A cross section of participants at the closeout ceremony of the U.S. Agency for International Development’ (USAID)four years’ “Strengthening Civic Advocacy and Legal Engagement” (SCALE) Project in Abuja on Wednesday.(NAN)
By Mark Longyen
The U.S. government has pledged its commitment to continuously support Nigeria’s journey toward a more democratic, developed, and inclusive society through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
Angela Martin, Director, Peace, Governance and Democratic Office, USAID Nigeria, made the pledge on Wednesday in Abuja at the closeout ceremony of the agency’s four years’ project called SCALE.
SCALE, which is defined as: “Strengthening Civic Advocacy and Local Engagement,” is a USAID funded project designed to support Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Nigeria to influence policies and reforms.
Unveiled in October, 2020 and implemented by Palladium, the SCALE project aims to strengthen civil society and development, having achieved humongous policy actions across sectors at federal, state, and local levels.
Martin said that over the past four years, USAID had improved the organisational and advocacy capacities of local CSOs and business membership organisations (BMOs) in the 36 states and Abuja.
“USAID, through the Strengthening Civic Advocacy and Local Engagement (SCALE) activity in Nigeria, trained 215 CSOs and BMOs and supported more than 1,000 organizations to drive policy reforms addressing development challenges.
“These challenges include poverty, education, healthcare, corruption, service delivery, citizen participation in governance, and gender equality.
“USAID remains committed to supporting Nigeria’s journey towards a more inclusive, developed and democratic society,” she said.
The country director explained that the support to CSO partners were through training, mentoring and coaching, and enhancing their sustainability.
She said that the support also led to more than 8.4 million dollars in grants won by SCALE partners from donor agencies, hence, improving their resource diversification.
Martin said USAID also supported the inauguration of four postgraduate programmes on organisational development and advocacy at the Nasarawa State University, Keffi.
“Our other achievements include: support for a nationwide CSO self-regulation consultation, resulting in a CSO self-regulation council, which identified six regulatory frameworks, addressed issues of corruption, money laundering, and terrorist financing.
“Integration of perspectives from women, youth, and people with disabilities into civic space dialogues with the government.
“Engagement with security agencies, traditional, religious, and community leaders to address trafficking, sexual and gender-based violence, and child marriage, leading to 28 investigated trafficking cases, etc,” she said.
Earlier in her opening remarks, Oiza Nicholson, the Country Director, Palladium Nigeria, described her organisation as the facilitators of SCALE’s locally led development and catalyst for speed and enduring change.
She said that all their achievements were made possible by partnership and collaboration, adding that the strong relationships built withpartners had been the driving force behind the successes.
Also speaking, Lydia Odeh, the SCALE Project’s Chief of Party, recalled that the SCALE project was designed against the backdrop of some challenges that were confronting the country four years ago.
“We saw that Nigeria was facing complex social problems, including poverty, inequality, poor education, lack of quality healthcare, terrorism, banditry, food security, gender-based violence, inequality and exclusion that was very, very prominent.
“The voices of women, young persons with disabilities, and other socially excluded groups were often overlooked in both governments and business membership organisations.
“We were mandated to strengthen their financial capacity, management and advocacy capacity,” she said.
Delivering a keynote address on the theme: Future of CSOs in Nigeria; Opportunities and Challenges, Dr Otive Igbuzor of the Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development, said partnership among government, the private sector and CSOs was crucial for development.
He expressed confidence that with the right strategies and partnerships, Nigeria would overcome her challenges and achieve its dream aspirations.
“A prosperous future for Nigeria will depend on the capacity and quality of civil society that we are able to build.
“The future of Nigeria’s democracy depends on the strength and vitality of the civil society,” he said.
Rep. Victor Obuzor, Chairman, Committee on CSOs and Development, in a goodwill message, said the National Assembly would provide effective legislative framework toward a more prosperous, just and equitable Nigeria.
Gov. Kefas Agbu of Taraba, also in a goodwill message, said the state government had enacted a Counter Trafficking in Persons Law to ensure implementation of laws to protect vulnerable persons.(NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
