The Hon. Minister FCT-Abuja Through: The Chairman FCT MDG Steering Committee PROGRESS REPORT ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF FCTA-AREA COUNCILS 2007CONDITIONAL GRANT SCHEME (CGS) In 2007 the office of the Senior Special Assistance to the Mr. President floated the Conditional Grant Scheme (CGS) as a vehicle of intervention in the Nigerian polity for the actualization of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The scheme was designed to utilize the savings made from the gains of debt relief granted to Nigeria by the Paris club and other nation to which were indebted. States were to apply (for) themselves, or in conjunction with local Government within their states, or on their behalf. 2. The projects under the scheme are focused on activities that will facilitate the actualization of MDGs. The FCTA – Area Council in 2007 was among the 28 states that apply to the scheme. The application was for construction project and health programmes with a total value of N2.99B. the FCTA – Area Councils application was among the 18 successful applicants; 3 construction projects and 3 health programmes were approved for the FCTA – Area Councils at a total cost N1.71B. 3. Approval was given in December 2007 and MOU signed. In the MOU signed the FCTA – Area Councils were mandated to make provision for counterpart fund. The FCTA and Area Councils jointly made provision of 30% counterpart fund. The bulk of the fund was used to scale up the 3 projects at the total cost of N374,997,567.74 the rest of the fund were budgeted for the funding of the MDGs Project Support Unit (PSU) which is also contained in the MOU signed. 1 4. The Hon. Minister appointed a nine man Task Team to oversee the 2007 CGS delivery. Also, at the Area Councils service secretariat an Implementation Taskforce Committee was setup, while at the Area council’s level there the third committee, the Implementation Committee was set up. ADVOCACY VISITS 5. Upon inauguration of the Task Team, members undertook advocacy visit to the six Area Councils. During these visits members held interactive session with the council officials and community leaders as a sensitization exercise. Also we receive staff from OSSAP who comes on advocacy visit to the PSU. 6. In furtherance to achieving the MDGs under the CGS Scheme and to ensure best practices the Task Team has put in place different strategies and mobilized various stakeholders towards successful execution of all the approved projects/programs. Amongst which are; Robust accounting proceedure (Joint signatore to the MDGs account with the Area Coincils; this is to ensure that MDGs funds do not get into everyday account of the coucils) Geophysical survey of all drill sites using consultants through the FCT Water Board Review of projects design and costing (from which substantial savings was made) Baseline Data Collections with Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) 7. In order to provide a reliable statistical data for the evaluation of impact and successful implementation of 2007CGS projects, a comprehensive baseline data of all communities in the FCT using PRA is to be conducted. The information generated from the survey will be published on the web. Furthermore, the data to be generated will be based on the 2 social, economic and infrastructural needs of the communities within the FCT for the achievement of the MDG’s. To ensure success of the PRA the Ministerial Task Team in collaboration with the SLGP is engaging the services of some consultants to: Design a template Develop a training manual Train Personnel on the use of the template Provide support for the field data collection Analyses and document the result of the survey The data generated shall provide a bench mark for Intervention, Monitoring and Evaluation of FCTA developmental activities Project Support Unit (PSU) 8. The PSU office is temporally located within the premises of Junior Secondary School Apo legislative Quarters. The project office is equipped with project officers, computers and software, vehicles for monitoring of project sites to ensure adherence to guidelines and specifications on project execution. The Project Support Unit which is a condition for accessing the CGS grant is expected to strengthen the Monitoring and Evaluation mechanism which will brings about transparency and accountability as well as enhancing service delivery in achieving the MDGs. Project Implementation 9. Project implementation is critical to the achievement of the MDG’s under the Conditional Grant Scheme. To achieve this Ministerial Task Team and Implementation Task Force have ensured that contractors handling the different types of the projects have been mobilized to site in all the Area Councils. The redesigned Primary School Toilets are different stages of completion while the drilling of borehole has also begun in most benefitting Communities of the FCT. Basic Hospital equipment has also been supplied; for delivery to some of the benefiting communities. 3 SOLAR POWERED BASIC SCALING UP OF SOLAR POWERED WATER SCHEME HOSPITAL INSECTICIDE ROUTINE TOILET FOR WATER SCHEME FOR EQUIP. TREATED NETs IMMUNIZATION PRY SCHLS FOR PRY SCHLS COMMUNITY S/NO AREA COUNCIL %completion %completion %completion %completion %completion %completion 1 ABAJI 100% 0% 50% 22% 15% 15% 2 MUNICIPAL 100% 0% 50% 42% 24% 28% 3 BWARI 100% 0% 50% 39% 35% 32 4 GWAGWALADA 100% 0% 50% 35% 22% 24% 5 KUJE 100% 0% 50% 32% 27% 28% 6 KWALI 100% 0% 50% 28% 43% 45% TOTAL 100% 0% 50% 34.5% 27.6% 24% As at Friday 02/05/2008 Please find attached monitoring update of the implementation progress from the Area Councils Project Monitoring and Evaluation 10. In order to ensure the effective execution of the MDG’s CGS projects a monitoring and Evaluation mechanism were put in place. This includes the development of monitoring templates for all categories and types of projects detailing. Stages involved in project execution What to look for at every stage Site Diaries for recording site progress reports 11. On the strength of this the monitoring teams visitsiting many of the project sites and communities on a continous scheduke to: 4 To ascertain the level of mobilization to site of the contractors for the projects. To ensure that all water project of site have been properly marked by the Geophysical Survey team To assess the kind of service already provided to the communities and recommend alternatives where necessary To access the quality health services delivery in the communities To acertain the level of contractor’s compliance with specifications in project execution 12. As part of the strategy to strengthen the Monitoring and Evaluation mechanism the Ministerial Task Team and Implementation Task Force have had several joint meetings to harmonize ideas and best ways to address challenges in the implementation of 2007 CGS projects. Web Site 13. To further underscore the Ministerial Task Team commitment to the attainment of MDG’s a website has been designed to specifically Track down project sites: Track down project implementation Provide up to date baseline data on FCT Communities And necessary information for the public 14. This transparency initiative is to provide unhindered access to information as it relates to implementation of the FCT MDGs CGS projects. The website address is www.mdgfctabuja.org 5 Key challenges 15. There are key challenges to achieving the MDGs that must be addressed and they include the following: - Difficulties in accessing the some rural communities where a large number of projects are sited - Capacity off the Area Councils to handle the volume of projects to be implemented; Resolved by requesting LEA technical unit in each Area Council to give support - Significant gap exist in baseline data. This can be addressed when the Participatory Rural Appraisal Survey(PRA) is completed - Sustainability of the completed projects. However this can be addressed when communities are made to own-up the projects within their communities - Highlight of geophysical survey report as it affects locations for which depth are above 60metres and those not recommended for drilling. 16. Submitted for your information and consieration. Ari Isa Muhammad MDGs CGS Coordinator/Task Team Leader 15th April, 2008 6