Group Begins Monitoring of Anambra Smart School Project, Targets Citizen Participation
Lawrence Nwimo, Awka
Creative Mind Center for Youth and Community Development (CM-CYCD), a nongovernmental organization, has commenced monitoring of the Anambra Smart School Project with a focus on driving active citizen participation in the governance of the state.
The group made their plan known during a recent visit to the Ministry of Education at the Jerome Udorji Secretariat Awka, the state capital.
Recall that the Smart School Initiative was launched in 22 secondary schools by the Anambra government with the aim to empower both students and teachers by integrating modern technology into classrooms, in line with the state’s vision for a tech-driven future.
Speaking at the meeting, Executive Director of CM-CYCD and leader of the group, Ugochi Freeman, disclosed that the exercise would be carried out using the Budeshi Small Grant awarded by the Public and Private Development Centre (PPDC).
Freeman said the aim was to monitor public projects and promote citizen engagement in governance processes. She added that the organization would adopt a community-driven approach to track the implementation of the project across the state.
Accordingto her, “We are monitoring smart school projects in Anambra State. We got details of the project from the Anambra state E-procurement portal and Anambra Open contracting Data Standard Portal.
“We intend to visit the sites, check out the projects they have done, then engage community members and leaders on our findings.”
“Our interest is to ensure that people participate actively in what is happening in the schools and to render help where needed. We mentor communities to develop interest in what the government is doing in their locality.”
Freeman noted that the group had recorded success with similar interventions in the past, citing the impact of earlier monitoring work at Government Technical Colleges and other institutions of learning in the state.
She disclosed that the group intends to extend its oversight to additional school projects, including those already awarded, completed, and those yet to be completed in the state.
“After monitoring the smart schools, we intend to monitor other education projects. We have a shortlist of some of them and we intend to monitor their execution. The result we get from the monitoring will be shared so that any arising issue would be addressed,” she added.
Freeman said the exercise is part of the Open Government Partnership commitments in the state, stressing that increased citizen participation is a key deliverable under the Year 2 Action Plan.
She noted that the number one commitment of the OGP Plan under the first thematic area of fiscal transparency remained increased citizens participation. She said the oversight is one of the avenues to actualize the commitment, and commended the state government for carrying people of the state along in the governance of the state.
Responding, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Dr. Ifeoma Agbaizu, welcomed the initiative and said civil society monitoring was critical to ensuring accountability and quality in project delivery.
“Thank you for your efforts because without these things you people do, communities will show little interest in what the government is doing in their localities and also some contractors handling projects will not be serious in executing quality projects. But with the CSO monitoring, we are able to have a better view of how things are going,” Agbaizu said.
