Introduction

Global Rights, an international human rights and governance capacity-building non-governmental organization, has been a beacon of hope for underserved communities in Nigeria for over twenty years. Our work has not only built the capacity of these communities but also created platforms for participatory governance, empowering them to take control of their own destinies. We have tackled a wide range of cross-cutting issues, from women’s rights to access to justice, natural resource governance, human rights, civic space strengthening and security and human rights, making a tangible difference in the lives of those we serve.

At Global Rights, we believe in the power of collaboration. We work at the intersection of protecting, promoting, and fulfilling human rights through good governance, with women’s rights, access to remedies, and disability issues as our guiding principles. With a deep-rooted understanding of Nigeria’s complex socio-political landscape, we employ a multidimensional approach to effect transformative change. By engaging with communities, government institutions, and international stakeholders, we catalyse dialogue and advocate for policy reforms. We amplify the voices of marginalized groups, driving forward the agenda of human rights and social justice together.

Vision

A just society for all built on the universal principles of human rights and guaranteed by access to justice.

Mission

Challenging injustice and amplifying the voices of grassroots activists to promote, protect and fulfill human rights.

Core Focus

At the heart of our work lies the empowerment of communities. We believe in working hand in hand and side by side with individuals and groups to build knowledge, skills and advocacy expertise at the grassroots level. By equipping communities with the tools they need to advocate for themselves, we foster a sense of agency and ownership over their futures.

Globally, there have been retrogressive shifts in civic freedoms, and an increasing encroachment on the civic space in a number of countries. Despotic governments have sought to silence the voices of activists and groups perceived to demand accountability (in particular, human rights, governance and anticorruption activists and organizations) through draconian legislations, arbitrary arrests, and other tactics which have created anti-democratic environments that are hostile to human rights. Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) facilitate social change through social accountability, community empowerment, and good governance. In a democracy, CSOs enhance the effectiveness and efficacy of service delivery to people in ways that amplify government efforts towards improved security and welfare of the citizens. Despite this fact, CSOs in Nigeria continue to operate in an environment of overbearing standards that often stifle their productivity. The situation is more complicated at the subnational level, where CSOs face the added financial and operational burden of multiple registrations, including paying fees to several State Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

With the continued threat to the cohesion of Nigeria’s civic space, the need for action is urgent. It is essential for Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to build a formidable platform and foster an ecosystem of solidarity. In response to this, Global Rights, with support from the European Union Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS (EUDEL), is currently undertaking a project of utmost importance. The pilot phase of the project, which covers seven southern states, including Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Ogun, Osun, Oyo, Anambra and Ebonyi, is a direct response to the shrinking state of Nigeria’s civic space. This is largely due to the plethora of regulations, laws, and codes that reduce the ability of CSOs to operate optimally. These efforts by Global Rights facilitated the formation of a Community of Practice (COP) on Civic Space Strengthening, which serves as a Joint Learning Platform for CSO coordination.

Our strategic approach is that if we can strengthen a community of practice on civic space at the subnational levels that ultimately feed into a national platform, strengthen the capacity of civic organizations to properly engage and navigate chokehold regulatory compliance, and build legislative allyships at the subnational level, we would be able to build an ecosystem of civic organizations with sustainable resilience to build sustainable civil society regulatory environment in Nigeria. In simpler terms, we believe that by strengthening a community of practice on civic space at subnational levels, enhancing civic organizations' capacity to navigate regulatory compliance, we can achieve a sustainable regulatory environment for civil society in Nigeria.

Nigeria’s civil society plays a pivotal role in fostering democratic governance, social change, and development. The regulatory landscape for CSOs in Nigeria is characterized by a multitude of laws, regulations, and administrative requirements. While these regulations are intended to ensure transparency, accountability, and proper governance within the civil society sector, they can also inadvertently lead to overregulation, stifling CSOs' ability to effectively carry out their missions. However, despite these legal provisions, there exists a narrative, particularly among regulatory agencies, that CSOs are inadequately regulated. As part of its strategy for facilitating State commitment towards an improved and effective civil society operational environment, the Community of Practice on Civic Space Strengthening developed a ranking dashboard with indicators using predetermined criteria to monitor each state's reactivity and responsiveness to improving the civil society regulatory environment across the 36 states and the FCT. The ranking acts as a gauge for measuring each state's efforts towards either improving or repressing the civic space over the course of time in Nigeria.

By providing a clear and data-driven assessment, it is expected that the dashboard will serve as a gauge for monitoring progress and fostering healthy competition among states to create a more conducive environment for CSOs to thrive.

The Dashboard is expected to be updated yearly.