Hamzat Lawal - 🐘

📢 Big news: Connected Development (CODE) has been selected for the @CIVICUSalliance Digital Democracy Initiative's Civic Tech Lab Cohort to scale iFollowTheMoney into Nigeria's most accessible budget monitoring platform. The upgrade brings a low-data Android app, a Smart Budget Dashboard localised into nine languages including Hausa, Yoruba, and Igbo, and 36 Community Budget Monitors deployed across all six geopolitical zones, at least half of them women. Read the full press release 👇
🔗 connecteddevelopment.org/cod… #ConnectedDevMediaVoices

“What we are building now removes the last barriers between a citizen and that information. Language should not be a wall, and a smartphone should not be a prerequisite.” ~Hyeladzira James, Ag. Chief Executive. media360impact.com/code-ifol…

Hey you! What you buy should never put your life at risk. From food and drinks to medicines and skincare, fake products in Nigeria threaten our health, undermine honest businesses, and erode trust in everyday purchases. Check product details, buy from trusted sources, and report suspected fake products to the relevant regulators. But the responsibility cannot rest on consumers alone. Regulators must act, and businesses must put people’s safety before profit. #ConnectedDevelopment #ConsumerSafety #SayNoToFakeProducts #Accountability

Every child deserves to walk into a classroom equipped to learn and confident about their future. At Connected Development (CODE), we are turning that belief into action. Through our partnership with HumanX and YALI Network Abuja, our Back-to-School Community Initiative in Abuja is supporting students with school supplies and encouraging them to keep learning and dreaming. For us, this work goes beyond the items distributed. It is about supporting families, removing barriers to learning, and reminding children that their education matters. Watch this NTA report for highlights from the initiative and voices from the school community. #ConnectedDevelopment #HumanX #BackToSchool #EducationForAll

Connected Development (CODE), in partnership with HumanX, has distributed reusable menstrual pads and educational materials to students of Junior Secondary School, Kuchigoro, Abuja, as part of efforts to improve menstrual hygiene, promote girls’ education and tackle the stigma surrounding menstruation. media360impact.com/code-huma… #ConnectedDevMediaVoices

This week on #TheDevelopmentGap, we explore how the cost of commuting can affect a person’s ability to make a living. Securing a job is an important step, but can the cost of getting there and back leave enough for food, rent, and other essentials? 1/3🧵 #TheDevelopmentGap

"Fewer than 20 percent of public institutions have designated FOI desk officers, and only 91 of roughly 800 public institutions have complied with Nigeria's Freedom of Information Act." In his latest piece for Connected Development, Abdulmalik Yahya writes on how a chance visit to a water board in Maiha exposed a deeper pattern: fifteen years after Nigeria's FOI Act was signed, the machinery meant to make it work is still missing. Read "No Water, No Receipt: What a Water Board in Maiha Taught Me About Freedom of Information" 🔗 connecteddevelopment.org/no-… #ConnectedDevMediaVoices