The European Union-Agents for Citizen-Driven Transformation Programme (EU-ACT) is spending over N4.2 billion (€10 million) in improving the livelihood of Nigerians at the grassroots, especially the physically challenged.

The EU-ACT Focal Person in Rivers, Temple Oraeki, disclosed this in an interview in Port Harcourt.

Mr Oraeki spoke on the sideline of the EU-ACT meeting with Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) involved in executing the programme targeted at physically challenged persons in the state.

He explained that the four-year programme, which commenced in 2019, was instituting a system through the involvement of CSOs in communities across nine states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Mr Oraeki said the primary aim of the EU-ACT programme was to strengthen the capacity of the CSOs for them to be able to deliver their mandates and become credible agents of change in society.

‘’The CSOs have very promising mandates, promising visions, missions that they carved out for themselves.

‘’But they are not able to meet up with all these visions and missions when they don’t have the capacity to deliver; this is the gap that the programme has come to fill,’’ he said.

He explained that the selected CSOs were trained for three years under the EU internal criteria and sent to the field to implement what they had learnt through their individual projects.

The EU-ACT focal person said the grant was given to them for implementing the programme, which was divided into three categories – the mature, developing and emerging projects.

Mr Oraeki stated that the EU-ACT was not interested in the result per se but the process, how it had changed and what change contributed to the result got.

Kingdom Nwanyanwu, the executive director, Ability Initiative, one of the CSOs, earlier commended the EU-ACT for the training.

He said that the organisation’s fund enabled it to empower 29 hearing-impaired women in tailoring.

Cynthia Obinwanne, the head of another organisation, said that with the assistance of the ACT programme, her organisation promoted digital literacy and skills for women and girls.

EU-ACT programme is working with over 200 CSOs across Rivers, Edo, Sokoto, Kano, Adamawa, Lagos, Plateau, Enugu, Borno and FCT.

The programme is funded by the European Union and implemented by the British Council. 

(NAN)