USAID State 2 State Trains Grant Awardees On Processes, Expectations In Implementation Of Activities

By Bashir Hassan Abubakar

The ongoing United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded intervention under an activity titled “State Accountability, Transparency and Effectiveness (State2State)” has commenced a two-day G
grants inception meeting aimed at building the capacity of 12 selected organizations from Bauchi and Gombe States.

In a welcome remark shortly before the commencement of the meeting held on Wednesday, at Hazibal Suites Conference Hall in Bauchi, the Deputy Chief of Party (DCoP) of USAID State 2 State, Mr. John Onyeukwu said that the objective of the meeting was to introduce the selected organizations to the processes and expectations in implementing the State2State activities in their designated areas.

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The DCoP also said that it is the first, in the series of workshops, the USAID intervention is having with the selected organizations that won grant award to support in the implementation of the USAID funded activity in line with laid down guidelines and to also ensure compliance.

He congratulated the awardees and urged them to justify the confidence reposed in them saying, “there were over 100 applications but only 36 organizations were selected across the implementing States, after careful evaluation process.

“Though, we have been carrying out our activities in our implementing States, this is the first time we are giving awards to organizations to implement our activities, with some of the awardees implementing in local government areas”.

The DCoP, who described the awardees as partners, further expressed his hope saying, “we look forward to an impactful implementation”.

In a presentation titled ‘Citizen Engagement Strategies’ by the Citizen Engagement Director and Advisory Team Lead, Ahmed N. Mohammed, he implore the awardees to ensure that all persons are involved in either engagement or participation during implementation process of their activities.

The advisory team lead also highlighted some benefits of inclusive engagement to include: Help in supporting the development of quality policy advice, contribute to creating a community sense of belonging and also afford decision makers to receive better advice.

Our correspondent reports that the USAID State 2 State Activity is an intervention targeted at six states comprising Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Ebonyi, Gombe and Sokoto.

The grants inception meeting attracted grant awardees from Gombe and Bauchi, with each state having six awardee organizations to carry out activities in thematic areas that focuses on health, education, conflict management, good governance and WASH sectors, among others.