Activity Report – NNNGO Technical Expertise

– NGO Legitimacy, Transparency and Accountability: Through the NNNGO Code of Conduct for NGOs, we are promoting and administrating high ethical and effective development practice amongst our members. The Network is working independently with its members to undertake a review of the future of the work of NGOs in relation to legitimacy, transparency and accountability with a view to putting in place systems, policies and procedures that can aid effectiveness and efficiency of our work as a sector.

–Engagement with Government and other Stakeholders: By representing the sector to the Nigerian Government and other key stakeholders, we have ensured that the voices of our members are put forward in discussions and engagements with Government. NNNGO is on some Government committees widening debate on regulatory issues and strengthening collaboration between Government and members of the Network.

–SDGs Campaign: Since 2006, NNNGO and its members have been raising awareness on the attainment of the then Millennium Development Goals (SDGs) in Nigeria to ensure that the Nigerian Government works effectively towards national achievement of poverty reduction; enhance and promote human rights and increased development impact using the human rights-based approach to development. Since the adoption of the SDGs in 2016, NNNGO has further intensified its efforts to create awareness and track the implementation of the goals.

–NGO Development Effectiveness: NNNGO facilitates the exchange of information and learning amongst its members to improve the quality work they do both in service design and delivery. Tailor-made capacity building trainings are delivered regularly to meet the evolving needs of our members.

Our Impact

– Developed and implemented advocacy that led to the review of the Part C of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA), the law regulating the operations on nonprofits in Nigeria. The Part C of CAMA which is now Part F, awaits Presidential assent.

– Developed the civic space component in the 2nd National Action Plan of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) approved by the President and submitted to the OGP Secretariat. NNNGO will lead the implementation of this component.

– Led several advocacy initiatives that led to the death of several obnoxious bills seeking to shrink civic space in Nigeria especially the NGO and Social Media bills.

– Our research and documentation on nonprofit regulatory frameworks have found attention from policy makers, regulators, local and international organisations, as well as the National Assembly. We are now developing reputation for high quality documentation on nonprofit regulatory and operational environment.

– Trained over 1,500 nonprofit organisations across the country in areas ranging from Nonprofit Management, Financial Management, Governance, Resource Mobilization, Nonprofit Communications using organic training materials produced by the Network and tailored to address specific gaps faced by Nigerian Nonprofit organisations.

– For 21 years, we have organised an annual conference, the largest and only convening platform on nonprofit issues and engagement with regulators with an average attendance rate of between 250-300 participants in recent years.

– Led the implementation of over 30 projects focused on poverty alleviation, diseases control, awareness creation on issues of development, creation of a strong operational environment for the Nigeria civil society: and building the capacity of Nigerian CSOs.

– Conducted over 3 sector-wide surveys to capture nonprofit data which have subsequently helped in identifying capacity gaps within the sector and how best to address them.

– Maintained a regularly updated directory of nonprofits in Nigeria and have developed the first ever accounting application for nonprofits.

– Cultivated strong working relations and regulatory policy engagement with Nigerian civil society regulators; the Corporate Affairs Commission, the Federal Reporting Council, Federal Inland Revenue Service, Special Control Unit against Money Laundering (SCUML), National Planning Commission (NPC) and have had their participations /representations at our workshops/conferences over the years

Successes highlighted on all activities in line with NNNGO’s 2018 to 2022 Strategic Plan

1. Enable operational environment

• Sector-wide consultation on the review of the Part C of CAMA which led to a review and assent by the President in August 2020.
• What we heard on the Part F of CAMA—a report detailing concerns and issues on the Part F of CAMA
• Awareness on nonprofit tax and obligations including advocacy on improving nonprofit tax.
• Regulatory engagement with CAC and SCUML to raise awareness including encouraging compliance with statutory regulations by members of the Network.
• Led campaign and advocacy on obnoxious bills seeking to regulate the nonprofit sector from the 6th to 9th Assembly.
• Developed and published guide on complying with the Part F of CAMA
  https://nnngo.org/compliance-guide-for-part-f-of-companies-and-matter-actscama/
• Launch of the Nonprofit Self-Assessment Tool (NOPSAT) and Nonprofit operational manual.
• Development of tools, guide and research output which include: AML/CFT Guide, Guide on complying with the Part F of CAMA, Nonprofit code of conduct framework, Guide on writing annual report, Nonprofit Operational Manual, Nonprofit Compliance Portal: http://compliance.nnngo.org, Nonprofit Assessment Portal (NOPSAT) https://nopsat.nnngo.org
• Deepened partnership with the Senate and House Committee on civil society
• Membership of the National Assembly on the Ease of Charitable Shipping
• Co-Chair of the Open Government Partnership’s Citizens Engagement Pillar
• As of 2022, NNNGO is partnering with Palladium to promote and administer ethical and effective development practice amongst its members, Community Based Organizations (CBOs), and Business Membership Organizations (BMOs) for the Strengthening Civic Advocacy and Local Engagement (SCALE) project in Nigeria.
• As of 2022, we are in partnership with the European Union Agent for Citizen Driven Transformation (ACT) programme to build the capacity of 10 subnational civil society networks / coalitions on subnational regulatory trends towards ensuring the harmonisation of state-level regulations.
• Part of a National Technical Working Group of civil society organization working to develop and ensure the adoption of a working self-regulatory model for Nigerian CSOs.
• Conducted research on civil society regulatory frameworks and developed a document which details all extant regulations within the Nigerian civil society including the process to developing a self-regulatory framework.
• Involvement in the Mutual Evaluation and National Risk Assessment. We have engaged effectively with regulators through data sharing and assisting in providing information for the mutual evaluation and general inputs in the nonprofit sector.
• In the last year, we have ensured increased interactions with banks and in partnership with Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria, we organized a series of webinar for nonprofit organisations on FX Conversions, value propositions for nonprofits and this has led to a better understanding of how banks can engage with our work. We hope that these engagements help to guarantee access to nonprofit-friendly banking services or services specifically tailored to the needs of our sector.
• We are working to develop a guide on peaceful protests and assembly in Nigeria.
• NNNGO is part of a working group working with shippers’ council and other stakeholders on nonprofit ease of shipping charitable goods.

2. Build Accountable and Inclusive Systems

• Partnership with the Centre for Sustainable Development, University of Ibadan on internship at the Network for master’s students in the field of sustainable
• Developed methodology for analysing salary and pay scale in the nonprofit sector space in Nigeria.
• The Who is Who publication (Most Influential Civil Society Leaders), a miniprofiling and celebrating respected sector leaders across the country including providing a mentoring opportunity for young leaders aspiring to work in the
• The Yemisi Ransome Kuti Annual Award to celebrate, inspire civil society leaders and encourage new talents within the civic space.
• Undertook a capacity needs assessment for the sector. The outcome served as a foundation for the Network’s capacity building training strategy and activities.
• Hosted a structured peer to peer review exercise with 38 senior managers within the membership of the Network across 3 regions in Nigeria (South west, SouthSouth, and North Central).
• Developed and accounting software at http://account.nnngo.org
• Expand knowledge on capacity needs of nonprofits via NNNGO’s sector wide annual conference
• Hosted Capacity Building workshops educating nonprofits on how to set up a functioning board and requirements to run effectively.
• Developed and published the impact of covid-19 on Nigerian nonprofits
• Developed and published nonprofit covid-19 spending
• In 2021, launched the 100 Influential civil society members, an initiative to spotlight people within the Nigerian nonprofit sector who have made impact and can serve as role models for the others in the sector.
• In January 2022, we hosted a nonprofit staff week/conference with support from Google.org, the first ever of its kind in the sector and country. It was a platform to address the challenges faced by nonprofit staff, including advancing accountability and transparency, protecting the civic space, and making the sector more accommodating.
• Ensuring the participation of NNNGO members from across all geopolitical zones in the self-regulation process to build their capacities and knowledge on regulations.

3. Promote Action on the SDGs

• Published the Nigeria case study report on goal 16
• Ongoing tracking of government policies in line with the SDGs
• Facilitate the hosting of “People’s Assembly on the SDGs” annually to discuss progress on the SDGs across the sector.
• Citizens’ Report: Provided support through the citizens’ report project implemented in 2018, tracking and reporting on the implementation of the SDGs using the citizen’s data from 3 regions in Nigeria.
• Membership of the Civil Society Strategy Group
• Policy Imperatives for Nigeria’s Medium and Long-Term National Development Plans submitted to the Federal Government
• In March 2022, the Network participated in an international campaign for TRIPS waiver to produce COVID-19 Vaccine in Africa.
• All round continuous profiling of nonprofits organisational services to the underserved in different communities of the country.