UNICEF reviews activities, to roll out 2 years work plan in Katsina

The Katsina field office of the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) comprising of Katsina and Kano state,  has commence a  two-day meeting aimed at reviewing its 2018 activities and developing a rolling work plan for the next two years (2019-2020).

Speaking at the opening session of the meeting, the chief field officer of UNICEF Katsina field office, Padmavathi Yedla, said social norms have been the greatest challenge of the office in carrying out its activities in the preceding year saying recent steps of engaging the civil society to reverse the trend is aimed at redressing the challenge.

On Routine Immunisation coverage, she said, lack of government ownership in Katsina is a huge challenge.

“There are reversals which are of high concerns that could threaten the overall child health and survival issues. The number of unprecedented outbreaks in Katsina could have been prevented with appropriate budget allocation and strengthened routine immunization. More 50 CVDPs cases in Katsina poses risks to all children in Katsina and in neighbouring states,” she noted.

She said the non-implementation or delayed implementation of MNHCHW campaigns in Katsina poses risk to children, adding that delayed implementation probably mitigate risks “but it is not assured.”

“Cost plans for nutrition in both states have not been endorsed; with increasing development partners in this sectors, it will lead to overlap and duplication of efforts thus leading to inefficient use of resources,” she said

According to her, the challenge of out-of-school children in the states of Katsina and Kano needs a much stronger response than what’s obtainable at the moment.

“The monitoring and oversight by RUWASSA in ensuring quality of water sources in Katsina is a challenge. The partnership with third party evaluators and openness and transparency to partner with other agencies to improve sanitation is a challenge in Katsina.

“This needs serious review by partners and we recognize the task ahead is challenging; a robust partnership will support in achieving better results for children. The partnership is here to deliver results for children and women. In all SHAWN phase 1, the communities have slipped back to open defecation,” she said.