To have an effective and efficient implementation of policies of safe schools declaration in Bauchi State, Stakeholders drawn from security agencies, Community Leaders, Civil Society Organizations (CSO) and school administrators have been trained on intensifying awareness.
The training held on Monday was organised by the Women Advocates Research and Documentation Center (WARDC) in partnership with the United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF).
It was a 2-day Training of Trainers (ToT) on Legislative Advocacy for Safe Schools Declaration (SSD) Policies in Nigeria.
The Senior Program Officer of the CSO, Jennifer Nwokeoike said that the training was aimed at building the capacity of the participants with the requisite advocacy skills and knowledge to deepen the understanding of the safe school declaration and step down the knowledge of their respective communities to intensify public awareness about SSD in Nigeria.
Nwokeoike also said that the training was designed to engage relevant policymakers to ensure that there was a legal framework for the implementation of the school declaration to transfer legislative policies into laws.
She added that the participants were trained to make the public aware of the existence of the SSD and National policy so the public can also get involved in driving the demand for accountability to ensure that at Bauchi “we established costed action plan to help implementation considering the fact there was already earmarked fund at the national level.”
The Senior Program Officer disclosed that the Bauchi state government had already earmarked specific funds for the implementation of the SSD, “the major reason why we are in Bauchi is to educate them and bring stakeholders together, deepen their knowledge on how to be able to lead legislative advocacy to policymakers to develop strategies to meet with them.
Earlier in his remarks, a resource person at the training, Dr Abiola Akiyode Afolabi said that the objectives of the training were to increase public awareness of SSD by community, school administrators, media, and civil society organizations as well as formation and adaptation of the legally binding framework for SSD implementation.
Abiola Afolabi added that the establishment of an effective partnership between government, policymakers, media, and CSOs on the implementation of a state plan for safe schools in Lagos, Bauchi State, Nigeria.
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