Taking Ownership: How a Borno State Community Funded Its Own Future Through Local Agency
Volunteer teacher Kamal Bawa holding the line for the next generation at Peta Central School. Photo: Maxwell Osarenkhoe / Oxfam.
Built From Within Series Volume 1
On any given Sunday, Peta Ward is the undisputed epicenter of economic activities in Kwaya Kusar Local Government Area in Borno State, North-East Nigeria. Over 10,000 traders, farmers, and buyers flood the local New Market, transforming the landscape into a sprawling hub of commerce.
Yet, just beyond the market stalls, this vibrant community was quietly fighting two battles that threatened its long-term resilience: a collapsing local education system and a severe public health crisis.
For years, the systemic gaps seemed too wide to bridge. But through the Social Cohesion Project, implemented by Oxfam in Nigeria and our National partners Christian Rural and Urban Development Association of Nigeria, Community Development and Reproductive Health Initiative, Yaharakari Women and Youth Empowerment Foundation, with funding from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the European Union (EU), the narrative in Peta has shifted. By establishing Ward Development Support Committees (WDSCs), the project successfully shifted power into the hands of local residents. The community stopped waiting for external rescue and began engineering their own sustainable solutions.
Holding the Line: Community Volunteer Teachers in Borno State
At Peta Central Primary and Junior Secondary Schools, the numbers told a grim story. Since the 2019/2020 academic session, a severe staffing shortage had left only four government-employed teachers to manage a staggering population of 500 students.
Fadimatu Hamma, the 58-year-old Assistant Head Mistress, watched as the crisis deepened. The overwhelming teacher-to-student ratio forced educators to juggle multiple subjects without basic teaching aids. Consequently, student attendance plummeted to as low as 15 consistent pupils. Parents lost confidence, and the classrooms hollowed out.
Recognizing that inclusive governance requires local action, the Peta WDSC, led by Chairperson Musa Buba, initiated a community wide mobilization. They sent out a distress call to every educated resident in the ward. The response was a remarkable display of civic duty; eighteen qualified volunteers stepped forward to reclaim the classrooms without the promise of a formal salary.
The coalition of graduates who stepped forward to revive the local education system without the promise of a formal salary. Photo: Maxwell Osarenkhoe / Oxfam.
These volunteers represent the diverse, untapped human capital of Kwaya Kusar. However, their daily reality is a battle against severe infrastructural deficits. John Emmanuel Dalkwa, a local pharmacist who now sponsors four students and teaches English, points out that they are forced to work with dilapidated blackboards and a constant shortage of chalk. Abubakar Aliwakil sacrifices his weekdays as a professional photographer to teach Islamic Studies, combating deep comprehension and writing gaps among the students. Bitrus John draws on his past experience with an international NGO to teach Business Studies, navigating significant language barriers by instructing in a complex mix of Bura, Hausa, and English just to ensure no student is left behind.
“The WDSC revived the volunteering spirit in our community. We saw the numbers of teachers drop heavily, and we felt obligated to act to revive the learning culture.”
Even the youth stepped up. Hauwa Wakilia, a recent secondary school graduate, returned immediately to teach basic English composition, determined to ensure the next generation does not suffer the same learning gaps she endured. Yet, as she highlights, the sheer volume of students means a 30-minute class period is drastically insufficient to bridge these deep learning deficits.
With classrooms active again, parent confidence has been fully restored. Photo: Maxwell Osarenkhoe / Oxfam.
Coordinated by Sani Mallam Yakaya, this coalition of graduates has completely revitalized the schools. Today, students arrive early, classrooms are full, and the burden on government staff has been drastically reduced. Furthermore, teachers like Suleiman Abubakar complement their classroom time with door-to-door community sensitization on the importance of education.
Yet, the volunteers and the WDSC are clear that their free labour is a stopgap, not a permanent systemic fix. Leveraging the capacity building provided by the project, the WDSC successfully engaged the Parents Teachers Association, traditional leaders, the LGA Chairman and commissioner of Education to channel their frontline experiences into high level advocacy. Their demands are precise and actionable. The volunteers are urgently calling on Borno state government to officially recruit more permanent teachers, provide essential teaching aids, and invest in professional capacity building for the volunteers themselves. The community has stepped up, and they are now using their platform to demand the government does the same.
Community Driven Sanitation and Economic Sustainability
While the schools were being stabilized, the WDSC turned its attention to a looming Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) hazard. Peta New Market shares a fence with the schools, and the lack of functional sanitation facilities for the 10,000 weekly visitors had led to rampant open defecation.
Previous infrastructure, specifically the public toilets (gidan wanka) built in 2015 by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Water and Sanitation Committees (WASHCOM), had fallen into complete disrepair. The WDSC understood that a health outbreak in the market would devastate the local economy and endanger the students next door.
Members of the Peta Ward Development Support Committee (WDSC) stand before the market sanitation facility they rehabilitated using their own pooled resources. Photo: Maxwell Osarenkhoe / Oxfam.
Equipped with capacity building training from Oxfam's National partners, the committee brokered a strategic co-management partnership with the community head, market leaders, and the existing IFAD WASHCOM structure. Rather than waiting for external interventions, the WDSC members took immediate financial ownership, pooling NGN 45,000 from their own pockets to rehabilitate the facilities.
The true brilliance of this community led intervention lies in its economic sustainability. The WDSC instituted a NGN 100 usage fee for the repaired toilets. With the backing of the community head, local vigilantes were authorized to enforce the fees and curb irregular dumping.
Today, the facility generates an average of NGN 10,000 in weekly revenue. This income is strategically split to pay a dedicated facility manager, cover running costs, and fund the WDSC's communal savings account for future grassroots projects. Furthermore, community members now conduct pre-market cleanup exercises, ensuring a hygienic environment before trade begins.
“I feel very fulfilled that my community is now taking ownership of cleanliness. Unlike before, the market area was so dirty and littered”
A Model for Sustainable Community-Led Development
The story of Peta Ward is a masterclass in local governance and grassroots resource mobilization. By utilizing the framework provided by Oxfam and its National partners, the residents of Kwaya Kusar have demonstrated that when communities are equipped with the right structural support, they have the capacity and the resources to fund their own future.
Their next target? Repairing the water points across the Moku Community. Given their track record, there is little doubt they will succeed in driving lasting social cohesion
