As part of its inclusiveness drive, the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), Bauchi Field Office, is partnering with media broadcast stations in the States that make up the Field Office in order to give more spaces for children to enable them to voice out their own special needs.
Under this approach, child participatory radio and TV presentations are given priority so as to enable the children to air their views in their own languages and perceptions for the world to understand and act on.
Through the initiative, children are now allowed to anchor segments of programmes, live and recorded, covering key areas of their development concerns such as nutrition, health, security, education, and rights protection, among others.
When contacted on why the new approach was introduced, a Communication Working Partner with UNICEF, who is coordinating the implementation, Umar Muhammad Shira, said that as long as all the media stations have their functional children desks, UNICEF is keying into existing programmes by way of enhancing the capacity of producers to bring in creativity in their works so that there will be more visibility reportage on key issues affecting the children.
Umar Shira stressed that, when properly reported, those at the helm of affairs, like policymakers, will be tasked with also having a paradigm shift in areas of funding child development and welfare issues.
He also said that global attention, especially in the implementation of the SDGs, is shifted towards collaborative efforts by all the stakeholders as a workable strategy for pushing for better outcomes on the outlined and targeted goals.
The media, therefore, he echoed, has a role to play in the areas of information dissemination, sensitisation of society, and mobilisation for positive action.
The coordinator charged media stations to see the partnership as a call to duty to offer their platforms for the survival and development of children, while on her part, UNICEF promises to come in from time to time with little support to keep the flag flying in the best interest of the children.
In an interview, the Communication Implementing Partner, Umar Muhammad Shira, said that with the new approach, media stations are expected to encourage the children to directly participate in the programming so as to be able to expand their cognitive thinking in line with the present circumstances of global attention to their flight and to speak for themselves.
He stressed that children are now being allowed to anchor programmes on radio and TV stations as a concrete step towards speaking on behalf of the entire population of Nigeria.
The Bauchi Field Office of UNICEF comprises Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Plateau, and Taraba States.
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