CSJ Scores High On Implementation Of State2State Project

The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) scored high on assessment in the implementation of the State2State project last year.

State2State, a USAID funded project was aimed at strengthening subnational governance systems in six Nigerian states of Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Ebonyi, Gombe and Sokoto states.

It was designed to also oversee service delivery in the health, education, and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) sectors. Through State2State, CSJ was able to build the capacity of Civil Society Organisations to increase accountability, transparency, and effectiveness in governance.

First, CSJ conducted a rapid assessment survey of 240 Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in the six states of the federation which informed the training curriculum and facilitation of capacity building workshops as well as mentoring activities for CSOs in the project implementation states.

In Ebonyi State, CSJ conducted a capacity building training for more than forty civil society organisations (CSOs) on best practises in public sector procurement.

A similar training was organised in Adamawa State where participants were told that governments all over the world use public procurement policy and implementation mechanisms to address a number of issues including budget implementation, service delivery, social, economic, environmental, human rights and developmental concerns.

CSOs in Akwa Ibom State called on the state government to ensure that members appointed into the state’s council on Public Procurement are consensus representatives of the group. 

In Bauchi, the Citizen Engagement Director and Advisory Team Lead for the USAID- State2State project, Ahmed Mohammed charged civil servants to work in collaboration with CSOs as partners to reform public procurement.

Mohammed Bello, the Team Lead, State2State in Gombe State encouraged participants at the workshop to follow up on the practical lessons taught at the meeting to scale up transparency and accountability in the state’s public finance management.

While at Sokoto, CSJ urged civil society partners to ensure that the state’s budget becomes gender responsive to engender inclusion in public expenditures.