Nigeria Network of NGOs (NNNGO) has partnered Palladium to develop a civil society public directory and management information system (MIS) to promote accountability, transparency, and legitimacy for civil society.
Mr Oluseyi Oyebisi, Executive Director, NNNGO, disclosed this in a statement on Monday in Lagos.
Oyebisi said that the platforms would capture and provide information on the operations of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and strengthen their capacity to engage citizens to influence the government in key development reforms at all levels.
He noted that the platform was developed as part of activities under the Strengthening Civic Advocacy and Local Engagements (SCALE) project, supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
According to him, the project aims to create a system that allows for civil society growth through ensuring visibility, self-regulation, learning, and experience sharing among the different levels within the civil society community.
“Regulations are delicate but remain very important for the development of any sector.
“So, we have taken the initiative to create tools, platforms and systems that aid not only statutory regulatory compliance but also self-regulation while paying attention to capacity strengthening and growth for Nigerian CSOs using technology.
“I must say, we are excited to be at the centre of this huge development in the history of the Nigerian third sector.
“Following about six regional consultations to conceptualise the platforms design, we are again deepening the consultation moving from conception to practice in ways that ensures we can define user experience for the MIS and Public Directory through learning, collaboration, and consultation” Oyebisi said.
He noted that the next few months would feature engagements with the CSOs across the country to encourage subscription to the platforms.
Oyebisi said that the platforms had been designed to allow information provided to be verified using algorithms supported by artificial intelligence; accessible to people living with disabilities and organisations in hard-to-reach areas.
He stressed that this would ensure that organisations have access to tools to develop their capacities across a range of areas.
“Ultimately, the platforms will be useful to government, regulators, development partners, donors and CSO themselves in identifying Nigerian CSOs, their activities, partners, promote collaboration, good governance, capacity development and inspiring confidence and trust in the activities of civil society organisations,” he said.
Oyebisi said that the platform was developed using learnings, feedbacks, recommendations, and insights from consultations with government, regulators, development partners, national and regional CSO Networks along with CSOs at the grassroots across the six geopolitical zones.
He said that it also took from the self-regulatory models developed as part of the work of the National Technical Committee on civil society self-regulation in Nigeria.