UNICEF, NOA celebrates 20 years partnership, explore new opportunities

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the National Orientation Agency (NOA) are exploring new areas to partner in after the duo has enjoyed over two decades of partnership and collaboration.

The Director General of the NOA, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, while speaking at a two-day review meeting between UNICEF and the NOA on Wednesday in Abuja, said UNICEF has come a long way with interventions in the lives of children across the world.

He said that with the kind of reputation and impact UNICEF has made, particularly in Nigeria, and the kind of relationship that has existed between UNICEF and NOA over the last two decades, there can’t be a better opportunity for both parties to meet and ensure that they have a better platform to engage.

Issa-Onilu revealed that the NOA has embarked on some forms of reform in the way and manner in which they carry out their activities, and it is important for its partners to work with the agency for both parties to understand the new direction and develop areas and touchpoints so that they can all work together for better outcomes.

“The objective today is to meet and greet, discuss, evaluate how far we have come, and also identify how further we want to go,”  the NOA DG added.

On his part, the Chief Social and Behaviour Change at UNICEF, Kshitij Joshi, recalled that UNICEF and NOA have partnered for over two decades, and collectively, they have achieved a lot.

He said both agencies have mandates in terms of not just creating awareness about government programmes, issues, values, and culture but also engaging with communities in that process.

“It is not just about telling them what the government is doing or what is right or wrong; it also involves engaging them and giving them feedback from the system so that collectively, we can achieve and contribute to the mandate of our organisations.

“Collectively, we would like to identify areas where the two organisations can work together to ensure that we are able to engage with our communities, especially women and children, and bring their voices to the decision-makers,”  Joshi added.

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