21 North-West Youth Groups Trained In Civic Engagement, Governance

Bridge Connect Africa Initiative (BCAI), with support from the Nigeria Youth Futures Fund (NYFF), has trained 21 youth-led organisations in the North-West zone on civic engagement, leadership and good governance as part of efforts to strengthen youth participation in governance and policy advocacy.

The two-day youth consortium capacity strengthening workshop, held yesterday under the Youth Leading Change Programme, brought together youth groups from Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, Jigawa, Sokoto and Zamfara states.

At the event, NYFF grant and monitoring, evaluation, research and learning officer, Richard Chidiebere, said the Nigeria Youth Futures Fund was implemented by LEAP Africa and co-funded by the MacArthur Foundation, Ford Foundation and Luminate Group.

He said the fund was established to strengthen Nigeria’s youth ecosystem by supporting young people to engage the government through structured advocacy rather than protests.

Chidiebere explained that BCAI was supported as a catalytic grantee to provide institutional mentorship to over 14 NYFF grantees in the North-West, noting that many youth organisations lacked strong governance structures, financial management systems and organisational policies.

“We found that a lot of organisations are doing great work, but there are limitations in their financial practices and internal governance. This training is to build their institutional capacity,” he said.

He added that the NYFF grant cycle runs annually for 12 months, noting that the current intervention is the third cycle after those in 2023 and 2024.

Also speaking, Director of Programmes at BCAI, Abdulaziz Musa, said the Youth Leading Change Programme was designed to equip young people with the skills to promote transparency, accountability, and good governance across their communities.

Musa said the workshop focused on strengthening organisational sustainability through training on board management, human resource systems, financial accountability, monitoring and evaluation, and communications.

He disclosed that the programme supports gender inclusion, adding that women constituted 51 per cent of participants in BCAI’s fellowship component.

According to him, the initiative is expected to deepen youth collaboration through the Northwest Youth Development Consortium and enhance youth participation in decision-making processes.