From 12-13 December 2024, the Northeast Nigeria Health Sector, with the World Health Organization Country Office in Nigeria, organized a workshop in Maiduguri with local and national actors, including local and national NGOs and the Ministry of Health (Borno, Yobe, Adamawa), and other sector’s partners, including UN agencies and international NGOs. The goal was to define their localization plan with technical and remote support from the Global Health Cluster. This workshop aimed to establish a clear framework for advancing localization within the health sector, contextualizing, and operationalizing the Global Health Cluster’s localization strategy.
Photo ©Health Sector Northeast Nigeria Group work on the development of the 2025 localization action plan.
Over
the two days, 40 participants including 20 national non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) and civil society organizations (CSOSs), representatives
of the Borno, Adamawa and Yobe States Ministry of Health, 5 international NGOs
and 3 United Nations Organizations, supported by the health sector team, gained
a deeper understanding of the concept of localization and the current
involvement of local and national actors in the health sector. The workshop
also identified barriers and gaps in the localization approach, designed strategies
to address them, and developed a strategic plan with objectives, activities,
and indicators to monitor and evaluate implementation.
The first sessions focused on enhancing participants’ conceptual understanding of humanitarian action, the cluster system, and localization. Later discussions were more action-oriented, centering on advancing a locally led health sector in Northeast Nigeria. Participants collaborated to create an action plan, which included key recommendations such as establishing a governance system to oversee localization priorities and appointing local NGO co-coordinators to improve coordination and oversight.
In
early 2025, the draft plan will be reviewed, endorsed, and implemented. This
workshop underscores the leadership of Northeast Nigeria’s partners, as well as
local and national actors, in advancing a locally led health sector.