Kwara State to revive Community Development Associations for growth
By Kayode Oyin Zubair, special assistant on Community Intervention to Governor Abdulrahaman Abdulrazak, has said Community Development Associations (CDA), in various parts of the state and settlement is to be freshened out and given new structures and status.
Zubair, who disclosed this on Thursday at a media parley in Ilorin the Kwara State capital, said his office, which is a new addition and novel in the country will be focused on three cardinal points namely, people, places, and prospects.
According to him, the state government is hoping to push a community-driven economic development project “in consonance with the UN’s ‘bottom-up’ rural development initiatives.”
“Going by plans by the state government, the near moribund community development associations, CDA, in various parts of the state and settlement is to be freshened out and given new structures and status.
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“In the past, we had community liaison officers who are just civil servants without knowledge on how to engage in this critical grassroots structure. We have done a great deal of reorientation, using global standards to help them see how they can improve on their work,” Zubair said.
He added that the CDA would be restructured and registered as a form of authority and liaison with the state government.
Their new roles he says will help in identifying the cottage industry peculiar to their areas so that government can render help.
The Gov’s aide informed that the state currently has 700 CDAs which will soon have its own administrative structure.