….As 1,825 benefit from project interventions

By Sola Ogundipe

STRONGER collaboration and partnerships between the Nigerian media and local Civil Society Organisations, CSOs, has been described as a panacea for addressing some of the country’s developmental challenges.

Nigerian partners of the USAID Nigeria Strengthening Civic Advocacy and Local Engagement, SCALE, project tasked media to explore and harness partnership opportunities for national development. SCALE strengthens the financial, management, and advocacy capacity of local CSOs to create a more accountable, transparent, peaceful, and democratic Nigeria with more effective and efficient public service delivery.

Speaking in Lagos at a business breakfast meeting with media executives, the representative of the Chief of Party of the SCALE Project, Bosede Eitokpah, reiterated the need for the media to partner with development organisations to help share results on how development effort is bringing about positive change.

“A strengthened relationship between CSOs and the media would enable the telling of lesser-known but important stories that provide an opportunity for the voices of the people most affected by these stories to be heard.” She was hopeful that “by the end of the project, CSOs working in priority policy areas including health, education, trafficking in persons, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence, etc., will collaborate more effectively, resulting in effective governance and improved services for Nigerians.

The spokesperson of the SCALE partners, Oyebisi Babatunde Oluseyi of the Nigerian Network of NGOs, highlighted that SCALE results will be delivered through Nigerian partners who will take on increasing responsibility for the project lifespan. “Positioning us to implement future USAID CS strengthening and advocacy projects, while putting beneficiaries at the center of implementation assures that solutions will be locally-led thereby increasing the likelihood of the project’s monumental success.

I know this is what our media partners and Nigerians will be proud of.”In the past year, the SCALE project reached 1,825 individuals (1,006 male, 819 females, inclusive of 453 youth and 42 persons with disabilities through various project interventions, such as capacity building activities, civic space dialogues, citizen-private sector engagements, co-creation activities, and coordination events.

The project upholds gender equality and social inclusion in all its activities to ensure everyone, especially women, young boys and girls, and Persons With Disabilities are empowered to contribute to decisions that affect them. Nigeria Strengthening Civic Advocacy and Local Engagement, SCALE, is a five-year activity with support from the United States Agency for International Development, USAID. SCALE is implemented by Palladium.