The 2 days capacity Workshop on effective advocacy and Mainstreaming of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) kicked off with introductions and welcome address for participants to get to know each other which was taken by Mr Etim State SSO for Cross Rivers state it was observed that participants were drawn from the following states Rivers (8), Cross Rivers (18), Akwa Ibom (8), Delta (8) and Imo states (8) making a total of 50 participants.
Kingsley Agu – CODE program Manager took the participants on an overview of CODEs implementation of the PVP-F4A project and the expected outcomes of the training. The first training session was on PIA-NUPRC Host Community Development Template. This is to enable participants understand the process of implementing the HCDT in chapter 3 of the PIA 2021.
The topic for the second session was on effective advocacy which was taken by Jeremiah Chukwu – CODE Communications Officer. The facilitator took the participants on how to effectively carry out advocacy on issues. Discussion was centered around advocating for the adoption and implementation of the FOIA at the state level.
The topic for third lesson session was on policy influencing and understanding stakeholders and stakeholder engagement which was taken by Mr Kingsley Agu who took participants on the various steps of effective policy influencing measures and how to kick start a policy advocacy. Participants were also taken through the rudiments of how to identify stakeholders, effectively map and engage the identified stakeholders.
The last activity on the first day was the introduction to the freedom of information Act (FOIA)and explain to participants what the FOIA is all about to promote deeper understanding this metamorphosed into a group work where participants were divided into 5 groups and asked to carry out stakeholders identification and mapping, and develop advocacy messages for each state as regards the domestication of the FOIA in their respective states and presentations were made by group leads.
Day 2 of the Program kicked off with a recap of the activities of the previous day and progressed to the first session of which was the continuation of explaining the tenets of the FOIA. Mr. Kingsley Agu took participants through the FOIA and initiate legislative processes for the domestication of the FOIA in the states House Assemblies. The next session on Developing Action Plan and strategies for domesticating the FOIA was also facilitated by Kingsly Agu who showed participants how to influence the domestication of the FOIA in each state.
Group work and presentations were initiated by CODE team for participants to work on development of an action plan as regards an advocacy on the domestication of the FOIA in target states.
The final session for the day was on the role of the State House of Assembly is playing at ensuring Good Governance in Akwa Ibom state. The facilitator for this session was Hon. Barr. Aniefiok Dennis, Deputy Leader/Chair House Committee on information (Akwa-Ibom State House of Assembly) who took participants on the status of the FOIA response and domestication in Akwa-Ibom and their roles in ensuring good governance.
