The United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, chief of field office, Enugu, Juliet Chiluwe, has urged the various governments, stakeholders and communities under her jurisdiction to take ownership of projects executed in their areas.
Juliet, while speaking at the 2023 end – of- year review meeting for the four states of Abia, Anambra, Enugu and Imo, reminded the stakeholders that UNICEF is not an implementing organization, but a catalyst that acts between the donors and the beneficiaries”.
She also said, that UNICEF requires inputs from the stakeholders to guide it in identifying projects and ensuring that such projects were not misused after execution, emphasizing that every kobo spent on them must be properly accounted for”
However, the meeting was centered on progress made by UNICEF in contributing and driving results for children in Nigeria, including responses related to emergency, adolescents and gender issues, as well as factors that facilitated or constrained the achievement of the results”, she said.
Various implementing units under the programme, including health, education, nutrition, child protection, planning, wash (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene), communication, among others, presented reports of the year”.
It was also revealed, for instance, that South East performed poorest among the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria in wash activities with only 6% coverage, with the stakeholders hoping that the situation would improve in 2024.
