Needs Assessment Sabon Afaka Igabi LGA Kaduna Nigeria

This is a report on the successful conduct of needs assessment in Sabon Afaka, igabi LGA. Kaduna state Nigeria in the year 2010. I started by paying a courtesy visit to the Afaka District head Aliyu Abdul Wahab Ummar (Rubun Zazzau) to pay homage and introduced myself and project plans to the community. I got the royal blessing and I was introduced to other chiefs in the community. I also visited Alh. Isyaku Abdulwahab Umar (sarkin Lema) where I was introduced to the community youth leader and the local youth association called “Gbagyi lakukala Development Association” Mando Kaduna State.

I observed the community lacked access to portable water and few houses depends on well water while several others had to walk long distance to get access to well water. I also observed that the community does not have a culture of proper waste disposal, so people dump refuse in front of their houses, in the drainage and all around. This unhealthy practice had adverse effect on the health of the community; especially children who play around and most times walk bear footed. Children in this community do not have good clothes, they could wear a pair of clothes for several days until its turn on their body and they have very poor personal hygiene. The community also had a lot of widows with little or no help from anyone to cater for their immediate needs and children.

A visit to the community health care center shows that a lot of maternity women are being attended to regularly and assistance was needed. I engaged the senior matron in a conversation as regards the needs of the health center and how I can come in to be of assistance to them. The most obvious of their needs was that they carry out delivery without proper HIV test for pregnant women and in the case of infected mother, their inability to determine their HIV status makes it difficult to protect the unborn child and increase the risk of mother to child transmission of HIV. They had several other needs, some which were bigger than I could attend to in a space of one year.

I also visited the community Government Primary and Secondary School at “Sabon Afaka Mando” I had the opportunity to speak with the head mistress and principal respectively. We had a fruitful discussion and came up with several things I could do to enhance teaching and learning process and how to train the students as “MDG Advocacy Agents” in the school and possible creation of MDG Advocacy Club.