Nigeria

Nigeria Civil Society Index launched in Abuja

The Civil Society Index: Nigeria, a publication titled Civil Society in Nigeria Contributing to Positive Change was launched during a workshop in Abuja from 9 – 11 June 2009. The 2-day launch and workshop was attended by over 140 representatives from human rights, development, gender/women, youth, health and physically-challenged focused non-governmental organizations drawn from across the country.

Special Adviser to the President on civil society, Mr. Chime Ume-Ezeoke launching the report.

The Special Adviser to the President on civil society, Mr. Chime Ume-Ezeoke launched the report and declared the workshop open. He expressed his happiness at the opportunity provided by the event to enable him interact with the civil society sector which he considered critical to sustaining development in the country.

Welcoming participants to the workshop, UNDP Resident Representative, Mr. Alberic Kacou said, “the CSI report on Nigeria has highlighted the gaps and challenges that civil society in Nigeria face in terms of internal capacity for governance and resource management, access to funding and building effective partnerships with the state, among others.” UNDP, he said invested in the research in order to “ support the continued growth and strengthened capacity of civil society as key players in fostering development and political accountability.
The Civil Society Index, CSI, is an innovative action-planning research project that was initiated and implemented by, and for, civil society organizations, with funding from UNDP. It involved a broad range of stakeholders including government representatives, the business community, academic and the community at large. A National Advisory Group (NAG) facilitated civil society mapping and society force analysis, community survey research in 4 communities of 4 geographical regions in Nigeria, Regional Stakeholders Consultation in 4 regions in Nigeria namely Sokoto (North West), Oyo (South West), Imo (South East), Cross River (South-South). The process also involved a national workshop to allot and validate scores to indicators, descriptions and data used and the compilation of research findings into a final report.

The launch enabled participants to critically examine the state of the civil society in Nigeria, the CSI document and the reality of the findings, and how to address the challenges posed as well as learning from the experience of civil society organisations in other countries.