Civil Society Coalition on Sustainable Development (CSCSD) is a coalition of about 2,000 registered civil society and nongovernmental organizations committed to citizens’ empowerment, human rights protection, development and peace in Nigeria. It is the only registered 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. A priority in the agenda of CSCSD, among other actions, is campaigning for pro-poor, global, and national policies that can accelerate broad-based economic growth, poverty reduction, and public
accountability, as well as the call for immediate action to reduce the debt burden of poor countries and institute fair trade policies and practices, and ODA development effectiveness among the OECD and other developed countries around the globe.

CSCSD has implemented a number of activities around SDGs including:

• training of CSOs across the six geopolitical zones on the strategy of engagement of political office holders in accounting to SDGs (advocacy, accountability) in February 2016 and October 2018
• a two-day capacity strengthening workshop on the strategies for localizing the SDGs for CSOs in Abeokuta and Ibadan (March/April 2017)
• a one-day training of trainers workshop on social accountability as an entry point to implement open government commitments for CSCSD member organisations in Southwest Nigeria January 16 2019 at CESDEV, Ibadan Nigeria;
• Radio and TV programmes creating awareness on SDGs: “Ojumo Alayo” 18-week episode, which is an SDGs Yoruba talk show on the Africa Independent Television (AIT) every Saturday; Splash FM 105.5 Ibadan “SDG Talk” every first Tuesday of the month featured in English; “Otun Ojo”/New Dawn OGTV Abeokuta live magazine programme where CSCSD Ogun State members feature every Monday 7:45 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. to talk about SDG events and gender nexus; and a two-quarter episode on Sweet FM 107.1 Abeokuta, Ogun State titled “The Podium” every Thursday from 9.00 a.m. to 10 00a.m.featured in both English and Yoruba Languages; and Development Today on Impact Business Radio;
• an annual Lagos SDG Summit which started in 2017 to date. In 2018, we started an International Stakeholders’ Conference on SDGs (INSTACON) which is first of its kind in Nigeria, and are planning towards the second edition coming off August 26 to 30, 2019;
• stakeholders meeting on Ending Violence Against Children in Ekiti State attended by Government representatives across Health, Education, Women Affairs, Gender and Social Development, Information and Civil Society Organisation where plans were developed to create a safety net for all the children in Ekiti State, February 2019;
• agro-women Initiative in Ondo State – a project focusing on new agricultural policy for the Ondo State. The program seeks to assist women in agriculture in order to access the government’s loan as embedded in the state budget;
• establishment of a Children Hygiene and Sanitation Education (CHASE) Club among pupils in schools and children in communities implemented by Kids & Teens Resource Centre in collaboration with other CSOs in Ondo state. The government has approved the implementation of the project in all LGAs in the state;
• establishing SDG Clubs in some private secondary schools while we conduct annual SDG competition leading to award of excellence to the best three schools across Oyo State, Nigeria;
• adolescent Reproductive Health project with “PhotoVoice” advocacy program by the Young people in Ondo State from four public schools where young people are now using pictures to conduct advocacy with policymakers;
• advocacy and sensitization for the inclusion of persons with disabilities into the World Bank APPEALS (Agro-processing, Productivity Enhancement and Livelihood Improvement Support) Project by Speaking Fingers Network, Lagos State;
• workshop around speedy passing into law the bill on National Water Resources Management before the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria with a follow-up position paper and presentation to the office of the Senate President in Abuja;
• presentation of the People’s Manifesto ( A Charter of Accountability) to 656 participants comprising of artisans, state actors, religious leaders, etc at the Cultural Centre Abeokuta. There was also a formal presentation of the People’s Manifesto to the incoming First Lady of Ogun State who pledged to use her good office to mobilize funds for the implementation of the SDGs and inauguration of a think-tank committee to provide technical advisory support to His Excellency the Governor;
• always part of national and international meetings including Open SDGClub.Berlin, Global Festival of Action for Sustainable Development, National Voluntary Review/High-Level Political Forum (NVR/HLPF)
• Reinforcing the assertion that SDG16 underpins the entire 2030 Agenda and that SDG16 is linked with all other SDGs, CSCSD collaborates with other development actors and organizations across the globe in engaging on issues around Goal 16 of the SDGs which is to “promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.”

The video below talks more about what we do around SDG16: