Canadian University Projects in International Development Database (CUPID)

Africa

Nigeria

• Empowering women by building social work capacity in Nigeria
• Development of centre for health and development

Empowering women by building social work capacity in Nigeria

Project purpose:
The purpose of the project is to improve the well-being of Nigerian women - and in turn the well-being of men, boys and girls - by improving the quality of social work education offered at the university and within the profession, and by developing sustainable gender-equitable social welfare and community-based services.

Key results to date:
The curriculum for a new Master of Social Work program was approved by the Senate of the University of Benin and the first cohort of students were admitted in November 2007. These students included junior faculty from University of Benin and University of Nigeria, Ministry staff, and NGO workers. Twenty-two students from the first cohort have completed all coursework, field work in various social service agencies in South Africa, a practice research paper. The Department of Social Work was created. The curriculum for the Bachelor of Social Work program has been revised and now includes courses in key social work practice areas. A field education office in Nigeria has been established under the guidance of York University's Field Education Director. A research capacity workshop was held for 20 faculty at the University of Benin and two community members. A Roundtable entitled: "Educating for Social Change: (Re)Visioning Social Education in Nigeria for the 21st Century" was held in Benin City. The Roundtable brought together over 70 social work educators and students from 11 social work educational universities and polytechnics in Nigeria and practitioners. The Nigerian Association of Social Work Educators was formed as a result of the roundtable.

Development of centre for health and development

Project purpose:
To develop a Centre for Health and Development (CHD) at the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) that contributes to the health resource needs, beginning with HIV/AIDS, of Rivers State.

Key results to date:
This project successfully established the Centre for Health and Development (CHD) within the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) College of Health Sciences, which now has two permanent staff paid by UNIPORT. The centre also has a pool of eight research associates from the College of Health and other faculties of UNIPORT and very current electronic and printed material available for students, staff and faculty. Since its establishment, the CHD assisted the States Agency for the Control of AIDS (SACA), a government institution responsible for HIV control in Nigeria, with its 5-year Strategic Planning. The project also helped to build the capacity of health workers and community-based organizers by training 327 personnel. In response to the needs assessment conducted at the start of the project, these clinical workers all received training in areas such as Dried Blood Spot, HIV Counselling and Testing, Inter-Personal Counselling and Communication. The project also implemented four research projects: two on HIV care and treatment were completed and presented at the International AIDS Society Conference in Vienna in 2010. Data collection for the other two research projects was gathered during the final six months of the project and initial results were finalized. As a result of the participation of UNIPORT and the CHD in the Association of African Universities (AAU) HIV/AIDS Project, UNIPORT was awarded the AAU¿s West Africa HIV Mainstreaming Project. Also, two UNIPORT obstetricians/gynaecologists received fully-funded gynaecological-oncology observerships at two Canadian hospitals (Ottawa and Sunnybrook in Toronto) and participated at the International Gynecologic Cancer Society 14th Biennial Meeting in Vancouver in 2012.The CHD also collaborated on a study called Evaluation of mobile CD4 Testing in Nigeria with the Clinton Health Access Initiative of the Bill Clinton Foundation. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of a mobile CD4 testing technology, the PIMA¿ Analyzer; the ease of its use in non-laboratory settings; and the impact of the point-of-care CD4 testing on patients¿ clinic attendance and overall quality of care.