January 2022
The Centre for Environmental Sustainability and Development Awareness (CESDA) has commenced a project funded by the Agents for Citizen-driven Transformation (ACT) Programme via a grant to end open defecation in public places. The issue is an increasing health concern in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Nigeria where the campaign took place.
CESDA conducted clean-up exercises and a mass sensitisation campaign on open defecation and the effect of cholera in markets and motor parks. The campaign was targeted at members of the public through a series of events and materials distributed in the community.
CESDA also conducted advocacy visits to key stakeholders, such as the Federal Ministry of Health, the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPD) and the Market Men and Women Commodities Sellers Association of Nigeria, to seek their buy-in, cooperation and support for the project. The aim was to establish partnerships to increase awareness of the issue. As a result, the AEPB pledged its commitment to the initiative and deployed an outside broadcast van and personnel to support the exercise. CESDA and AEPB came together to conduct a mass clean up exercise in the Mabuchi Village on World Toilet Day (19 November 2021).
CESDA is an ACT CSO partner that has benefitted from institutional capacity strengthening support in various areas such as project cycle management, monitoring and evaluation. The CSO has also benefited from coaching and mentoring support on organisational strategy and finance management to improve their capability to access donor funding.
