CS-SUNN, UNICEF builds capacity of CSOs, Media on Advocacy Strategy, Budget Tracking in Kaduna
By:Femi Mustapha
The National Secretariat of the Civil Society, Scaling-Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN), in collaboration with the United Nations Children Education Funds (UNICEF), has commenced a two-day capacity building for Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and media practitioners on advocacy strategy and budget tracking.
Welcoming the participants, the Coordinator of CS-SUNN in Kaduna, Jessica Bartholomew said the two-day training is to equip the participants with various advocacy strategies that would help them in their advocacy visit without hindrances.
The State Coordinator disclosed that the training will equip the participants, who are nutrition advocates, to track nutrition budgets in various Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) in the State.
She explained that the goal is to ensure all Nigerians have access to food and nutrition security, adding that it will raise awareness about nutrition and build capacity for the participants to support nutrition actions.
In her presentation titled “Overview of Nutrition Situation in the State,” the State Nutrition Officer (SNO) Ramatu Haruna explained that malnutrition is a critical public health issue in Kaduna State, contributing to over 50% of under-five mortality (NDHS 2023/24).
She added that, Maternal, Infant, and Young Child Feeding (MIYCN) practices remain inadequate, with only 13% of newborns receiving timely breastfeeding initiation, 41.1% of children exclusively breastfed, and just 12.3% of children aged 6-23 months fed appropriately (MICS 2021.)
She lamented the low access to diverse, nutritious foods is due to poverty and economic constraints.
“The challenges are dietary beliefs and poor childcare practices leading to inadequate nutrition. Poor sanitation and hygiene contribute to infections and malnutrition. Low awareness of proper nutrition among caregivers.”
She however, said the State Government led by Gov. Uba Sani has reaffirmed its dedication to combating malnutrition in Kaduna.
The SNO listed the steps to include creating a dedicated budget line for nutrition in the 2025 appropriation bill at the Ministry of Health and the State Primary Healthcare Board.
In his presentation titled “Introduction to Advocacy,” the Monitoring and Evaluation Officer of the CS-SUNN alliance in Abuja, Mr Jibrin Ogbaji, said advocacy is about identifying an issue and calling for change.
“We need to be very clear about exactly what it is that we are trying to change. When defining an issue or problem, be clear and precise about it.
“A way to analyze your issue is by using the ‘problem tree’ model. This is how it works: imagine a very big tree. A tree roughly consists of three elements: the roots, the trunk, and the leaves.
“The roots of the tree represent the root cause(s) of the problem, the trunk of the tree represents the problem itself and the leaves of the tree represent the consequences of the problem.
“Root causes are the underlying causes of a problem. Fixing the root causes of your issue will help you solve the issue. It is important to know what they are, so that your advocacy campaign can address what is causing the issue.
“To structure your advocacy campaign, you can think of a goal, objectives, and actions. Having a clear goal will help you think about the desired impact and help you to make clear what you want to achieve. After you have defined your goal, you can set objectives.”
