals you have presented,” he told the fellows,” he said.
He noted that the beneficiaries were selected because they were going to help achieve the overall results and objectives of the LUWASH activity.
“So, we urge you, the recipient, to take advantage of all the training and guidance you will receive, because ultimately, we don't want to struggle with grant management, but rather focus on implementation and success. .
“The LUWASH activity is very serious about engaging prominent and enthusiastic community organizations in Lagos and Nigeria and we plan to do so in the coming years as well.
“The expectations of these organizations will contribute to the overall objectives of LUWASH to eradicate the cholera outbreak in Lagos State.
“So, USAID's LUWASH activity has several components, including work on water supply infrastructure, governance and support to institutional actors.
“But through the contracted grant program, called the CAREVO fund, we can address specific needs that we have seen recently or that have been present for a few years,” Mr. Racicot said.
Some of the awardees reiterated their commitments to ensuring that USAID/LUWASH objectives are met.
One of the beneficiaries, Mimidoo Achakpa of the Women's Right to Education Programme, said her organization would embark on further advocacy to combat the cholera outbreak with the grant.
“Basically, we are going to work for different governments, meet with critical stakeholders and also build capacity and conduct trainings and seminars to prevent cholera outbreaks.
“So our basic message would be that we work together to achieve the goal of LUWASH. We continually involve the communities we work with.
“We will not leave anyone behind in promotion and we believe that we will be able to achieve the objectives of the programme,” said Ms Achakpa.
For his part, Julius Akwashiki of the JAM Foundation, another awardee, described the grant as an opportunity for his organization to address faecal sludge in Lagos State.
“With our program we want to accelerate the treatment of fecal sludge in Oregun, Lagos, through our fecal sludge treatment plant.
“We have realized that, over time, the fecal treatment plan has been abandoned. It is an infrastructure that was built almost 60 years ago and since then the population has been growing.
“Therefore, our own intervention is to ensure that sludge treatment is improved, so that what is discharged into the environment that has caused this huge health burden in Lagos is addressed at the source.
“Definitely achieving our project has been what we were longing for. We thank LUWASH for this opportunity,” Akwashiki said.
Another awardee, Timothy Akinmurele of Equitable Health Access Initiative, said the grant was an opportunity to increase advocacy against cholera outbreaks in seven local government areas (LGAs) of the state.
“Our project is called Community Dimension to Address Cholera in Lagos through WASH.
“It is solely targeting seven affected LGAs in Lagos State where we plan to reach schools, markets, auto parts and communities with basic cholera prevention methods and products.
“We want to make sure we can address the cause of cholera and ensure it does not happen again.
“LUWASH is a project with great impact in terms of development results and the fight against cholera, because it reaches the hearts of the public and reaches the communities.
“Communities are reached to ensure they understand what cholera is, what causes it and also how to prevent it,” Mr Akinmurele said.
(YAYA)