A Non – Governmental Organization, NGO known as Youth WASH initiative Africa has called on federal government to create a youth WASH Fund to provide funding for young people to explore their ideas and innovations in the sector.
The Executive Director of the group, Nature Obiakor made this calls in an interview with pressmen at the Digital hangout in celebrating 5 years of the campaign in Nigeria, and to commemorate the World Toilet Day held in Abuja.
Obiakor encouraged the government to create spaces for young people in the sector, involving them from conceptualization to implementation.
He mentioned that there are already many policies on sanitation, hygiene, and water, but the challenge is in their interpretation and implementation.
According to him, young people and rural communities need to understand these policies better.
“if we want to talk about the federal government already has a lot of policies, too many policies on sanitation, policies on hygiene and policies on water. But the major challenge with these policies has been one interpretation of the policies.
“These policies have to be unbundled to make the young people, the rural people, understand what the policy is talking about, because some of these policies are on their shelves.
“Then secondly, we want to ask what talk to government about is to also see how they can create a space for young people within the sector, because we see that, or from my experience so far, that young people don’t really have space, even though it’s a claim that young people are being given space. But when it comes to the practical implementation, young people need to be carried along, from conceptualizing, from conceptualization to planning, up to implementation,” he stated.
Furthermore, Obiakor emphasized the need for young people to be involved in practical implementation, not just as beneficiaries.
He added programs should be designed to include young people and budget resources for their involvement.
He charged developmental partners to prioritize working with NGOs to allow for effective program implementation.
Meanwhile, Obiakor while announcing the unveiling of a new project, called Youth Watch Digital Media Hangouts explained that the project aim at engaging young people using digital spaces for mobilization, monitoring, and evaluation.
He added that the project aligns with Goal 6 of the Sustainable Development Goal to ensure no one is left behind, noting that the digital platform will help achieve the organization’s goals more effectively.
Youth Watch Initiative Africa is a youth organization focused on mobilizing and engaging young people in issues related to water, sanitation, and hygiene.
The organization aims to protect and uphold the human right to water, sanitation, and hygiene, and supports the government in implementing related initiatives. The primary focus is on involving young people in issues of sanitation, energy, and other developmental areas.