Ongoing Projects
PolDeC
Institute of Development (PID) is one of the capacity
building projects of Centre for Policy and Development designed to
fill development capacity gaps in the national development process
through a number of training programs, seminars, conferences,
consultancies and publications. An off shoot of PolDeC’s
development policy analysis project that identifies global best
practices that are adaptable to local realities, PID identifies
factors that militate against the smooth translation of policies into
tangible deliverables as well as come up with solutions.
Courses are fee paying except when funded by donor agencies. For now venues are subject to suitability and affordability at designated three to five star hotels. However, PolDeC is building PolDeC’s Resource Centre at Igborosun, Badagry. Faculty Selection The faculty for every training or research programme is selected on the basis of a consistent track record of expertise, professionalism and commitment to success in that field. While academic and professional qualifications count, experience and profound understanding of the issues is also very important. Trainees Selection PolDeC sends out a call for applications requesting biodata and other details. These are reviewed for passion and ability to cope with the programme taking into consideration academic qualifications, fluency in the language of study and capacity to pay for fee paying courses. Training Evaluation PolDeC works witha Monitoring and Evaluation Consultant to develop review instruments such as questionnaires, follow-up sessions with the trainees such as oral interviews, evaluation of hands on application of course. PolDeC works with the recommendations for follow-up training, baseline studies, etc. Case studies include:
African Women Development Cooperative African Women Development Cooperative (AWDC) is one of the gender development projects of the Centre for Policy and Development (PolDeC) designed to empower African women financially.A response to the gender economic divide and the gender based challenges of sustainable wealth creation, AWDC facilitates access to financial services, provide capacity building in financial literacy and entrepreneurial skills as well training in building enterprising businesses and sustainable livelihoods for African women.AWDC is a mix of intergenerational women (this ensures sustainability through knowledge, skills and opportunities transfer) who are engaged in different professions, have a mix of educational backgrounds, different income levels, marital status and religious affiliations. This diversity constitutes the strength of the organization as the varying capacities capacitate the incapacities in need of capacitating from outright building to enhancement.The cooperative is also a savings and loans scheme through which members pool resources together to assist each other. PolDeC is also talking to other development partners and financial institutions to advance seed grants that would constitute a revolving micro credit fund that will buffer members’ contribution and provide sufficient funds for loans to members and non members.Membership is open to women who are business minded and have the capacity to turn businesses around with a little push.Registration forms can be obtained at the PolDeC Secretariat with a non refundable fee of N5, 000. Minimum monthly contribution is N1, 000 while a member decides the maximum contribution.Monthly contributions are paid to the cooperative account. Only registered members have access to the account name and number where they pay in their monthly contributions. Nigeria's Mobile Economy Nigeria's Mobile Economy is a study analysing and documenting the progressive economic growth that the use of mobile phones have fostered in Nigeria, alongside the social and political benefits to the citizens of Nigeria in the context of the realisation of sustainable development in Nigeria. The study will also provide a comprehensive reference document of Nigeria’s mobile economy to guide policymakers and economic advisers on non-oil economic growth drivers through the positive role played by the telecommunications sector in the Nigerian economy since the liberalisation of the telecommunications sector in Nigeria. It will additionally provide policy directions in the long desired plan to diversify Nigeria’s economy base from solely oil exports dependence to other areas such as investments in telecommunications and clean energy A follow-up to Mobile Telephony: Leveraging Strengths and Opportunities for Socio-Economic Transformation in Nigeria, Nigeria's Mobile Economy will conclude with a reference document on Nigeria’s ‘new economy’; a non oil income earner and employment generation sector in Nigeria, therefore, an economic resource document. Women's Mediated Access and Capacity Building Centres in Rural Africa It is significant to note that PolDeC has an approved project ‘women's mediated access and capacity building centres in rural Africa’ .with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa under the African Regional Action Plan on the Knowledge Economy (ARAPKE). This project is one of the top ten ARAPKE projects that have been approved for funding. The funds totaling US$2. 7 million dollars is yet to be released. | Concluded ProjectsComparative African perspectives on the trade relations and practices of transnational telecommunications corporations of China and South Africa in Nigeria A FAHAMU and Oxfam Novib funded research that was implemented between June and December 2010, the study addressed the investment practices, labour practices and corporate social responsibility services of the transnational telecommunications firms of both South Africa and China in Nigeria. Please, find the report online at www.fahamu.org/images/empowers_report_0311.pdf Sensitization and Capacity Building on the Use of Mobile Phones for Civil Society Campaigns and Advocacy PolDeC’s recently concluded a pilot project that comprises mobile activism training and monitoring of human rights violations through an online platform. Funded by the Open Society Initiative for West Africa, the project has two components -a participatory one day national sensitization and capacity building event on the innovative use of mobile phones for civic activism in addition to co-opting 40 leaders of 40 human rights organisations in Nigeria into the human rights hub. The second component is a functional online system using short messaging services (SMS), short codes with IVR systems and a dedicated mobile line in disseminating and soliciting human rights information and violations including but not limited to, police torture, unlawful arrests and related offenses in Nigeria. The participatory one-day national sensitization and capacity building workshop on the use of mobile phones and web 2.0 technologies for civil society campaigns and advocacy held on Thursday, 12 November 2009 at the Lagoon Hall of Mainland Hotel, Lagos. Forty participants excluding resource persons drawn from human rights organisations as well as the media participated in the workshop. Online System/Platform for Human Rights Violations Reporting: It comprises the following:
Ascertaining Development Information Needs of Communities in Nigeria In 2008 PolDeC conducted a study to ascertain the development information needs of communities in Nigeria using Abraka in Delta State, Port Harcourt and environs in Rivers State and pockets of communities in Lagos State. Findings suggest a huge untapped market for citizen engagement in governance processes through mobile phones if coordinated knowledgeably. The report is available on request. The study provided background information for PolDeC’s interactive digital development information services project as findings helped to develop relevant and appropriate development content targeted at identified specific needs of identified development information seeking individuals in selected communities in Nigeria. Mobile Telephony: Leveraging Strengths and Opportunities for Socio-Economic Transformation in Nigeria The project appraised the evolution of mobile telephony services in Nigeria, with emphasis on the transformational impact of these services on livelihoods and social interactions as well as the potential for fostering sustainable livelihoods in rural communities. It also took due cognizance of the need to utilize mobile telephony as a tool for integration of the rural woman in Nigeria’s emerging knowledge economy coupled with the need to grow local capacity and fuel technology diffusion by focusing on its socio-economic transformational impact on livelihoods as well as exploring its potential for sustainable livelihoods especially amongst Nigerian women. The published report is available for sale at www.walahi.com. The African Women ICT Tent At the invitation of the Federal Ministry of Communications through the Nigerian Communications Commission, Center for Policy and Development collaborating with the National Center for Women Development facilitated the Africa Women ICT Tent, a pre-event workshop for Women, which held from 1st to 3rd July 2005. A prelude to the Africa Regional Preparatory Meeting to the World Telecommunications Development Conference (WTDC 06), the meeting addressed the theme, ‘Women: New Information Communication Technologies and Socio-Economic Transformation’. Emphasis was on the status of women in the information society noting in particular the capacity gaps of women in access to;knowledge and use of new information communication technologies as well as the critical need for the inclusion of African women in the information society cum emerging knowledge economy. The event, which held at the NICON Hilton Hotel, Abuja had in attendance a mix of intergenerational women delegates of diverse backgrounds from civil society, government, academia, and the private sector representing a number of African countries. One-Day Multistakeholders Sensitization/Consultation on the Second Regional African Preparatory Meeting to the World Summit on Information PolDeC collaborated with The Heinrich Boll Foundation and two other Nigerian NGOs to hold a one-day multistakeholders sensitization/consultation on the Second African Regional Preparatory Meeting to the World Summit on Information Society. The objectives of the Lagos Stakeholders Sensitization/Consultation include:
Sensitization and ICT Hands on Training for 40 Women and 3 Men at Calvary Believers Chapel Women’s Convention The program focused on what ICTs are and the attendant benefits derivable from familiarization with and use of ICTs, particularly new ICTs such as mobile phones and the Internet. There was also a hands on session where participants were taken through basic computing. Copies of the handbook, Women, New Information Communication Technologies and Socio-Economic Transformation: A Beginners Handbook to the Information Society was circulatedamongst the participants who were advised to continuously practice whenever they had access to computers. The point was also emphasized that ICTs are not demonic tools but enablers of socio-economic transformation if appropriately utilized. A total of 40 women and 3 men drawn from diverse socio-economic strata participated in the training. Sensitization on Benefits of New ICTs to Young People at the Satellite Town Baptist Church Vacation Bible School Highlights of the training include:
It was designed and organized to eradicate ignorance on fertility, sensitize the community to the causes of infertility and the availability of medical treatment for infertility. A total of 41 participants drawn from churches, mosques, traditional birth attendants and local government officials attended the seminar. Members of the Press were in attendance as interested participants. The 0ne-day seminar, funded by Amuwo-Odofin local government council, Evans Medical PLC, Systemspecs Limited and some individuals held on 20th September, 2000 at the conference hall of Gossard Hotel, in Satellite Town, Lagos. Publications
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