Nigeria
Our programmes
Global Equality Project, GEP II (April 2022 – March 2024)
Background
The second phase of the project (GEP II) is supporting the deepening of implementation of Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Act in Ondo State. The VAPP act provides a legal framework for the protection of all citizens against all forms of violence. This includes vulnerable people such as women, girls, children, youth, and persons with disabilities (PWDs). The passage of VAAP law gained traction in many of the 36 States of Nigeria. However, implementation needs to be effectively guided and facilitated to enable maximum impact. GEP II is building on the gains made with the implementation of the Commonwealth Equality Project (CEP) and the first phase of the project – GEP I – which ran from August 2021 to March 2022.
Programme objectives
WFD is working closely with the Ondo State Agency Against Gender-Based Violence (OSAA-GBV) and other stakeholders to develop Ondo State Safeguarding Policy. The policy is aimed at making schools in the state safe and conducive for young people, while creating awareness on the content of the VAPP Act and channels for engaging the process. In the wake of several documented incidences of violence against students in secondary schools, it is imperative for duty bearers and teachers as well as the students to understand the law and their roles in the protection of vulnerable groups. This is with the objective of keeping schools safe for young people to learn without fear of violation.
Nigeria Grant-in-Aid (GIA) programme (April 2022 – March 2025)
Background
In February 2023, Nigeria will hold presidential and federal parliamentary elections, followed by gubernatorial and state legislative elections in March. With the elections approaching, youth, women, and persons with disabilities (PWDs) in Nigeria continue to be excluded in active politics and governance. Representation of these groups within political parties is low due to inherent issues such as high cost of politics, state of internal party democracy, non-compliance to party code of conduct during elections and party activities as well as unclear political ideology.
Programme objectives
This FCDO-funded programme contributes towards promoting the increased participation of women, youth, and PWDs in Nigeria's political and electoral process. The project’s activities are aimed at evaluating inclusive practices of political parties. The assessments focus on the conduct of political parties from the pre-election, election, and post-election period.
This is with the objective of identifying doable and evidence-based actions, which will be a departure from the traditional approach, for supporting the political parties in the post-election period to be more democratic and inclusive. In partnership with the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS), a team of experts designed tools for collecting information from the field during the general elections.
This assessment will be conducted in 12 States spread across the six geo-political zones, including: Lagos, Osun (South-west), Sokoto, Kano (North-west), Rivers, Edo (South-south), Borno, Taraba (North-east), Benue, Kwara (North-central), Enugu, and Ebonyi (South-east). Additionally, a Political Party Watch Command Centre will come live on election day to receive real-time information from observers in the field with focus on inclusive practices.
The findings will be analyzed, with a final report containing recommendations for improving democratic and inclusive practices of political parties issued.
Completed programmes
Youth Empowerment Project (2016 – 2018)
Working with youth-focused civil society organisations, as well as formal youth bodies, Politics with Values (PwV) Network and the Young Parliamentarians Forum (YPF), the programme showed young people how they can support campaigns that advocate for greater youth participation and engage with political institutions. WFD and the UK political parties shared a range of experiences on youth participation from the UK and other countries where WFD works. The combination of grassroots campaigning and high-level advocacy contributed to the efforts at addressing the low levels of youth participation and representation in Nigeria by encouraging more youth-led policy initiatives and better inter-generational partnerships.
Partnership to Engage, Reform, and Learn (PERL) (2016 – 2021)
Funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), WFD was part of the consortium that implemented the flagship, five-year Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL) programme. Working at the national level and in 3 States – Jigawa, Kano and Kaduna – WFD supported constituencies to influence governments about the services they received, and any policies related to them. To achieve this, WFD supported the use of evidence-based research for policy recommendations related to the budget process in the National Assembly and the State Houses of Assembly in Jigawa, Kano and Kaduna, with lessons replicated in other State Assemblies. Among other achievements, the consortium successfully supported the advocacy for State Houses of Assembly’s financial autonomy, and developed implementation mechanism to be adopted by the state assemblies.
More completed programmes
Key results
Nigeria’s 2023 General Elections will be conducted with new Electoral Act, which was passed following intense advocacy which WFD contributed to

Planned inclusion of post-legislative scrutiny (PLS) on the agenda for induction of MPs in the 10th National Assembly
Facilitated exchange of ideas and networking between youth-focused organisations in Nigeria and their colleagues in UK

Five-year action plan developed with Young Parliamentarian Forum to put youth issues at the heart of the political debate

Strengthening and replication of sustainable platforms for legislative engagement with young people
Development of Youth Agenda as advocacy and accountability tool at the grassroots

Strengthened audit and public account process in Nigeria
Establishment of NYSC Voter Education CDS groups in the focal States of Imo, Osun, and Abuja, with corps members effectively using a peer-to-peer methodology to disseminate voter education at local government and difficult to reach areas

Supported the Oyo State House of Assembly (OSHA) to review and pass the Oyo State Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) law, which was translated into the local language of Yoruba, and the braille for the visually impaired
Strengthened the capacity of MPs and parliamentary staff of relevant committees of the National Assembly to evaluate progress and advance the country’s Nationally Determined Contributions on Climate Change
Political economy analysis of the National Assembly (NASS) of Nigeria, and three State Assemblies (Jigawa, Kano and Kaduna) for effective engagement

Increased traction with the adoption and passage of the VAPP Act in more states of Nigeria resulting from the findings on the impact of implementation of the VAPP Act and related laws, as well as policy dialogues for targeted states
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Central Business District
Abuja
Federal Capital Territory
Nigeria