Ebonyi Civil Society Network Gets Leaders, Reviews Constitution, 2022 Work Plan.

Ebonyi Network of Civil Society Organisations has formally elected a 9-member executive to pilot its affairs in the State for the next two years.

The election was part of outcome of the network's bimonthly review meeting held on Friday in Abakaliki, the State capital.

The meeting was sponsored by the Development and Integrity Intervention Goals Foundation.

The election was conducted by an appointed 3-man independent Ad-hoc panel led by the Ebonyi State Citizen Engagement and Capacity Building Specialist, USAID- State Accountability, Transparency, and Effectiveness (State2State) project, Ibiam Azu Agwu.

The election produced Mr Oliver Aja Chima of Development and Integrity Intervention Goals (DIG) foundation as the Network's coordinator, and Mrs Goodness Mgbaja of the Civil Resource Development and Documentation Centre (CIRDDOC) as Deputy coordinator.

Ohaka Adimoha of Methodist Care Ministry emerged as the Secretary while Oswald Agwu of Gracefield Development Initiative of Nigeria (GDIN), was elected as the Public Relations Officer.

Others elected were Ibiam Iroh of Youth Initiative for Health, Environment and Community Development ((YHEHCOD) as Financial Secretary, and Lorieth Nwafor of Initiative for Social Change in Africa (VOFCA) as Treasurer.

While Paul Nwankwo of Humanity Foundation emerged as the Resource Mobilization Officer, Augustine Onwe of Youthhub Africa, and Barr. Nkem Chukwu of Health for the Society, Justice and Peace Initiative), were elected as the Program Action Officer and Legal Adviser, respectively.

Meanwhile, the office of the State Chairman of the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAPAD) was allotted a chance as permanent special executive member in the Network.

Inaugurating the Executive members, the Leader of the electoral panel, Ibiam Azu Agwu admonished all members of the Network to be open to new knowledge.

He informed that there were many grant opportunities that would open from the USAID, World Bank, African Development Bank, the United Nations, among other donors in 2022.

He further encouraged the Network to explore untapped avenues for social impact, work as a team in order to present a stronger platform for donor funding while not losing focus on their divergent organizational goals for betterment of society.

Oliver Aja Chima in an acceptance speech, pledged that the new executives would work assiduously to justify the confidence reposed in them by members of the network.

He solicited the unreserved support of all member CSOs, assuring that he would run an all inclusive administration.

The Ebonyi State Network of Civil Society Organisations was birthed in 2021, resulting from a capacity building workshop organised for NGOs/CSOs in the State by State2State.

Since then, the network has been under the care of an interim management committee with Oliver Aja Chima as the acting Coordinator.

The review meeting featured progress report by DIG on its sub grantee health project with USAID -Integrated Health Program, IHP in the State.

The network also reviewed its 2022 work plan, as well as its draft constitution.