Introduction:
The meeting was part of the resolutions reached during peer meeting held on 28/4/2022 where the
need to meet with all the seven organizations became necessary, after observing the slow pace, weak
commitments and inadequate understanding of the project by many of them. Apart from the micro-
organizations, similar meeting was conducted with the technical mentors while another with the
advisory committee members will be convened. The essence is to deepen the understanding of the
project and also to get some concrete commitments from the organizations toward delivering the
project’s goal.
It is expected that the outcome of the meeting with these micro-organizations will provide insights for
CITAD to identify possible gaps and prepare ahead of year three of the project. The Executive Director,
coordinator of the SCN and CITAD staff of both Itas and Jama’are attended the meetings.
Objectives of the meeting:
1. To share some successes recorded, challenges and way forward by and for the micro-
organizations
2. Update participants on CITAD’s support to micro-organizations around CNs project
3. To get commitments from the micro-organizations on how they intend to sustain the project
The meeting started with Itas community at about 11;10am. The Dan’masani of Itas and also Board of
Trustee member, Itas Community association Mall Idris opened the session with a prayer. Thereafter,
the training officer CITAD, Itas office Muneeb gave a brief welcome remark.
Jointly, Muneeb and Sani explained some of the achievements made from the commencement of the
project to date as;
1. Step down trainings on social marketing to other community members
2. Organized sensitization on CNs to other community members
3. Conducted evidence-based advocacy to various stakeholders in the community including the
LGC. Here, they were able to obtain a piece of land donated to the organization to serve as a
place to set up the digital center. Approval letter was also obtained from the LG.
4. Successfully attended the NSCN organized by CITAD in Kaduna and equally stepped down the
training to other members
In Jama’are, some of the successes mentioned include the following:
 Successfully stepped down the SCN trainings to other community members
 Secured plot from local government for the CNs project
 The project brought marketers together and learnt more about social marketing which exposed
them to e-marketing
Some of the challenges highlighted by Itas include;
1. Difficulty in getting the attention of community members to understand the need for CNs
Some challenges also shared by Jama’are were:

 Difficulty in getting allocation/approval letter for the donated land (due to bureaucracy)
 Some communication gaps between the micro-organization members and the advisory
members
 On-line meeting challenges (network issues). CITAD is advised to reconsider its online meetings.
Most of Jama’are members missed the one-month online meeting due to network challenge.
 The appointed board of directors are yet to understand the concept of CNs. They require some
tutorials to carry them along
Way forward:
1. The organization agreed to sustain sensitization on CN to larger community
Other comments/observations made includes –
 CITAD urged to conduct a high-level meeting with the state government for their buy-in into the
CNs project
 Source of financing the CN was raised??? Here, CITAD ED explained that, the community is
expected to work/collaborate with the identified champions to in the community to mobilize
resources (technical, finance, human, etc).
Update from CITAD:
CITAD’s executive Director Engr Y Z Ya’u drew the attention of the participants that, CITAD is only
serving as an intermediary on getting CN in Itas and not provider. Also, he explained the following as
part of what CITAD had done and other issues that require clarification;
1. CITAD is collaborating with other partners such as the Infratel and earlier result has shown that,
the company has seen some economic viability of the area and may therefore, wish to venture
into service provision in the area.
2. CITAD has secured registration with CAC for the micro-organizations
3. CITAD is currently working with the national regulatory body (NCC) to register the micro-
organizations as ISPs to access license for practice
4. Community members are encouraged to have the basic skills especially technical on CNs
5. CITAD is also working with other partners such as the ITU, others on follow-up for the approval
of national policy on CN and other supportive activities to create awareness among the policy
makers
6. The community members were made to understand that, the proposed CNs is to serve as
“digital center” beyond internet provision to others such as “empowerment for youth”.
7. A board member of Itas (Dan’masanin Itas, Mall Gambo Idris) pledged to sustain sensitization
and will convene meeting with other CBOs on CNs
The next steps:
COMMUNITY ACTION BY WHO
ITAS Step down to other CBOs on outcome of this
meeting and on the need for CNs generally

Dan’masani to convene the
meeting with support of
Muneeb – CITAD to follow-up

JAMA’ARE CITAD will develop a flier on CNs and distribute
to organizations as package to be used during
advocacy on CNs

CNs project team – Haruna to
follow-up

CITAD To consider training of board of directors of
Jama’are Community Network Limited

CNs project team- Haruna to
follow-up
Itas & Jama’are Use social various media platforms to advocate Itas & Jama’are

for CNs and its policy

Lessons learnt:
 From the two meetings it was observed that, there was assumption by the organizations that
CITAD will deploy all the necessary requirements/equipment to set up a CNs
 The micro-organizations still need aggressive trainings and mentorship over resource
mobilizations
 There is also need to strengthen their skills on advocacy

Identified result:
 After attending the physical school in Kaduna one of the beneficiaries (Nura Muhammad Sani)
influenced by the acquired skills from the project, set up a community-based service center in
Mashema community of Itas local government. The center serves as a place for preparing
students to register for JAMB and other business transactions such as the provision of POS
services.
Closing remarks:
The meeting was closed with a vote of thanks by Mall Gambo Idris. He appreciated CITAD for siting its
office in Itas community where he said more than 500 students were trained on computer to prepare
them for JAMB examinations. The Baraya and Dan’masani of Itas pledged to convey the outcome of the
meeting to the district head.