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From Capacity Potential to Capacity Building: CBOs and Democratic Development

This project was a PLA training exercise for CBO leaders and representatives on how to use participatory methods, especially PLA:

  • To discuss and discover their potentials
  • To network among themselves

Evolve ways of dialoguing with and plugging into the democratic process in the State.

The overall objective was to build a democratic, human and gender rights consciousness among the membership of these civil society organisations and communities, which will form the basis of sustainable democracy. In addition, the exercise was meant to build a solid citizenship that would hold the elected accountable so that democracy would work for all.

Location

  • Birnin Kebbi in Kebbi State, Nigeria.

Sector/Area

  • Capacity Building, Governance.

Sponsors

  • CBDD-DFID

Outcomes/Achievements

The most memorable gains of this workshop were two fold:

  1. The interaction and exchange of ideas between men and women was frank and fruitful. This was significant for the project given the environment of shari’a and a culture of women as silent listeners and implementers of men’s directives. It was a gain for both men and women from different CBOs and NGOs to affirm the complementarity of male and female contributions in the society.
  2. The second achievement was the interaction between religions without the stereotypical biases of Christian or Moslem blackmailing each other. The issues of marginalization and the need for their potentials to participate in governance had no religious boundaries.

Project Files