By Oswald Agwu, Abakaliki.
BudgiT-Tracka Foundation, an accountability and transparency Non-governmental organization, has raised the capacity of Ebonyi youths in advancing grassroots development through civic advocacy for project accountability.
The one day capacity building was held Thursday in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State capital.
The youths, numbering 55, selected across Ebonyi Communities and Community Based Organizations were inducted into the community champions initiative of the organization.
The community champions were equipped with requisite skills, Knowledge and materials to enable them monitor and track both federal constituency and consolidated projects approved in the budget within their various communities.
Speaking further on the essence of the workshop, the Program coordinator of the project, Adewole Adejola, stated that the event would also equip participants with information on how to demand good governance and engage the grassroots on their civic rights and budgetary allocations to their communities.
Adejola added: "The workshop aims to guide the champions on how to engage their elected representatives at the federal and State levels to advocate developmental projects to their communities, and to demand transparency and accountability in governance.
"They are expected to take charge in their communities and train other person's to ensure sustainability of the program."
Speaking to newsmen, the Project Tracking Officer for BudgiT-Tracka in Ebonyi State, Mrs Stella Omodia, said the numerosity of projects under tracking in the State necessitated the engagement of the community champions.
"We have a lot of projects that I alone cannot cover.
"So, we train Community champions to assist us in their own Communities; they can easily know when any project is being implemented, as well as the locations of both ongoing, abandoned or implemented projects in their localities.
"They shall be working hand in hand with me to ensure that the approved budgets from the federal government for their communities are actually implemented to completion." Omodia explained.
Omodia who observed that most citizens lacked the knowledge of budgetary provisions for their communities urged participants to step down the information gathered at the workshop in their localities, adding that it would help build a network of enlightened citizens committed to demanding their rights from their elected representatives.
Some of the participants, including Esther Nwite and Lorieth Nwafor acknowledged that the workshop further opened their eyes to their responsibilities of holding leaders accountable.
They pledged to make good use of the information and resource material from the training to advance the cause of good governance and better service delivery in the State.
The workshop was organized with funding from the MacArthur Foundation, an International donor Organization.
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