Focus States (Bauchi and Sokoto) Strategy
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| Sokoto (top left) and Bauchi (top right); USAID/Nigeria Focus States. |
USAID/Nigeria’s development strategy is designed to increase access to quality social services; improve the rule of law and responsive governance; expand and strengthen the prevention, care, and treatment of persons affected by HIV/AIDS; and expand community empowerment. To effectively and efficiently concentrate the bulk of its resources and achieve maximum impact, USAID/Nigeria selected Bauchi and Sokoto as Focus States.
In northern Nigeria, the possibility of extremist influence is expanding and becoming an issue of growing concern. There are growing impoverishment and disproportionately high rates of child mortality, illiteracy, and other social ills, all of which are the result of population pressures, de-industrialization, and underinvestment in agriculture, infrastructure, and public services. Poor governance may also become a factor driving citizens in the north to seek radical alternatives to their problems. In the last decade, resource conflicts in the north, sometimes exacerbated by ethnic and religious tensions, have precipitated episodes of violence in which thousands of people have lost their lives. This results in the chronic inability of the political system to address Nigeria’s problems or promote sustainable development and contributes to the progressive alienation of non-elite Nigerians from the current political system. Improved governance at all levels, expanded delivery of critical social services, employment generation, and poverty reduction are the key elements of an approach for increasing stability, reducing radicalism, and mitigating extremism in order to ensure measurable improvement in northern Nigerians’ quality of life.
Although the bulk of the Mission’s resources are being utilized to implement activities in its two Focus States, other activities that have a nationwide impact will be initiated and maintained. The Focus States approach, in addition to being designed to result in a more significant impact of the USAID/Nigeria’s resources, will seek to achieve synergies among the donors and implementing partners to reduce redundancy in project implementation and to increase effective donor collaboration.
To implement its Focus States approach, USAID/Nigeria designed three flagship projects:
The Targeted States High Impact Project (TSHIP), which began in 2009, is an integrated maternal neonatal and child health initiative that uses high impact and low cost interventions to reduce maternal and child deaths commenced in 2009. TSHIP’s key activities include integrated community and facility-based essential maternal/newborn care with interventions focusing on antenatal, emergency obstetric, and newborn care; postpartum care and family planning for healthy timing and spacing of pregnancies; and prevention and treatment of obstetric complications and disabilities, including prevention, treatment, and repair of obstetric fistula. The project also builds the capacity of health workers in Bauchi and Sokoto States.
The Northern Education Initiative (NEI) strengthens state and local government systems; lays the foundation for delivering quality education services; and improves access of 15,000 orphans and vulnerable children to basic education, preventive health education, psycho-social support, and referral health services. NEI designs innovative approaches such as learning centers that provide literacy education to out-of-school youth and integrate them into the formal education system. Students of Qur’anic schools (Almajiri) are also targeted because of their special vulnerability.
The Leadership, Empowerment, and Advocacy Development (LEAD) project promotes democratic local governance to assume greater roles in addressing the needs of the citizenry with a view to improving the delivery of basic services. LEAD builds partnerships between state and local governments, civil society, and the private sector to improve governance, accountability, and service delivery. The project also promotes transparency of local government operations through facilitating a more participatory budget process, dialogue with state actors on the allocation process, and exploring legislative changes that will require greater transparency in local governance.
Budget:
2010 - 2014: $169 M (expected)
Criteria for Selecting Focus States:
- Indicators of Need (income levels, health, education)
- Governance Indicators (performance record of good governance, transparency, accountability)
- Foreign Policy or Mission Requirements of Donors
- Existing Work and Logistics (previous/current relationships, presence of other donors, opportunities for synergy)
- Nigerian Government Priorities (Seven Point Agenda, Vision 20:2020, National Planning Commission collaboration)
