Save the Children International has said its advanced Social protection policy program, Expanding Social Protection for Inclusive and Development (ESPID), will focus more on children and caregivers.
This was disclosed by the Senior Policy and Advocacy Specialist of SCI, Saheed Mustapha while fielding questions from journalists during a 3-day meeting on ESPID held for Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and Media in Zaria.
According to him, the new Programme which is a build up on the Child Development Grant Programme (CGDP) strengthening Social Protection Programme funded by UK Aids in 4 States; Kaduna, Zamfara, Kano and Jigawa, is focused on continuous support for Federal and State government to improve Social Protection Programme.
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“I think the basic expectation for this programme is to see how many Nigerians were able to help lift out of poverty not through direct service delivery but through support the government to institutionalise social protection.
‘Considering that in the CGDP, we were still focused on vulnerable people and ensuring that social protection is inclusive, but we are deepening that work around inclusion for CGDP.
“In the ESPID, We are more focused on the children and the Caregivers of children, and because the project had always focused on a life cycle approach, looking at even before you were born to when people died, we have always look at the life cycle approach.
“We feel that the first one thousand days of a person is significant, and that is why we are focused on children, and we also know that the people who provide care for children is impactful on the children themselves. If the person providing care for a child is not well catered for, then the child will not be well catered for, and that’s why we are providing for the children and the caregivers”, he noted.
Mustapha lamented over the number of Nigerians ravaged by poverty, noting that the situation is a reality the country found itself; considering the enormous resources available to the nation, people should not be living in poverty.
He affirmed that SCI and the Civil Society Organization are putting their heads together to find a way of lifting these Nigerians out of poverty.
