Recently, the Nigeria chapter of the International Association for Community Development (IACD), the only global network for professional community development practitioners with UN accreditation, held its national conference/ meeting in Malete, Kwara State. ADAM AQALI reports
Between 11th and 14th October, the Nigeria chapter of the International Association for Community Development (IACD) held its 4th annual conference. The conference which coincided with the 3rd National Community Development Consultative Conference workshop was held at the campus of Kwara State University, in Malete.
The 4-day conference which was themed “Facilitating Community Development through Institutional Engagements” was organized jointly by Institute of Community Development Practitioners of Nigeria and the Centre for Community Development (CDD) of the Kwara State University, Malete. It was attended by a total of over sixty (60) participants drawn from across the academia, civil society organizations, community based organizations, government agencies.
Speaking about the objectives of the conference, Prof Muhammad Bello Shitu, the global vice president of the Scotland-based International Association for Community Development (IACD) said it was meant to provide opportunity for all IACD members to know each other as well as serve as a recruitment ground for new members.
Prof Shitu added that the conference was also meant “to create a platform for promoting the ideals and goals of the IACD in Nigeria and in Sub Saharan Africa in general; discuss ways of promoting community development roles of tertiary educational institutions; as well as examined ways of facilitating community development by different sectors i.e institutional engagements with communities, groups and systems.”
On Tuesday October 11, 2016, as a pre-conference event, the Nigeria chapter of the IACD and the Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All (CSACEFA), jointly hosted a sensitization rally in Ilorin, the capital of Kwara State, in commemoration of the 2016 International Day of the Girl Child, which was attended by conference delegates.
The conference proper commenced the following day and featured two plenary sessions and six concurrent track sessions that addressed issues around Education and Community Development; Peace, Conflict and Disaster Management; Health Sector, Welfare and Youth Development. Other issues discussed were Policy Frameworks; Community Change and Faith Based Issues; Community Participation and Voluntary Sector as well as Innovations, Communications and Extension Support Issues.
The conference’s two plenaries saw the presentations of 6 different papers around Community Institutional Engagement; Participatory Policy Development; Agricultural Innovations; and Standards for Community Development Practitioners as well as Community Self- Help Groups.
On the other hand, the concurrent track sessions saw the presentation of several papers around community engagement as key issue for community development; social welfare education as a means for facilitating community engagement; Needs assessment is a necessity for effective community service; Human and Physical development.
The tracks sessions also discussed issues like how effective primary health care could be achieved through community involvement; media is an effective tool for stimulating community engagement; Legal and statutory regulations as necessary for effective Sustainable Community Development in Nigeria as well as the use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) resources s a vital tool for facilitate effective communication and trainings in community development.
At the end of the four day conference, several resolutions were made by participants including the adoption of the new IACD (2016) definition of community development; the need for a minimum Academic standard for the training of community development practitioners in Nigeria; as well as the need for Community Development Clubs to be introduced at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels of institutions of learning in Nigeria.
Other resolutions were on the need for students and staff of community development in higher institutions of learning in Nigeria to be more proactive in community service as well as the need for communities to be actively involved in policy formulation as well as implementation of community development programmes.
The conference further resolved that ICT potentials and skills should be explored in the trainings of community development practitioners; community Development Practitioners should encourage preservation of community resources for sustainable community development as well as the need for appraisal of community needs and assets at all levels of community engagements including the implementation of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
For the practicality of the above resolutions of the conference, the IACD conference recommended that IACD Nigeria work towards developing a minimum academic standards for the training of the Community Development practitioners in Nigeria; the Kwara State University introduce degree and professional programmes in community development to enhance manpower development and encouraged all higher institutions of learning to institutionalize community development in all their programmes and to actively involve catchment communities.
The 4th conference of the Nigeria chapter of the International Association for Community Development (IACD) which coincided with the 3rd meeting of the National Community Development Consultative Conference concluded that the 2017 meeting and conference of the Nigeria chapter of International Association of Community Development IACD will be held in Kano.
