Announcement

December 10, 2020

ADVOCACY FOR WIDOWS EMPOWERMENT FOUNDATION

“Widows are an integral part of the society, irrespective of the loss of their husbands” says Funmilayo Raji, Lagos State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.

The message was delivered by the Lagos State Government to the five hundred widows who attended an event organized by Advocacy for Widows Empowerment Foundation, AdWEF in commemoration of the International widows’ day 2017. They were further urged not to lose hope due to the transition of their spouses but endeavour to summon courage and forge ahead in life in order to cater for their children and other members of their families.

A member organization of Nigeria Network of NGOs, AdWEF is a non-profit organization founded by Mr. Willie Workman Oga in 2012. It was aimed at providing succor and empowerment opportunities for widows across Nigeria. The organization which purportedly began operations at a small office in ACME road, Ikeja Lagos with five members now boasts of an impressive membership base of three thousand widows spanning across eight states in the country.

“As a son of a widow, my love for charity started with caring for the less privileged by visiting and organizing parties for charity homes like Modupe Cole Memorial home and some others” noted Mr. Willie Workman Oga, who is also a veteran Nollywood artiste, music director and producer. “Since inception five years ago, we have embarked on farming projects in Benue, Plateau and Kaduna states respectively as well as helping to establish a widows farmers’ cooperative society”, he further stated.

AdWEF was established in response to the plight of widows and the bid to take action towards helping to meet their needs and discover latent potentials in order to nurture their children without having to resort to the indignities engendered by poverty and lack of support. AdWEF acts as an advocate for widows by providing legal support regarding their basic rights and how to insist on them.

Parts of the work of AdWEF are that it sources for funds through sponsorships, fundraising, and donations for the training of 200 widows annually, collaborates with financial institutions on how to provide adequate funding and loans for widows to begin their own businesses, monitors the progress of the widows under various programmes organized by AdWEF as well as introduce widows to mentors from different walks of life.

One peculiar programme which sets AdWEF apart as an organization is its believe in the importance of proactivity; AdWEF cooperates with other NGOs to educate men on the need to write their wills early in life and to make their wives their next of kin in all insurance, employment and banking documents. This allows easy access to funds and entitlements in instances of their deaths.

Recently, AdWEF founder Willie Workman oga received a recognition award for his outstanding work for selfless service presented by The Women of Essence. The award was an avenue to celebrate, appreciate, inspire and encourage people and organisations that have selflessly impacted on communities.

Other projects involved in by AdWEF include training widows on skills acquisition in areas of soap-making and production of school lunch bags. Inclusive is an ongoing educational campaign project tagged “Sponsor a Widows’ Child Education for A Guaranteed Future”. This project was aimed at sponsoring the education of children of members of AdWEF and has recorded tremendous success since it began courtesy of partners of AdWEF such as TaZor Lee Foundation in Dublin and other spirited individuals.

June 2, 2020

CALL FOR APPLICATION

If you have the experience and would like to join a busy team to support nonprofit sector organisations across the country, we have exciting opportunities for you. Full details of the position can be found in the scope of works on this page; simply click on the positions that interest you and get more information. The link to the application form is at the end of this page.

Scope of Work: Design e-learning portal https://bit.ly/36VcdOC

Scope of Work: Design who-is-who website: https://bit.ly/3dtkPOK

Job Description: Monitoring and Evaluation Lead: https://bit.ly/36SODly

Closing date: Monday 15 June 2020 at 5pm

Women and persons living with disabilities are encouraged to apply.

Click here to apply: http://bit.ly/nnngoemploymentform

May 1, 2020

Remarks on International Workers’ Day

01 May 2020

Today has a particularly important meaning for us as individuals working or volunteering in the nonprofit sector. As we reflect on our contributions to the country, our efforts in helping to curb the spread of Covid-19 and maintain support to the vulnerable population whom we traditionally serve, I am grateful to the hardworking men and women who work in the sector, earning next to nothing, under very tight working conditions, deadlines and lean resources to give hope to millions of people in communities across the country.

As one who has worked all his life in the sector, starting as a volunteer and gradually moving up the ladder into full staff, I understand first-hand the goodwill that comes with working with nonprofit organisations as well as the downsides. That is why as part of my work in the coming months, I will be convening a nonprofit staff forum to discuss issues you face and create together some fun-filled activities to celebrate our work and the value we bring to the development landscape in Nigeria and across the world.

Certainly, it will take a while for our world to return to normal. More than ever before, we will now need a more dedicated and resilient workforce that will help deliver post-Covid responses across the country alongside our normal programming before the pandemic.

I hope I can count on you to stay safe and committed to bringing development to the doorsteps of the common man.

Thank you for all you do!

Oyebisi, B. Oluseyi
Executive Director, Nigeria Network of NGOs.

March 27, 2020

Press Release- Call for a Total Lock-down of the Nation

Lagos, Nigeria, March 27, 2020

Amid the current COVID-19 outbreak in Nigeria—the Nigeria Network of NGOs is following with appreciation, the efforts of the Nigeria Center for Disease Control, Federal Ministry of Health, Lagos State Government, Private Sector, Philanthropists and Civil Society Organisations to curb the spread of the virus.

The members of the Network welcomes encouraging developments coming from the handling of the outbreak including the measures being taken by governments at the sub-national level and recognises that this represents a significant step towards ending the pandemic. Members also welcomed the measures being considered by the Federal Government as announced by the Minister of Information and Culture on March 26, 2020.

With the current status of the world right now and the unprecedented spread of COVID-19, this is the right time for Nigeria to enforce a total lock-down. We are increasingly concerned about the impact a further delay in locking down the country could have on the spread of the disease considering our weak healthcare system.

Understanding that measures to address the COVID-19 pandemic must be properly weighed and taken seriously, following stakeholder-wide consultations with its members, experts, thought leaders, trends analysis and results of an opinion poll, the Nigeria Network of NGOs encourages the Federal Government of Nigeria to consider a total lock-down of the country for 14 days.

We understand the impact a lock-down would have on the vulnerable and under-served communities. However, this is a decision that prioritizes citizens’ welfare, safety and social responsibility. The resulting scenario from a lack of timely decision to implement a total lock-down could be seen from ongoing spread of the outbreak in the United States and Britain—world powers with better healthcare systems.

In times like this, our resilience as citizens will come to the fore as can be seen from our history. When the spread is curtailed, we must now as a nation prioritise our national identity management and banking system including a robust social protection floor to capture as many citizens as possible and address the fallout from the pandemic.

*— End— *

About the Nigeria Network of NGOs.

The Nigeria Network of NGOs (NNNGO) is the first generic membership body for civil society organizations in Nigeria that facilitates effective advocacy on issues of poverty and other developmental issues. For 28 years, we have worked to give non-profits in the country the needed support to keep their doors open and to serve millions of communities, families, individuals and variety of causes that critically need their intervention. www.nnngo.org

For further information:

Oyindamola Aramide

oyindamola.aramide@nnngo.org

+234 706 516 0956

March 23, 2020

Understanding The Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Dear Colleagues,

Like many of you, we have spent the last few days and weeks understanding the coronavirus (COVID-19) and how it is impacting the nonprofit sector. For the Nigeria Network of NGOs, that means learning how it affects employees, beneficiaries and communities we serve, including what the necessary adjustments to our work and operations would look like.

As the outbreak escalates, our focus has been on keeping people safe and informed especially nonprofit employees. This going forward will be at the centre of our conversations for days and months to come. We have made several moves in our operations that I would like to share with you.

I have listened to my colleagues individually to understand how the outbreak will affect their productivity and have used this information to decide what measures we need to put in place to support each staff. One of such is the voluntary work from home policy, where I am allowing staff members, especially those with long commute, to work from home should they decide to.

We have ramped up our personal hygiene with hand sanitizers distributed to all staff and hand washing encouraged. We are practicing social distancing while at work and contributing positively to public discourse on the outbreak while serving as a source of calm and sound advice internally and externally.

To do what we can to help stop the spread of the virus, our Lagos and Ibadan offices are closed to visitors from Monday 23, 2020, a strict travel ban for employees is in place and we have cancelled workshops and events with large gatherings in line with government directives. We are closely following the Nigeria Center for Disease Control’s (NCDC) guideline and recommendations on the steps we can take to prevent the spread of the virus.

We also want to help our members everywhere to find help and receive training and support from our team. We are expanding our premium membership benefits to all members and opening up all our electronic channels—email: nnngo@nnngo.org , seyi@nnngo.org , timothy@nnngo.org , adeola.odunsi@nnngo.org , chidinma.okpara@nnngo.org , aramide.oyindamola@nnngo.org ; phone: 0906 946 0107, 0906 948 6207, 0906 946 9197 to pick up your request for support. We are here to help.

We understand the outbreak will have implications for contractual engagement with donors. Please let them know immediately how this is affecting your work as you may have to renegotiate restrictions and timing on grant reporting and explicitly plan for the unexpected.

Whatever happens in the next coming days, weeks and months we will be here to help nonprofits address their challenges. We will continue to closely monitor the situation and do all we can to provide support and guidance to weather the storm.

Thank you.

Oyebisi, B. Oluseyi,
Executive Director, Nigeria Network of NGOs.

March 18, 2020

House of Representatives Rejects Civil Society Bill

Lagos, Nigeria, March 17, 2020/NNNGO/

The 2,719 members of the Nigeria Network of NGOs warmly welcome the resolve of the House of Representatives to reject “A Bill to Establish the Civil Societies Regulatory Commission for Coordinated Regulation of Civil Society Organisations” which happened on Tuesday, March 17, 2020.

This resolution results from the commitment of lawmakers particularly those who stood on the floor of the House to uphold fundamental freedoms associated with civic space. We are pleased that the rejection of this bill drew its strength from constitutional provisions of our dear country, which provides the framework for freedom of association and assembly. We are satisfied with Hon. Tajudeen Abbas’ (sponsor of the bill) interest to step down the bill.

A moment of great importance has been accorded to the work of civil society organisations with this singular act by members of the House of Representatives.

With members of the House of Representatives rejecting this bill, there is now real hope that the journey to protecting civic space in Nigeria has started, one if properly embarked upon will lead to opportunities for more inclusive society.

December 4, 2019

Profiling The Irede Foundation (TIF) on International Day of Persons with Disability 2019.

Amputation surgery is an orthopedic surgical procedure carried out as the last resort, when limb salvage is not feasible. It is usually associated with social, emotional and psychological disturbances to patients and their families.

The incidence of amputation in populations have a base figure of 1-2 amputees per 1000 people for all causes combined. Some causes include: trauma (34%); malignant tumours (14.5%); diabetics (12.3%); infections (5.1%); peripheral artery disease (2.1%); and burns (2.1%).

Limb loss is much more common than many people realize, and its numbers, growing by the day. It is sad to know that statistics on the numbers of amputees especially in the developing world are staggering. Globally, there are more than 1 million annual limb amputations -— one every 30 seconds.

The estimated prevalence of extremity amputation in Nigeria is 1.6 per 100,000. Reports have revealed that the number is expected to double by 2050, which will by the way be faster than population growth. Meanwhile, limb loss isn’t just costly in the financial sense; it is expensive psychologically too. According to research, approximately 30% of people with limb loss suffer from depression, anxiety, or both. While the demands on prosthesis in third world countries are often more difficult to meet than in developed countries, one way many organisations have lent their hands(giving their widow’s mite) is in the number of artificial limbs that they have been able to deliver particularly to the less privileged in the society.

As a provider of care and prosthesis for those suffering from limb loss, The Irede Foundation understands the peculiarity of this situation and in their own little way have ensured that if not all, at least, some are not left behind even in their bid to making children walk, run and play again.

In this light, The Irede Foundation focuses on working with child amputees to give them hope and help them live a fulfilled life. The foundation is able to achieve this feat by educating the general public, while also encouraging caregivers and empowering indigent children between ages 0-18 with artificial limbs.

Activities Include:

Limb Empowerment Programme: This program sorts for child amputees whether through congenital limb loss or through trauma, providing them with prosthetic limbs from first contact to age 18. With the goal to extend their voices globally, TIF organizes an annual 2km advocacy walk tagged “Out on a Limb”. The 2019 Walk was themed “ Ensuring Inclusiveness” for children and persons living with a disability. The Walk happens simultaneously across Nigeria.

For TIF, year 2019 has been full of eventful and worthy activities and achievements. TIF 2019 Achievements include:

* Limb Empowerment Programme: The Irede Foundation has been able to empower 21 child amputees with artificial limbs in the year 2019. Cumulatively, TIF has thus far empowered 99 child amputees with 136 limbs across 17 states in the 6 geo-political zones of the country.

* Out On A Limb: Recorded successful walks across 17 states in Nigeria and 7 global locations and recorded over 1,000 people in attendance with an indirect reach of 10,000.

*Media Feature: Few months ago, The Irede Foundation got featured on the top two Global Media Houses: CNN and BBC

In the bid to tell the world the story of Irede, The CNN Changemaker captured the activities of the Foundation through the eyes and voice of the Executive Director as well as the full coverage of Prosthetic Production (http://bit.ly/IREDECNN)

The BBC African Voices was also able to focus their lenses on people who have become beneficiaries of the Foundation. http://bit.ly/IREDEBBC

The Irede Foundation is not about ready to relent in their service to humanity, TIF wants communities to be on the lookout and refer that child amputee who is in dire need of a prosthesis to The Irede Foundation, for at the Foundation, they believe goodness has come to every amputee child that steps into their Foundation.

November 12, 2019

Committing to Realizing Positive Sustainable Change – November Newsletters 2019

Committing to Realizing Positive Sustainable Change – Istanbul Principle XIII

Over the years, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have embarked on programs/projects that assist communities to become empowered and ultimately attain sustainable development. In the bid to implement various sustainable development-related projects, CSOs are often encouraged to work in collaboration with beneficiaries by involving them at the various stages of the project implementation through proper consultation, information-sharing, and partnerships.

As agents of development, CSOs serve as service delivery partners and therefore act as the link between the public and private sectors as well as stand in a position to more holistically identify and address developmental gaps that have been otherwise left behind by the other two sectors. Very importantly, they serve as a political watchdog and ensure equitable governance through monitoring and reporting progress at local levels.

The eighth Istanbul principle of development effectiveness – “CSOs are effective as development actors when they collaborate to realize sustainable outcomes and impacts of their development actions, focusing on results and conditions for lasting change for people, with special emphasis on poor and marginalized populations, ensuring an enduring legacy for present and future generations” implies that; for effectiveness, self-reliance, and sustainability on project impacts, CSOs should embark on capacity building projects to develop the knowledge and skill of the community to mobilize resources.

CSOs programs should be aimed at improving the economic well-being of communities by job creation and income generation which in the long run, will contribute to sustainable community development. Proper consultation and embarking on community-driven projects motivates local level participation in developmental projects to improve their quality of life and commit to realizing sustainable change.

Project sustainability should always be factored before embarking on project activities. The beneficiaries need to feel the impact of the project even after the project/donor fund is exhausted. Project effectiveness and maintenance can be actualized through proper stakeholder mobilization, collaboration and building larger and more active local constituencies for grass root support and ensuring no one is left behind.

This newsletter is supported by Forus. However, the ideas and opinions presented in this document do not necessarily represent those of Forus , NNNGO or any other organisations mentioned.

November 4, 2019

NNNGO Launches Project to Strengthen Regulatory Frameworks for Civil Society

About the Project

The Nigeria Network of NGOs announces the launch of a project, funded by the European Union, titled, “Strengthening Regulatory Frameworks for a More Accountable and Transparent Civil Society in Nigeria”, that focuses on current regulatory realities within the Nigerian nonprofit sector with an aim to lead conversations and actions on how these regulations can be better implemented in a way that creates an enabling operational environment for Nigerian civil society organisations (CSOs).

Project Launch

A project launch themed “Understanding Nonprofit Regulatory Frameworks; Trends and Realities” was organised in Abuja on Monday, November 4, 2019. Participants who comprised seventy-two (72) CSOs gave insights into how best to carve out and popularize a self-regulatory mechanism that is responsive to the needs of the sector and can be effectively implemented in line with global best practices.

The Nigerian third sector is gradually awakening to the need to work together with regulators especially with regards to compliance issues and generally improve transparency and accountability within the sector. We are confident that this project and our approach to its implementation will allow for mutual communication among civic actors, regulators, and policymakers and we can all collaborate to create an enabling regulatory environment for the sector.

Oyebisi Oluseyi, Executive Director of the Nigeria Network of NGOs.

“We are excited about this project especially as it focuses on one of our strategic pillars as organisation protection of the operational environment of Nigerian Nonprofits. We also expect that by the end of the project, one of the outcomes, among others is that it will serve as a repository of knowledge on nonprofit regulations, and provide key insights on how to incorporate global best practices into our work and the civil society sector as a whole” added Oyebisi Oluseyi. Conversations revolved around issues of registration of Nigerian Nonprofits, regulations, legitimacy, accountability, and transparency for the third sector. Participants also discussed the development of a nonprofit Code of Conduct by the sector, for the sector and approved by the Government as a guide for the operations of the Nigerian NGOs. Suggestions were made as to how nonprofits can better engage in collaborations, employ public information systems, peer review, and self-assessment mechanisms to allow growth and sustainability of organisations, especially those at the grassroots.

A newly designed page tagged “Strengthening Regulatory Frameworks” (SRF) which offers a comprehensive understanding of the project has been created on the Network’s website www.nnngo.org where easy access is guaranteed to essential information on corporate governance within the Nigerian civil society sector, nonprofit realities as well as general information about Nigerian nonprofits. The page will be updated on a regular basis with news, pictures, and videos of project events, activities, milestones, and updates.

The project is intended to include peer reviews, consultations with CSOs across the country to garner opinions on regulations that they consider ideal and enabling; engagements with regulatory authorities and the National Assembly with the aim of producing a solid self-regulatory frame for Nonprofit organisations operating in Nigeria.

This publication is produced with funding from the European Union.

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October 10, 2019

Knowledge-sharing and Commitment to Mutual Learning within the Nonprofit Space – October 2019

Knowledge-sharing and Commitment to Mutual Learning within the Nonprofit Space – Istanbul Principle VII

Nonprofits play an increasingly important role in both local and international development. With a dynamic environment fraught with uncertainties, no single nonprofit is a repository of all knowledge, hence the need for continuous learning.

To address developmental challenges, the activities of nonprofits are increasingly reliant on high-quality information and knowledge shared- necessary for organisational effectiveness and sustainability through collaborative practices.

Knowledge is the intellectual capital of any organisation and it must be said that while many nonprofits lack the critical processes and knowledge needed to help them develop, evaluate, document, and share successful programs, there is quite a number who have these capacities. Being in the space to create and share knowledge with one another while mutually committing to continuous and sustained learning is key to long term organisational effectiveness for individual organisations and the nonprofit sector at large. Part of the benefits for Civil society organisations (CSOs) involved in this kind of arrangement is the renewed capacity to execute key activities within a given time-frame.

Knowledge-sharing engenders growth within the sector especially when smaller nonprofits are privy to experiences of bigger organisations who faced down challenges in the past, learned from them and eventually delivered on their goals. Thus, various actors while working together would produce knowledge and share essential information that promotes grassroots development.

The 7th Istanbul principle of development effectiveness states – “CSOs are effective as development actors when they enhance the ways they learn from their experience, from other CSOs and development actors, integrating evidence from development practice and results, including the knowledge and wisdom of local and indigenous communities, strengthening innovation and their vision for the future they would like to see”.

CSOs need to commit to mutual learning and knowledge sharing because developmental issues can only be addressed by acting together, which is necessary for achieving collaboration and mutual learning for nonprofits. Many pressing concerns are universal, and can only be tackled by multi-sectoral collaboration and sharing mechanisms. Working together guarantees long-term prosperity for all, reduces duplicity of actions and plays a key role in informing coherent policy-making for better global impacts.

Despite the dynamics of power among nonprofits in Nigeria that hinder proper information sharing and constitute barriers to collective knowledge development, nonprofits should see themselves as partners, collaborate, share information and commit to mutual learning from all stakeholders for the good of their organisation and the society at large.

This newsletter is supported by Forus. However, the ideas and opinions presented in this document do not necessarily represent those of Forus, NNNGO or any other organisations mentioned.

ADVOCACY FOR WIDOWS EMPOWERMENT FOUNDATION

CALL FOR APPLICATION

Remarks on International Workers’ Day

Press Release- Call for a Total Lock-down of the Nation

Understanding The Coronavirus (COVID-19)

House of Representatives Rejects Civil Society Bill

Profiling The Irede Foundation (TIF) on International Day of Persons with Disability 2019.

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