Building a coalition around SDGs, Civil Society Coalition on Sustainable Development (CSCSD) (cscsdev.org) formerly known as Campaign2015+ International is a coalition of close to 2000 registered civil society and non-governmental organizations and individuals committed to citizens’ empowerment, human rights protection, development and peace in Nigeria. It is the only registered (CAC/IT/No 87678) national coalition of organizations purposely created to be working on the monitoring of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals across the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria.
Specifically, the Civil Society Coalition on Sustainable Development coordinated and organized deliberations across Nigeria’s six geo-political zones on the post-2015 development agenda that led to the publication titled: “A Compendium of Deliberations on Post-2015 Development Agenda”. This is an over 260-page book that encapsulates the essential deliberations across the globe on the post-2015 development agenda and the 2030 Agenda including all the 17 sustainable development goals (copies are still being freely distributed). This publication is a feat that no organization has ever done either in Nigeria or abroad on the post-2015 issue.
Civil Society Coalition on Sustainable Development has been part of the meetings organized both in Africa and Europe on the post-2015 development agenda bringing together development actors and partners, governments and private sectors. For example, we made a presentation on the post-2015 development agenda to a wider audience of CSOs and government representatives in Johannesburg in November 2013 while in November 2014 we were part of the meeting of CSOs in Copenhagen (Denmark) where we made contributions to the vital importance of inclusion of equality across all levels and themes of the post-2015 framework through implementation of accountability mechanisms addressing all three dimensions of sustainable development. Due to the recognition of our activities, in November 2016, two of our members had the rare opportunity of being invited by the German Council on Sustainable Development by participating in a week-long SDG programme tagged “OpenSDGsClub.Berlin” in Germany. And towards the end of March 2017, we were also invited to Bonn to participate at the International Festival of Ideas.
It is on record that we organized the southwest training seminar on CSOs’ role in monitoring SDGs implementation on August 31 2016 which took place in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria where over 100 participants were sensitized. This was a joint effort sponsored by CSCSD and NNNGO, Lagos. Individual NGOs have been empowered to be engaging their governments at the state level. Below is a summary of our activities:
- Board of Trustees (BoT) meetings of CSCSD were organized in Abuja, Lagos, Kano, and Ijebu-Ode.
- State-level meetings of CSCSD members in three geo-political zones – North Central, South West and South-South
- State-level training (Oyo, Ogun, and Bayelsa) updating members’ knowledge of SDGs
- A day’s capacity strengthening workshop on strategies for localizing the SDGs implementation in southwest states, Ibadan March 2017
- 2-day capacity strengthening workshop on strategies for localizing the SDGs for CSOs in Ogun State (April 2017)
- Establishment of Think Tank Group (Oyo) to be responsible for writing and issuing position papers, media briefs, press releases, communiqués etc
- Media Capacity building on the commitment to professional reportage on SDGs in Ibadan Oyo State June 2017. This was done in collaboration with our strategic partner SDSN.
- University of Ibadan-based Diamond FM works with our partner, Sustainable Development Solution Network (SDSN), where the opportunity is granted to speak on diverse issues of development from time to time. SDSN is based within the Centre for Sustainable Development (CESDEV) University of Ibadan.
- “Ojumo Alayo” 18-week episode SDGs talk show on AIT every week
- Splash FM 105.5 Ibadan “SDG Talk” every first Tuesday of the month featured in English. The 17-week slot is given free from January and willing to extend it.
- “Otun Ojo”/New Dawn OGTV Abeokuta. It is a live magazine programme where CSCSD Ogun State members feature every Monday from 7:45 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. to talk about SDG events and gender nexus
- 2-quarter episodes on Sweet FM 107.1 Abeokuta, Ogun State titled “The Podium” every Thursday from 9.00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. featured in both English and Yoruba
- Lagos SDG Conference, June 15 2017 first of its kind in Nigeria.
- National Training of Advocacy Champions on Goal 16 so as to be meaningfully engaging the stakeholders on peace, justice, inclusive societies, transparency, and accountability.
- Membership drive: Whatsapp complementing email list serve but still looking for committed key individuals to lead the process in the South East, North East and North West.
- Production and free distribution of IEC materials on SDGs in leaflet, card and booklet forms including “A Compendium of Deliberations on Post-2015 Development Agenda”.
- Collaboration with the Kano State government to showcase the state as an epitome of SDGs implementation in Nigeria fashioned after the Westphalia Region of Germany.
We are a member organization of some international networks and organizations focusing on SDGs. We are also a member of the recently inaugurated UN-led Nigerian Civil Society Strategy Group on SDGs which members of the House Committee on SDGs were part. We are a key member organization of the following international organizations: CIVICUS World Alliance for Citizens’ Participation; Together 2030; TAP Network; Sustainable Development Solution Network; Action for Sustainable Development; Africa Working Group (AWG); and Civil Society Partnership for Development Effectiveness (CPDE).
