FrontPage Africa, Bong County, March 21, 2024: Naymote Partners for Democratic Development, through its Democracy Advancement Program, recently concluded a series of impactful community-level dialogue and capacity-building training sessions.
The community-level dialogue and capacity-building training began from February 21 to March 15, 2024, creating awareness of Boakai’s administration’s State of the Nation Address (SONA), services provided at the Bong County Service Center, the Local Government Act of 2018, and Administrative Regulation for County Council.
According to Naymote Regional Program Officer for Bong, Lofa, and Nimba Counties, Prince E. Cooper, the community-level dialogues and capacity building training were designed to bridge the information gap amongst various segments of society, including high school students, journalists (talk show hosts), and the community, to constructively engage their leaders in enhancing service delivery.
Cooper narrated that as part of the program’s implementation, Naymote, through its youth volunteers, conducted awareness across four high schools on the State of the Nation Address delivered by President Joseph N. Boakai and promises made to the Liberian people.
In collaboration with Bong County Council Chairperson Aaron Sackie Fenlah, Naymote also provided training to 11 radio journalists across five stations: Radio Gbarnga FM (96.5 MHz), SuperBongese FM (104.4 MHz), Radio Paraclete FM (93.7 MHz), Premium FM (98.1 MHz), and Kwatekeh Radio. These journalists were empowered with valuable insights into the Local Government Act and Administrative Regulations for County Council operations. “Our goal is to foster stronger collaboration among local government structures, citizens, and media professionals to ensure effective service delivery and boost revenue generation,” said Cooper.
Additionally, Naymote engaged 75 community residents (39 females and 36 males) from Gbarney, Waisue, and Gbaota through town hall discussions to educate them about the services available at the county council.
In addition to the town hall dialogues, Naymote also produced and aired a radio jingle about services at the County Service Center. “With a four-time daily airing schedule on Radio Gbarnga FM (96.5 MHz) and Voice of Bong FM (103.5 MHz), the spot messages (jingles) reached out to approximately 650,000 audience members in these stations’ catchment communities (Bong, Lofa, Nimba, Grand Bassa, Gbapolu, Grand Geddeh, and Margibi Counties), expending the project’s reach beyond the three targeted communities in Jorquelleh district who did not have direct access to the town hall dialogues,” he explained.
Participants and heads of local government institutions who benefited from the town hall meetings and capacity-building trainings expressed delight over the knowledge acquired and committed to further disseminating the information in their respective communities. “I want to appreciate Naymote and Partners for this great initiative. For the first time, I have had the opportunity to be educated about a sitting president’s State of the Nation Address and his agenda for the year. I am taking this message to my community to educate other citizens,” Sarah Sackie, a high school student, stated.
Jefferson Gbarnyan, the Bong County Service Center Coordinator, also expressed gratitude to Naymote for enabling the center to achieve its public awareness goals. “We have endeavored to educate citizens about our services, but the lack of support has undermined such initiatives. Today, with support from Naymote Partners for Democratic Development, we are grateful for this opportunity, and we are optimistic that this initiative will encourage citizens to utilize our services and boost revenue generation.”
For more information about Naymote Partners for Democratic Development and its programs, please visit www.naymote.com.