2014 in Review: We are back to work!

Thank you for being a part of our journey in 2014. Reflecting back, we wanted to share with you some of the ways in which we achieved the Networks vision and mission in 2014 while looking ahead to doing more in 2015!

We Campaigned Against Unfavourable NGO Bills

Between April and November last year, NNNGO mobilized its members around the Foreign Contribution and NGO Regulatory Agency Bill. In addition to attending the public hearing on the Foreign Contributions Bill, we developed and circulated policy briefs, editorials and technical papers on the Bills. As part of our follow up activities, we engaged with members of the National Assembly sharing with them our thoughts on best practices and international standards regarding NGO regulations. NNNGO will in 2015 continue this engagement in order to evolve a regulatory environment that is fit for our work.

We Influenced Global Development

Over the past 8 years, NNNGO has campaigned on the attainment of the MDGs, mobilizing nearly 3 million Nigerians to stand up and speak up against poverty. We are proud to work with the Africa CSO Working Group on Post 2015, Beyond 2015 and Action 2015 to engage with the UN system on the new post 2015 development agenda. We were part of series of engagement meetings at the UN in New York, Nairobi, Ethiopia and Senegal. We reviewed and made inputs into the Open Working Group (OWG) reports. Using stories collected from our members we were able to highlight first hand how the proposed goals and indicators in the OWG documents impact on national realities across Africa. We are proud to be the National Focal Point for Action 2015 in Nigeria, one of the largest and most diverse campaign coalitions ever founded, united in the focus to make 2015 a huge breakthrough moment for people and planet.

We Cultivated Relationships to Drive Change

Findings from our work in 2013 revealed that internet access and affordability is a challenge for many of our members. We are pleased to work with the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) a coalition of private sector, public sector, and civil society organisations who have come together to advance the shared aim of affordable access to both mobile and fixed-line Internet in developing countries. Through our membership of the A4AI we were able to advance issues of internet affordability and how it affects our sector. NNNGO is the National Champion for the Consumer Advocacy and Pricing Transparency Working Group of the Alliance. We hope to continue working with the Alliance in advocating for an effective and affordable internet access in Nigeria.

We Convened a Gathering of Civil Society and Government to Foster Partnership

In December, together with the International Council for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL), NNNGO convened a National Conference on CSO legitimacy, transparency and accountability featuring participation from Government agencies like Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), National Planning Commission (NPC) and the Special Control Unit on Money Laundering (SCUML). Secretary General of the Community of Democracies, Ambassador Maria Leissner and Emerson Sykes from ICNL joined the Conference electronically. With more than 200 participants drawn from the 6 geo-political zones of the Country attending, the event explored the role of Government and Civil Society in CSO regulations. In 2015, we are taking forward outcomes and resolutions reached at the Conference.

This year, we are keenly interested in improving our relationship with our members and in validating our membership database, the recruitment of a Membership Coordinator few weeks ago is a strong step towards this goal. Our discounted services offering and capacity building training will help members in effectively delivering on their organizational objectives.

We wish you a great start in 2015 as we count on your support!

Sincerely,

Olukunle, Timothy, Nofisat, Olaife and Oyebisi