Our Projects

Encountering Citizens (2001-2010): Long-term participatory research programme focusing on citizenship, participation, and accountability, combining research with grassroots capacity building, training, and information sharing. The programme is conducted by a consortium of research partners from Africa, Asia and Latin America, in collaboration with the Development Research Centre on Citizenship, Participation and Accountability (IDS, University of Sussex). The Nigerian Encountering Citizens programme is broken down in four phases:

CBOs and democratic development: From Capacity Potential to Capacity Building (2001): Training workshop for leaders and representatives of Community Based Organisations (CBOs) on the use of participatory methods (especially Participatory Learning and Action) to discover and analyze their own potentials, to network among themselves, and to plug into democratic processes in the state.

Civic Education for Democracy and Sustainable Livelihoods (2002): Good governance project focusing on human rights and citizen participation among marginalised groups in Plateau State, aimed at promoting sustainable livelihoods. In successive workshops, CBOs were trained in democracy monitoring, demanding services from the elected, and mobilising human and material resources for political participation.

Building Bridges (2003-2004): Conflict resolution project bringing together community groups to discuss the sensitive issues of religion and ethnicity underlying many of the ‘civil unrests’ in Nigeria. Through community dramas, focus group discussions, and key in-depth interviews, the community groups and individuals were engaged in dialogue and (self) analysis.

VSO Theatre for Development Facilitation Training (March 2007): Training workshop for VSO Nigeria partners and volunteers, equipping participants with a rich palette of participatory techniques (Theatre for Development, Participatory Video, Participatory Learning and Action) to engage community members in developing/ performing dramas and facilitating collective analysis and action planning.