Young Leaders Network also known as Initiative For Leadership Development and Youth Empowerment has concluded a 2 – day Accountability and Advocacy Workshop in five Local Government Areas under its Accountability and Advocacy Project aimed at strengthening transparency and accountability at the sub- national level in Bauchi state supported by the National Endowment For Democracy (NED), USA.
The workshop was held in Bauchi, Ganjuwa, Ningi, Tafawa Balewa and Toro Local Government Areas of Bauchi state from November 20 – November 30, 2023.The workshop is designed to provide youth and women leaders as well as People Living With Disabilities with the necessary skills to effectively use factual, data-driven information to promote and demand for transparency and accountability in the delivery of governance especially at the sub-national level.
Overall, the workshop was a significant step in the numerous efforts of the organization towards promoting accountability at the sub – national level. The training participants were made of 15 participants drawn from each of benefitting Local Government Area making a total number of 75 participants.
The workshop focused on the utilization of the Freedom of Information Act to demand for information from government officials and institutions for legal and political action, advocacy techniques, strategies and communication, budget tracking, project tracking and Community Charter of Demands and Citizens’ Rights and Responsibilities.Mr. Moses Danjuma Kusko, the Programme Manager, Governance of the organization, harped on the need for the participants as change agents to use factual data and information in demanding for transparency and accountability from important government actors and institutions which will promote constructive social change. He maintained that the organization with funding from National Endowment for Democracy is providing the intervention because of the heightened demand for more inclusive, transparent and accountable regime in the delivery of development outcomes to the citizen especially at the sub – national level.
Rosemary Yakubu, one of the participants from Ganjuwa Local Government Area said the workshop no doubt help prepare her for a more challenging role needed to keep holding public institutions and public servants to account for the overall development of not only her community but the state as a whole.
