2009 annual report

Nigeria

Center for Constitutional Governance (CCG)*
$42,482
To promote participatory governance and strengthen a critical mass of civil society organizations to hold local government accountable in select states in southwest Nigeria. The CCG will conduct advocacy visits, organize capacity building workshops, organize town hall meetings, and facilitate the creation of budget watch groups to monitor the implementation of government projects in the select states.

Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE)
$223,842
To strengthen the private sector’s capacity to participate in the democratic policymaking process and to enhance the capacity of local and state-level government officials to understand tax policies and how they affect the business community. The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria will conduct an evidence-based advocacy campaign on multiple taxation through thorough policy analysis, a policy paper and a targeted advocacy campaign in Nigeria’s Southwestern Zone.

Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE)
$187,343
To strengthen the capacity of members and staff of the North-Central Zone Houses of Assembly to draft effective economic legislation to promote private sector growth. CIPE will organize workshops to enhance the capacity of 100 members of the three State Houses of Assembly and their staff to better understand how the legislative process and public-private dialogue can improve the business environment in each of their states.

Centre for Constitutionalism and Demilitarisation (CENCOD)
$35,352
To educate and foment debate with a broad audience of policy-makers and civil society activists on democracy issues and constitutional developments in Nigeria as well as in other countries. CENCOD will produce four issues of The Constitution, a scholarly theme-based 100-page journal which provides cogent, intellectual perspectives on governance issues. CENCOD will also hold another installment of its democracy lecture series.

Centre for Development Research and Advocacy (CDRA)*
$41,971
To strengthen the capacity of civil society to engage with public institutions to ensure government accountability and promote female political participation. The CDRA will organize capacity building workshops for select civil society organizations. It will organize public enlightenment campaigns, produce posters and flyers, organize advocacy visits, and solicit articles to publish its annual Development Journal.

Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development (CEHRD)
$39,762
To promote human rights in Bayelsa, Delta, and Rivers states in the Niger Delta. CEHRD will make regular trips into rural areas to investigate cases of human rights abuse, meeting with victims and local authorities. CEHRD will produce and distribute a monthly newsletter, Human Rights News, which documents and publicizes cases of abuse, along with an annual “scorecard” report for human rights in the region.

Centre for Human Empowerment, Advancement and Development (CHEAD)
$26,990
To promote human rights and the rule of law, and to reduce the scourge of extra-judicial killings in southeastern Nigeria. CHEAD will conduct consultative meetings and capacity-building workshops for market leaders throughout Abia State to improve their ability to diffuse violent mob action arising from marketplace disputes. CHEAD will also produce additional copies of its documentary-drama video on the subject of extra-judicial killings in the state.

Christian Foundation for Social Justice and Equity*
$24,260
To promote peaceful coexistence and enhance the protection of the socio-economic rights of indigenes and non-indigenes in communities in Shendam LGA in Plateau State, Christian Foundation for Social Justice and Equity will organize a series of workshops to build the capacity of the newly established local dialogue teams. It will organize town hall meetings, produce copies of its quarterly newsletter Justice and Equity, and publish a book on human rights-related conflicts and security in Nigeria.

Constitutional Rights Project (CRP)
$40,000
To strengthen good governance in Nigeria by encouraging cooperation in promoting and monitoring transparent budget expenditure for the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). CRP will collate data on existing MDG projects across the country, publish three quarterly MDG advocacy columns in national dailies, and publish six editions of its monthly newsletter. CRP will convene a national workshop to promote advocacy for greater legislative oversight and effective public funding of the MDGs.

Environmental Rights Action (ERA)
$25,000
To expand its campaign and engage a greater number of people in ending gas flaring in the Niger Delta. ERA will host and broadcast a weekly radio talk show in all six states of the Niger Delta. ERA will also host public screenings of its new documentary “poison fire” in select secondary schools across the region. It will organize environmental parliaments, track legislative developments at the National Assembly, and conduct investigations into public funds spent on associated gas gathering facilities.

Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA)
$20,750
To create a platform for accountable and participatory governance by building the capacity of civil society organizations to engage effectively with institutions of governance in Cross River State. HEDA will organize participatory training workshops, as well as create a public education and liaison unit in the state legislature.

Human Rights Justice and Peace Foundation (HRFPF)
$45,000
To strengthen the capacity of civil society organizations to defend democracy and to equip youth with a non-violent approach to political participation in southeastern Nigeria. Focusing on five states of the southeast, HRJPF will hold stakeholders’ forums on the origin of and solutions to political violence, organize advocacy visits to state legislatures, convene workshops in marketplaces on democracy and accountability, produce radio advocacy programs, and hold non-violence seminars for first-year university students.

Human Rights Monitor (HRM)*
$45,000
To raise public awareness about recommendations for electoral reform in Nigeria. HRM will organize training meetings on the electoral and constitutional framework of Nigeria for civil society leaders from the Northern Coalition for Constitutionalism and Legislative Advocacy. It will publish a manual about the recommendations from the Electoral Reform Commission report and presidential committee white paper, as well as organize three press conferences on constitutional and electoral reform in Nigeria. HRM will also publish copies of its quarterly human rights newsletter.

Kebetkache Women Development & Resource Center
$24,327
To build a group of women peace advocates in Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, and Rivers states in the Niger Delta, and to strengthen their leadership potential for peace building. Kebetkache will organize strategy meetings, advocacy campaigns, and peace education workshops. It will also produce and distribute copies of a peace education pamphlet, and a one-hour documentary on the different stages of the implementation of this project.

League for Human Rights (LHR)
$27,564
To improve the quality of justice administration in Plateau State through advocacy for improved funding of the judiciary and the amendment of obsolete laws. LHR will conduct fact finding missions across the state, organize workshops on law reform, and undertake advocacy visits to stakeholders. LHR will produce a DVD documenting the conditions of courts, and will publish its quarterly newsletter, the League Searchlight, to document issues of rule of law and justice administration in the state.

League of Democratic Women, Nigeria (LEADS)
$48,000
To facilitate civil society engagement in developing national policies on gender equality in Nigeria. LEADS will continue to analyze the federal National Gender Policy, convene meetings of women’s organizations, collaborate with government agencies, and propose strategies for implementing the policy. LEADS will distribute re-produced copies of the policy document, and will continue to publish its Women’s Advocate magazine in both English and Hausa languages.

New Initiative for Social Development (NISD)*
$43,767
To promote female political participation and increase public awareness about the discrimination of women in Ekiti state. NISD will organize participatory workshops for women and newly elected local government in the state, organize sensitization workshops on the rights of women and harmful traditional practices in each of the three senatorial districts in the state, produce a radio program, and provide free legal services to women who are victims of discrimination in the state.

Niger Delta Environment and Relief Foundation (NIDEREF)
$41,960
To educate, inform, and mobilize communities in Rivers State, in the Niger Delta, on issues of local government accountability. NIDEREF will organize a workshop, print and distribute handbills and posters, produce radio jingles, and gather resources and information to build a database on local government administration in Nigeria.

Women Advocates Research and Documentation Center (WARDC)
$47,834
To promote gender equality in the implementation of the Niger Delta Master Plan, encourage government responsiveness to gender-based violence, and build the capacity of women’s groups to advocate for their rights. WARDC will assess the new federal development plan, launch advocacy campaigns to encourage citizen participation in the plan’s implementation, and hold conferences with civil society actors and policy-makers to propose a gender-sensitive strategy for the plan’s implementation.

Women for Development and Leadership (WODEL)
$32,840
To strengthen the capacity of newly elected state and local government legislators in Ekiti and Ondo states. WODEL will publish a training manual and organize a series of legislative training workshops to equip legislators in understanding their representative duties and oversight functions.

Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA)
$18,941
To develop leadership skills among youth, and strengthen their understanding of the fundamentals of democracy and human rights. The YMCA will organize a leadership training program for youth from secondary schools in Bauchi state. The YMCA will train youth as peer educators, and establish young leaders’ clubs in schools to enhance the leadership and service capabilities of youth. It will also recruit and train volunteers to administer a year-long leadership curriculum for the young leaders clubs.

Youngstars Development Initiative
$73,877
To promote youth democracy education and participation in the upcoming 2011 elections. Youngstars Foundation will continue its multi-faceted educational program entitled “Democracy Series: Participation, Learning and Action Youths” (DESPLAY). It will also initiate an online competition called the My Leader Campaign (MLC) to promote strategic youth participation in the electoral process.

Youth Society for the Prevention of Infectious Diseases and Social Vices (YOSPIS)
$39,954
To build the capacity of youth to advocate for their rights, mitigate violence, and promote democracy in northern Nigeria. YOSPIS will organize peer training sessions for leaders of youth organizations who will train others in their communities. YOSPIS will select some of these youth leaders for a democracy internship program and produce Behavior, Change, Communication (BCC) materials, broadcast civic education television and radio programs, and sponsor democracy events to encourage positive youth political participation.

* Indicates Department of State funding beyond NED's annual appropriation