EU empowers 273 Nigerian CSOs in five years

The European Union through its Agents for Citizen-driven Transformation Programme, has in the past five years empowered no fewer than 273 Civil Society Organisations in Nigeria with capacity-building to strengthen their operations.

The ACT Programme funded by the EU and implemented by the British Council in 10 states was designed to strengthen the capacity of CSOs and to make them more impactful.

The ACT National Programme Manager, Mr. Damilare Babalola, who disclosed this on Tuesday, said the five-year programme, implemented in selected states; Adamawa, Borno, Edo, Enugu,, Kano, Lagos, Plateau, Rivers, and Sokoto as well as the FCT, worked with CSOs to enable them to be more credible and effective drivers of change for suitable development in Nigeria.

Speaking at the closure of the programme in Lagos on Tuesday, Babalola said the EU-ACT programme which began in 2019, addressed major issues that affected the effectiveness and impact of the civil society sector in Nigeria, especially in the area of provision of an enabling regulatory environment for them to operate.

He said, “The objective of the programme is to support the capacity development of CSOs to become more credible and transparent agents of sustainable development in Nigeria.

“That was what the programme was set out to achieve and we focused on two specific result areas.

“The first was to provide capacity-building skills which we call capacity development support for CSOs.

“The other was to look at the regulatory environment for CSOs and facilitate strategic coordination between CSOs and other strategic stakeholders to come together and enable appropriate legislations and regulations at two levels.”

Babalola noted that the programme achieved its set objectives by empowering CSOs on how to comply with legal regulations of the country and also how they can self-regulate their system and sanitise that environment.

“In terms of numbers, we have worked with 273 CSOs across the board. 233 in the area of capacity development support have been reached and an additional 40 NGOs have been supported to coordinate and improve the regulatory environment of the CSOs across the board both in Abuja and the respective states that we are working in.

“We have provided more than 150-capacity- development training to over 200 CSOs. That is quite huge in terms of numbers.

“Our expectation was just to reach about 200 CSOs but overall, we have reached over 270 CSOs.

“Beyond that, we supported government agencies and organisations that have a role to play in enhancing CSOs’ regulatory environment”, the ACT National Programme Manager said.

In his remarks, ACT Lagos State Focal Person, Mr. Adeshola Afariogun, stressed the need for CSOs to partner with the government, adding that they had been trained on how to engage with the government effectively.

“In Lagos, we have 21 partners which include 13 NGOs, two networks, and six community-based organisations. In terms of performance, they have moved from 30 percent to 70 percent.

“For example, there were some of the CSOs that were never registered by any agency before now. All of them are now registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission.

“Through the EU-ACT ACT programme, many CSOs are doing well with their registration and regulatory provisions.”, Afariogun said.

Speaking on behalf of the CSOs, the founder of the Nigeria Network of Non-Governmental Organisations, Yemisi Ransome Kuti, said,” This is one of the most impactful programmes that has been designed by the international donor community.

“”In the past, the donors wanted us to go on the agenda that was relevant to their communities. They kind of ignored those working on local issues that were pertinent and peculiar to the citizens.

“One of the defects in the past was that they were ready to give you funding but did not want to fund your infrastructure, staffing, and equipment. They expect you to go and look for money somewhere to exist.

“So, I am happy to say that the EU-ACT programme is a paradigm shift in the thinking of the global community to identify the real actors, the real CSOs and government agencies that have track records that have proven that they are committed to their communities and have benefitted their target audience and citizens.”