As part of NGYouthSDG’s commitment to foster youth inclusion in the attainment of the global goals ensuring that no one is left behind, the programme’s associate (Boluwatife Ajayi) attended a Two-day Leave No One Behind (LNOB) partnership meeting on the 1st and 2nd November 2023 in Abuja, Nigeria.
The purpose of the meeting was to highlight the significance of citizen-generated data to make the voices of marginalized groups heard and count in Nigeria. This is also part of the International Civil Society Centre’s Leave No One Behind Partnership to explore the interest of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and civic platforms to engage in a national data-driven advocacy collaborative, focusing on marginalized groups aiming to improve the situation of these groups and the universal pledge to leave no one behind.
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Flowing from the LNOB partnership meeting, NGYouthSDGs alongside other non-profit organizations and civil societies represented, deliberated on how we can foster inclusion of the marginalized groups in driving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Observations were made on the need for increased data and complementing official statistics on marginalized groups through citizen-generated data (CGD) as this will help the understanding of the status of marginalized groups. It also contributes to the rise in the participation of marginalized communities in driving sustainable development, breaching the gap in policies and services for their betterment.
It should be noted that citizen-generated data (CGD) are data produced by the people of a community/organization to directly monitor, demand or drive change on issues affecting them. This informed data can be provided through community scorecards by citizens on amenities and social issues, community dialogues, key informant interviews of both affected groups, service providers and household/community surveys.
Furthermore, the participants identified marginalized groups/target communities which included youth, vulnerable and orphaned children, migrants, persons living with Disabilities (PWDs), elderly, widows, GBV survivors, internally displaced persons (IDPs) and so on. In the same vein, participants highlighted key actions and demands of advocacy and accountability on areas of involvement towards the government/ decision makers which were marked as the need to implement international resolutions in a localized manner, foster climate education through inclusion in academic curriculum, reform existing policy frameworks, implementation of the Nigerian Youth Employment Action Plan (NIYEAP) 2021-2024, and implementation of inclusive education reforms across the national and subnational level.
The recommendations and insights from the workshop made it more glaring that we must ensure to leave no one behind in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which is in line with our mission of amplifying youth voices ensuring their meaningful engagement in policies and programs to lead and thrive.