Part of efforts to ensure that orphans and vulnerable children in parts of Northern Nigeria access and utilize comprehensive and coordinated services and are able to realize their full rights, WOFAN commenced implementation of  a project tagged “STEER”- in 10 communities of Gwarzo LGA in Kano State at the beginning of October, 2014.

WOFAN is one of five CSOs implementing the 5-year STEER (Systems Transformed for Empowered Action and Enabling Responses for Vulnerable Children and Families) Project in Kano State.

STEER’s main objectives at the local government level are to strengthen families by building caregivers’ capacity to serve as frontline care and support providers to children and to strengthen community systems to identify vulnerable children, link them to needed services and promote the creation of protective structures. 

, WOFAN commenced implementation by participating in joint advocacy visits with four  other implementing CSOs to line ministries, departments and Agencies (MDAs) like the Ministry of Women Affairs, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Agriculture, Legal Aid Council and the National Population Council.

The advocacy visits succeeded in acquiring the commitment of the line MDAs to a sustainable partnership that will enable community members take ownership of the project and make it demand-driven even beyond STEER.

And, with the support of the line MDAs and in collaboration with Yateem Orphan Foundation, a Community-Based Organization (CBO) in Gwarzo, community members were mobilized to identify, select, screen, sensitize and obtain support of caregivers for the successful implementation of the project in the 10 selected communities of Gwarzo, Dokwara, Nasarawa, Mainika, Riji, Koya, Karkari, Salihawa, Getso and Ungwar Tudu.

With the advocacy visits and mobilization meetings, WOFAN fully launched the STEER Project in all the 10 identified communities of Gwarzo LGA and benefiting communities have adopted ownership of the Project.