Ogun Commends UNFPA's Civil Society Organization Engagement Project

ABEOKUTA - The Ogun State Government has commended the United Nation Population Fund's (UNFPA) funded Civil Society Organisation Engagement (CSOE) Project being implemented in selected communities of the 3 implementing  Local Governments Areas (Ado Odo Ota, Sagamu, and Abeokuta South) saying it has helped strengthen its health systems and response mechanism.

The Executive Secretary, Primary Health Care Development Board, Dr. Elijah Ogunsola stated this during a Stakeholders' meeting on the impact of UNFPA funded Civil Society Organisation Engagement (CSOE) Project in Ogun State, organized by the Planned Parenthood Federation of Nigeria (PPFN) held at the Nigerian Medical Association Hall in Abeokuta.

Ogunsola noted that over 200 health workers have had a capacity building on sexual reproductive health care provisions, as well as response and management of Gender-based violence issues in their various communities.

Ogunsola who was represented by the State Reproductive Health Coordinator, Dr. Israel Orire, lauded the intervention of PPFN and  UNFPA in transforming the healthcare delivery system at the grassroots, especially during the Covid19 Pandemic, assuring that government would sustain the collaboration to improve the wellbeing of residents across the state.

In her address, the Regional Coordinator, SouthWest, PPFN, Mrs. Elizabeth Adeyoyin, said the UNFPA CSOE COVID-19 response project implemented by PPFN in Ogun and some states in the country was to build the capacity of healthcare providers in identified facilities and explaining that their capacity was strengthened through technical support and information on COVID-19, Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) services.

Adeyoyin also said that the objective of the project was to ensure that people have access to quality SRH services as well as adequate enlightenment and correct response to manage Gender-Based Violence in Communities across the State, calling on the government to replicate the intervention in other Local government that was yet to be touched.

Also speaking, the Acting Executive Director, PPFN, Dr. Okai Haruna represented by Mr. Olayinka Muili who appreciated the government and other stakeholders for providing the enabling environment for the CSOE project, said that the intervention also sought to ensure that essential GBV and SRH  services were integrated with behavior change interventions and to reduce the spread of  Covid19 virus among residents in communities of implementing Local governments.

He added that the project also engaged stakeholders in the communities where they identified vulnerable women and other survivors of GBV who were supported with Dignity Kits, counseling, and interventions to integrate them back into the society, adding the project also rolled out USSD mobile service called ' Text4Life'  to enable people to report GBV and other SRH issues.

In their respective remarks, Mrs. Olufunmilayo Ajigbotafe and Alhaji Rasheed Ogutade on behalf of other community stakeholders lauded the project by UNFPA and PPFN, saying it had greatly assisted in providing the needed healthcare support and enlightenment on the COVID-19 pandemic, SRH, and GBV in their various communities.

Highlights of the meeting include a presentation of a report on the impact of the CSOE project, sharing of experience by stakeholders, and the development of a sustainability plan.