NGO urges Zamfara to sustain SPP

The save the Children International, a Department for International D e v e l o p m e n t – s p o n s o r e d intervention programme, has appealed to Zamfara state government to sustain the social protection (SP) programme to support the vulnerable in the society.
The call was made by the Advocacy and Behaviour Change Communication Officer, Zamfara state Field Officer, Hajia Fatima Musa Muhammad, during a meeting on media engagement platform to push for social protection adoption, institutionalisation and implementation.
Hajia Muhammad said if the programme is sustained by the government, it would strengthen the capacity of the poor to protect their consumption and to support household investment in the assets required to manage and overcome their situation.
She described social protection as right and not be designed by some countries only as a service provided by public or private actors or as a personal favour from generous governors.
She said the Save the Children International had selected two local government areas of Anka and Tsafe, out of the 14 councils of Zamfara in 2015 for its pilot programme, stressing that the programme would round up in April 2019.
She lamented that lack of budget approval by the state government for the programme was one of the challenges hindering the organisation to continue with its programme.
She said, the Save the Children International had registered 45,884 pregnant women who benefited N4000 each every month from conception period up to the end of breath feeding period for them to utilise the money to get national foods for them to have healthy children.
Earlier, the state Team Leader, Zamfara Field Office, Malam Tanko Umar, said SP remained the impetus for achieving development in any society.
The Save the children has expended over N2.5 billion on Child Development Grant Programme (CDGP) and other SP programmes since its inception in the state five years ago.