Embrace spirit of co-creation, co-implementation, Akinbo tells Ebonyi CSOs

EBONYI State Civil society organisations (CSOs) has been called to advocate the spirit of co-creation and co-implementation phases of the state action plan that includes transparency, accountability, commitments and relationship among themselves in their separate roles.

They received the advice from Abayomi Akinbo the national coordinator Open Alliance Nigeria in Abakaliki during an engagement on Open Government Partnership in Ebonyi State to review and validate on Ebonyi OGP state action plan.

According to the coordinator who educates the CSOs on setting the objectives of engagements and deepening the participation of non-state actors, charged the CSOs to always remember that OGP is not for antagonizing the government rather a means of coming together with the government to create the state action plan.

Abayomi further stressed that the Open Alliance will provide support to the non-state actors by ensuring there is adequate capacity building for non-state actors to take ownership of the project as he advised the civil society organisations to always maintained their stance to avoid government impose on them.

He, however, called on the CSOs to be ambitious, realistic in their action plan with togetherness to achieve their goals by supporting each other in terms of funding and internal peer learning and review opportunities for government and civil society development partners.

He urged the CSOs to understand the gaps needed to be filled knowing that OGP is an opportunity for CSO to communicate those gaps to the government.

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Meanwhile, Uchenna Arisukwu, centre LSD while discussing the challenges with Ebonyi OGP, urge the CSOs to maintain collaboration, feedback mechanism, sustainability, funding, to actualize realistic action plan without the government overbearing attitudes stressing that OGP means inclusiveness.

He also advised members of the steering committee to be committed to coordinating its members to achieve their goals.

Highlights of the programme were the presentation of the Ebonyi State Action plan by Aja Chima Oliver coordinator OPEN Alliance Ebonyi State and monitoring and Evaluation plan for Achievement of commitments by Ugo N Uduma, SMLAS.