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FOSTERING LEGITIMACY, ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY THROUGH SELF-REGULATION BY CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS (CSOs)

When a civil society organisation is legitimate, transparent and accountable to stakeholders, it boosts the credibility of the organisation and sets it on the right part of development. Also, it makes it easy for effective engagements with donors, government and the general public, as most stakeholders want to engage with only credible organisations.

 

Transparency and accountability aid CSOs compliance with stipulated guidelines and changes the narrative about the public perception of CSOs activities and the use of funds. Because the public can easily ascertain where the money is coming from, when and how it is spent.

 

Transparency and accountability within CSOs minimize the risk of money laundering, fraud, theft and abuse of resources through proper financial management practices such as regular audits, two signatures to account; constituent/ stakeholder feedbacks; among others. The 8 Istanbul principle of development effectiveness enables CSOs to check their effectiveness and accountability while ensuring CSOs act in line with global best practices.

 

It enables CSOs put in place internal self-regulatory mechanisms/standards that serve as a check to their various activities, this is reflected in their governance strategy and structure, human resource and management, project management, monitoring, evaluation and reporting and their financial management and sustainability. This sets the pace for proper organizational structure and sustainability.

 

It facilitates effective service delivery and reporting by fostering responsiveness to the needs of the communities (beneficiaries), the people they work with and other stakeholders engaged in development. Hence, proper accountability and transparency measures facilitate increase donor and citizen support for CSOs.

 

CSOs are essential in the democratic life of a country and have played a critical role in promoting transparency and accountability within the government and the general society.  But they can only hold the government accountable when they are transparent and accountable.

 

When CSOs are legitimate, transparent and accountable, it builds trust, transforms the sector and enables actors to effectively engage the government on development and strengthening enabling environment for civil society and the public at large.

 

As observed, most (small and emerging) civil society organisations are not aware of the laws governing the sector and what it takes to effectively run a non-profit. A Non-profit operational manual has been developed by the Network to assist Nigerian non-profits to strengthen their operational and technical capacity in delivering their vision and mission. The manual aims to help non-profits adopt best organisation practices, clarify requirements, regulations and compliance issues relating to managing a non-profit. It was designed as both a capacity-building tool and reference material for successfully running a non-profit organisation and as a guide for understanding and complying with regulatory frameworks guiding the operation of non-profits in Nigeria.

 

In Nigeria, the sector at this time is faced with the promulgation of legislation/bills to regulate the activities of civil society by the government. The reasons why these laws keep springing up is because the government feels some CSOs operating are not legitimate, transparent and accountable enough especially with the use of funds. There have been speculations that some non-profits are used as conduits for money laundering and terrorism financing (especially after the financial Action Task Force Recommendation 8 on non-profits). However, proper legitimacy, transparency and accountability by CSOs can change this narrative.

 

As part of the Nigeria Network of NGOs core strategic areas on civic space strengthening, its activities at this time is centred on fostering self-regulation amongst civil society organisations in Nigeria to improve legitimacy, accountability and transparency based on existing laws. CSOs need to be visibly engaged in shaping the narrative on non-profit regulation, but it can only be achieved if their organization is legal, transparent and accountable.

 

When a civil society organisation is legitimate, transparent and accountable to stakeholders, it boosts the credibility of the organisation and sets it on the right part of development. Also, it makes it easy for effective engagements with donors, government and the general public, as most stakeholders want to engage with only credible organisations.

 

Transparency and accountability aid CSOs compliance with stipulated guidelines and changes the narrative about the public perception of CSOs activities and the use of funds. Because the public can easily ascertain where the money is coming from, when and how it is spent.

 

Transparency and accountability within CSOs minimize the risk of money laundering, fraud, theft and abuse of resources through proper financial management practices such as regular audits, two signatures to account; constituent/ stakeholder feedbacks; among others. The 8 Istanbul principle of development effectiveness enables CSOs to check their effectiveness and accountability while ensuring CSOs act in line with global best practices.

 

It enables CSOs put in place internal self-regulatory mechanisms/standards that serve as a check to their various activities, this is reflected in their governance strategy and structure, human resource and management, project management, monitoring, evaluation and reporting and their financial management and sustainability. This sets the pace for proper organizational structure and sustainability.

 

It facilitates effective service delivery and reporting by fostering responsiveness to the needs of the communities (beneficiaries), the people they work with and other stakeholders engaged in development. Hence, proper accountability and transparency measures facilitate increase donor and citizen support for CSOs.

 

CSOs are essential in the democratic life of a country and have played a critical role in promoting transparency and accountability within the government and the general society.  But they can only hold the government accountable when they are transparent and accountable.

 

When CSOs are legitimate, transparent and accountable, it builds trust, transforms the sector and enables actors to effectively engage the government on development and strengthening enabling environment for civil society and the public at large.

 

As observed, most (small and emerging) civil society organisations are not aware of the laws governing the sector and what it takes to effectively run a non-profit. A Non-profit operational manual has been developed by the Network to assist Nigerian non-profits to strengthen their operational and technical capacity in delivering their vision and mission. The manual aims to help non-profits adopt best organisation practices, clarify requirements, regulations and compliance issues relating to managing a non-profit. It was designed as both a capacity-building tool and reference material for successfully running a non-profit organisation and as a guide for understanding and complying with regulatory frameworks guiding the operation of non-profits in Nigeria.

 

In Nigeria, the sector at this time is faced with the promulgation of legislation/bills to regulate the activities of civil society by the government. The reasons why these laws keep springing up is because the government feels some CSOs operating are not legitimate, transparent and accountable enough especially with the use of funds. There have been speculations that some non-profits are used as conduits for money laundering and terrorism financing (especially after the financial Action Task Force Recommendation 8 on non-profits). However, proper legitimacy, transparency and accountability by CSOs can change this narrative.

 

As part of the Nigeria Network of NGOs core strategic areas on civic space strengthening, its activities at this time is centred on fostering self-regulation amongst civil society organisations in Nigeria to improve legitimacy, accountability and transparency based on existing laws. CSOs need to be visibly engaged in shaping the narrative on non-profit regulation, but it can only be achieved if their organization is legal, transparent and accountable.

Non-profit Self-Assessment Tool Validation Workshop – Lessons Learnt, Challenges and Prospects


As a non-profit organisation, the first step towards organisational effectiveness is self-assessment. Generally, the goal of self-assessment is to identify knowledge and experience gaps by evaluating various aspects of an organisation’s structure; governance, board effectiveness, level of risk management, deployment of personnel and resources, bearing in mind that a solid structure guarantees a more sustainable organisation.

 

Depending on an organisation’s needs, self-assessments can be organisation-wide or focused on specific areas of activities which would entail collecting data focused on answering specific questions, to check whether or not it is making progress towards various goals, including whether the non-profit can demonstrate that it is making progress to advance its mission. For example, the management department can carry out a self-assessment to determine how effective its management strategy is and if it requires a re-evaluation.

 

On March 13th, 2019, the Nigeria Network of NGOs (NNNGO) set out to address capacity gaps within the non-profit sector by launching a Non-Profit Self-Assessment Tool (NOPSAT). This tool was targeted at supporting Nigerian non-profits to build stronger organizational structures by measuring their governance strategy and structure, human resources and administration, programme management, monitoring and reporting, along with their financial management and sustainability. At the launch, non-profits within and outside the NNNGO membership were encouraged to conduct this “health-check” by visiting the website, specifically created to host the Non-Profit Self-Assessment Tool, through a link shared on their social media platforms. At the end of the exercise, a total of 324 organisations accessed the tool.

 

A validation workshop based on the Non-Profit Self-Assessment Report to review the capacities analysed, identify strengths and weaknesses and develop plans to build capacity where gaps have been prioritised, was organized on July 3rd, 2019, where recommendations were made by participants to provide plausible solutions to many of the problems identified.

 

The validation workshop was an eye-opener on the capacity gaps of non-profits as participants noted that some capacities needed strengthening. While most recommendations made at the workshop tilted towards the need to build a more transparent and accountable civil society, many non-profits at the workshop indicated a lack of sufficient knowledge on local laws and regulations guarding the sector. It is noteworthy that non-profits who currently receive donor funding were observed to be more knowledgeable and compliant of regulatory laws than self-funded NPOs and this can generally be attributed to the fact that the former stick to guidelines to receive funds.

 

Discussions on stipulated guidelines within the Nigerian regulatory milieu focused on the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) which established the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and Part C – now Part F, in charge of incorporated trustees and monitoring registration of non-profits. A certificate of registration from CAC is then followed by one from Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering (SCUML), charged with monitoring, supervising and regulating Nigerian non-profits in compliance with the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Finance of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regulations.

 

Lessons from the workshop show that CSOs need a more defined governance structure – many non-profit leaders who participated at the workshop noted that some executive directors are also members of their boards and therefore face transparency, accountability and sustainability issues.

 

Part of lessons learnt at the workshop is that facilitators are required to be well-grounded in the subject matter such that they have the prerogative to incorporate more information and topics based on the needs of the participants. For instance, at the validation workshop, for participants to fully understand the governance strategy and structure based on series of questions, the facilitator had to leverage on his knowledge of the Companies and Allied Matters Act for a better understanding of the capacity.

 

We also realised that to achieve better results, a face-to-face questionnaire administration is preferable as it gives room for clarity and enables respondents to comply speedily unlike when using online means, where they can ignore questions, and may even fill it unjustifiably to score points.

 

Organisations tend to be more open to responding to questions about their organisations when they respond to the questionnaire as anonymous respondents compared to when they fill in their organisation’s name.

 

The workshop served as a meeting point among NPOs which further gave room to rub minds and build the capacity of member organisations. It was observed that the time frame for the workshop lasted more than expected because most topics that were assumed to be narrow were broad, as questions from participants gave room for a detailed explanation of each capacity and indicators.

NGOs and The Imperative of Accountability

The legislative blitz that rocked the civil society community in 2017 created a host of opportunities and lessons for government, civil society and the public. Non-state actors in the country are pushing regulators and the National Assembly to fix existing laws guiding the work of nonprofits in the country.

 

While regulators have stepped up their game, working hard to improve compliance with existing regulatory frameworks by nonprofits, positive results and intended outcomes can only be achieved if both the regulator and the sector work together to review all regulations with a view to testing its continuing relevance. Every policy option must be carefully assessed, likely impact, costed and a range of viable alternatives considered in a transparent and accountable way against the default position of “noneregulation”, being clamoured for by the sector (civil society community or NGO).

 

For example, the National Risk Assessment conducted in 2016 in response to Recommendation 1 of the Financial Action Task Force’s 40 recommendations requires that all countries identify, assess and understand the money laundering and terrorist financing risk elements prevalent in their jurisdictions for the development of efficient measures to combat the crime and efficient allocation of scarce resources to do the same.

 

An outcome of this exercise revealed that the ML threat level for the Nigerian nonprofit sector is rated medium-high, owing to weak and ineffective monitoring measures for the regulation of nonprofit activities. The report noted that “It has become extremely difficult and elusive to track the activities of these organisations effectively; matching expenditure against their perceived income has been reported to be quite difficult. This subsector showed some significant exposure to cash transactions because, the use of electronic payments is not common in rural areas where the Nonprofits mostly offer services”.

 

The question is whether our organisational systems as a sector are set up today in a way that addresses the outcome of the assessment. The consequences of the findings from the NRA will be with the sector for months to come. The resulting effect could be measured, regulations targeted at the sector in ways that enable or disable the operations of nonprofits in the country. Whatever it is this, provides both an opportunity and a threat as it affords the sector an opportunity to improve confidence in its activities by showing regulators how its internal systems and structures are helping to address ML/TF risks.

 

The sector’s (civil society community or NGO) strength and ability to convince regulators that our systems can withstand threats around ML/TF will be measured by the cumulative evidence provided by different organisations and institutions that make up the sector — showing how as an organisation their structures and systems discourage nefarious activities. Nonprofit executives and Board must urgently review their governance systems with a view to putting in place (where they do not already exist) and strengthening appropriate measures that can disallow the use of their organisations as conduits for money laundering and terrorism financing.

 

In testing the relevance of regulatory measures that may arise from the NRA, nonprofit networks, associations and coalitions must ensure their members comply with relevant regulatory requirements as this way, evidence for improving the law will become readily available for policy advocacy and campaigns since actual changes and amendments to laws can only be made legislatively.

 

For now, at least the sector appears well-disposed to ML/TF issues as they overwhelmingly agree that the sector can be used for terrorist financing when asked in a recent survey if they agree that the nonprofit sector can be used for terrorist financing. An understanding of how this connects with their day-to-day activities is yet to be fully understood signalling an opportunity for regulators to further educate the sector on the implications of the ML/TF laws as they apply to the formation, operation and sustainability of Nigerian nonprofits.

 

Oyebisi B. Oluseyi, Executive Director, Nigeria Network of NGOs, Lagos, seyi@nnngo.org

Credit Source  https://punchng.com/ngos-and-the-imperative-of-accountability/

 

civil society community or NGO | NNNGO

Background on The Nigerian NonProfit Sector

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Nonprofits form a vital part of the civil society sector in Nigeria, with their work reaching millions in different communities and touching every facet of the Nigerian society. Nigerian nonprofits have a strong history of  helping the vulnerable and disadvantaged in our society. Since the 1930’s nonprofits in Nigeria have been providing services to the underserved and are mainly religious and social clubs providing support, majorly in the areas of education and health.

Click here to download the pdf

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ELIMINATING FAMILY PLANNING BARRIERS IN LAGOS STATE

In Lagos state, the targeted increase in the Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (CPR) of Family Planning (FP) uptake was from 48 to 74 percent by 2018, now revised to 2020. The achievement of that alone would have saved the lives of an additional 657 mothers and 8,500 children in 2018. In addition, the state would have saved an additional N3.5 billion (approx. $10 million) in direct healthcare expenses in 2018 if this target had been reached.

 

Many factors, however, stood as barriers to the achievement of these targets in 2018; amongst which was the out-of-pocket cost of consumables, especially at the local government supported Primary Health Centres (PHCs). Other barriers to the achievement of the 78percent prevalence rate of family planning in Lagos state also revolved around methods, choice and use of contraceptives by many females, especially, residents in hard-to-reach communities.

 

In a bid to consolidate governments’ efforts, the Lagos state FP Advocacy Working Group (LAWG), formerly known as the Public Health Sustainable Advocacy Initiative (PHSAI) was established in January 2015 with the support of Pathfinder. LAWG comprised civil society organisations, faith-based organizations, the media, and local government units for budget and reproductive health and family planning and took up the mandate of creating dedicated local budgets for family planning services. Through the application of the AFP SMART advocacy approach, LAWG set out to tackle the problem of FP consumable costs in PHCs in Lagos state; at the time there was no specific budget for FP Consumables at the State Ministry of Health, Primary Health Care Board or the Local Governments.

 

The group, therefore, employed an advocacy strategy which would involve direct communication with Health authorities within the state. In late 2015, LAWG, known as PHSAI at the time, refocused advocacy on Lagos State’s Honorable Commissioner for Health who agreed that consumables should be funded and therefore issued a policy directive mandating that family planning services in Lagos should be completely free of charge to the client. This was a win for stakeholders and advocates of family planning in the state and paved way for many more wins in subsequent years. LAWG then engaged with sole administrators of the local government areas, heads of local council development areas, medical officers of health, and chairmen of community development committees. Together they identified ways to leverage existing funds for family planning.

 

In January 2018, Nigeria Network of NGOs (NNNGO) – Partnership for Advocacy in Child & Family Health (PACFaH) @Scale (NNNGO-PAS) began actively supporting LAWG-PHSAI on advocacy to Improve FP funding in the state. Through evidence-based advocacy and strategic identification of areas which required strengthening, NNNGO-PAS has discovered the need to work innovatively using strategic alliances and networking to improve family planning. PHSAI originally sought to establish a specific local government budget for family planning consumables. NNNGO-PAS carried out strategic mapping of civil society organisations working in the FP space and directly worked with reproductive health managers of PHCs at the local government levels identify gaps in the allocation and receipt of funds for the purchase of consumables in the centres. This opened up discussions as to how best to find ways of bridging such gaps in order to mitigate problems posed by the unavailability of consumables at PHCs.

 

Between 2015 and 2018, LAWG-PHSAI embarked on meetings with key stakeholders in Lagos including policymakers in the Health Sector, Local Government executives, Community leaders and RH/FP Managers to identify ways to leverage funds for FP.

 

 

 

 

 

In 2017, the Lagos State Primary Healthcare Board for the first time in history created a specific budget line for family planning consumables in the sum N50,000,000 ($140,000). The same amount was allocated in the 2018 budget, 18 LGAs/LCDAs are now reported to be funding FP Consumables in 2018.  In addition to this, the State Budget for FP doubled from N86,740,000 ($240,944.44) in 2017 to N177,500,000 ($493,055.56) in 2018.

 

While it cannot be said that the 74 percent CPR target was achieved in the year 2018, it is safe to say that we are on the track to achieving this desired target by 2020 if partnerships are strengthened and efforts are further scaled up in the coming year. The PACFaH@Scale program is committed to maximizing the lessons learned with PHSAI by sharing with State and Local Governments throughout Nigeria.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HEALTH FINANCING DIALOGUE: ENHANCING HEALTH BUDGET PERFORMANCE AND FINANCING OPTIONS IN LAGOS STATE

LAGOS, Nigeria, 17, May 2018–The Lagos State health Financing Dialogue was an opportunity for stakeholders in the health sector to discuss ways of ensuring timely access to the health sector budget. It was also an avenue to identify alternative sources of funding which could be harnessed to enhance the health budget performance in Lagos state.

 

The dialogue was attended by The Commissioner for Health, Lagos state, Representative of the Commissioner for Finance, the Director of Budget, Chairman of House Committee on Health, General Manager, Lagos State Health Management Agency (LASHMA), Officers from; the Ministry of Health, Primary Health Care Board, Health Service Commission, Ministry of Economic Planning and Budget, Access Bank, Journalists, LASAM members, representatives from developments partners (Save the Children, Nigeria Network of NGO-PACFaH@Scale (NNNGO-PAS), Nigerian Urban Reproductive Health Initiative (NURHI2), Development Communications (DEVCOMS), FHI 360, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), Pathfinder International, LASFADAM, Nigerian Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), MamaYe and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs).

 

Discussions gave way to practical strategies on how to maximise budget performance in the health sector and ways to leverage the wealth of the country to provide better healthcare services to citizens.

 

In his address, the Commissioner for health, Lagos state, Dr. Olajide Idris noted that increased health financing is key to changing the situation of the health sector in the country. He identified that the current situation of health is not novel to the government as many advocacy platforms had come up at both State and Federal levels in the last two years. He, however, noted that although more resources are being disbursed by the government into health financing, the rapidly increasing population in the country makes their effort inadequate.

 

He expressed the need for all present to recognise the government’s continued commitment to ensuring that the 3 Agencies of health carry out their duties effectively towards improving the health budget performance in the state.

 

“We have to start looking at the tangibility of health care and how to convince providers that they have to adhere to quality standards to generate a certain delivery of healthcare service” noted Dr. Olamide Okulaja, representative, Pharmaceutical Access. In his presentation titled, ‘Practical Strategies to Maximise Budget Performance in the Health Sector’, he sighted that resource mobilisation is important for the health care system to function as the government cannot pull it off alone. Pertinent to discussions about improved health funding, he said, was the need to re-evaluate the utilization of resources that are being allocated to the health sector.

 

Dr. Okulaja added that mediums through which health outcomes can be linked to tangible outputs include; Job creation, road construction, general security, interministerial collaboration, access to capital and data.

 

Dr Peju Adenusi, General Manager, LASHMA, identified that the Lagos State health scheme which was signed into law in May 2015, establishes that policies such as; Premium care at ₩40,000 annual for a family of 6, full subsidies for 5% coverage of the very poor, funds are to be handled exclusively by LASHMA, roll out of LSHS simultaneously in the 3 senatorial districts, HIAs to be engaged for the implementation of the scheme excluding provider payment function and premium subsidy for Lagos State Civil Servants.

 

She added that it is the responsibility of citizens to understand the scheme and these policies, register themselves and their family through existing community-based groups/association, ensure regular payment of premium, do not extend the protection to non-registered family members, discuss inclusion of extra family members into the scheme with health insurance agents/hospitals, make suggestions/complains known through established mechanisms, including creating awareness about the scheme by encouraging others to join.

 

One of the high points of the event was a panel discussion which revealed the need for better monitoring of the process of fund requisition, approval and release by the Ministry of health to ensure increase in the health budget performance as well the need to reduce delays informed by bureaucratic practices in order to ensure optimum utilization of available funds to improve the health outcomes of the citizens of Lagos State.

 

Other interesting outcomes included a roundtable discussion focused on ‘Lagos State Health Insurance Scheme: Domestic Financing Options for Effective RMNCAH+N Service Delivery’, the launch of a campaign calling the government to adequately fund health care in Nigeria, a grand presentation of Key healthcare Asks by LASAM and the unveiling of the #FUNDNAIJAHEALTH.

 

In closing, Barr. Ayo Adebusoye of NNNGO-PAS charged the media to amplify their voices till government responds positively to an increase in allocation for health and there is an improvement in the health budget performance.

 

Written by Oyindamola Aramide, Communication Officer, NNNGO

The Nigeria Network of NGOs (NNNGO) is the first generic membership body for civil society organisations in Nigeria that facilitates effective advocacy on issues of poverty and other developmental issues. Established in 1992, NNNGO represents over 3495 organisations ranging from small groups working

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