by Yerindideke Kindness Ayibakuro
A Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Equal Access International says its Civil Education Ration programme has reached 17 million people in its target 19 Northern States.
The group disclosed this on Friday in Abuja at its ‘Stakeholders Consultation and Validation Forum’ held with both local, national and international partners in attendance.
Its Deputy Country Director, Gad Peter, in a statement, said the engagement was to initiate conversations that would bring about the sustainability of the programme.
According to him, the programme “Farar Tattabara” (White Dove), has been so impactful and has brought about a lot of positive changes in the 19 Northern States where it airs.
The statement quoted the Country Director, Mr Maji Peters, as saying: “What we are doing here is to present the ‘outcome harvest’ of our flagship programmes in the Hausa language, “Farar Tattabara” which is the white dove.
“We did series of programmes and media outreach that covered the 19 Northern States; working with 22 Radio stations and a TV.
“We have reached out to over 17 million listeners and viewers,” he said.
The director pointed out that the purpose of the forum was to have evidence base impact assessment and also getting people on the field to give an account of the outcomes of their programmes.
Giving insights into some of the success stories, he said that through its programme, the group was able to save children in Borno from getting knocked down by vehicles.
He explained that the attention of the government was drawn to the spot and a pedestrian bridge was constructed which helped stop the incidents.
He said that a similar success story was recorded in a school, where many of the teachers were convinced to go back to school.
“EAI-Nigeria at the moment focuses on youth and women participation and engagement in peace and social change, peace and security, enhancing community resilience and good governance.
“EAI has demonstrated the ability to guide communities at greatest risk of communal and political violence toward sustainable solutions that engage the most vulnerable populations in a stakeholder-driven process of community development,” he said.
