As part of efforts to reduce the impact of the US government’s global funding cuts, the Development Research and Project Centre (dRPC) has launched a new initiative offering up to ₦5 million in grants to 30 Nigerian women-led non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
The initiative, known as the NGO Support Initiative (NSI), is designed to address the funding crisis that has hit local NGOs due to recent donor cutbacks.
Speaking at the programme’s unveiling yesterday in Abuja, the executive director of dRPC, Dr Judith-Ann Walker, said the NSI aims to support organisations working at the grassroots level in areas often overlooked by mainstream donors. These include the prevention of gender-based violence, women’s economic empowerment, safe schools for girls, and broader social justice issues.
“This is the most difficult moment NGOs have faced in decades. Funding has dried up, yet the need for their work in communities has never been greater,” she said.
According to Walker, successful applicants will receive up to ₦5 million to execute a three-month project. However, she noted that the funding will be tied to a compulsory capacity-building programme to strengthen organisational performance and sustainability. She added that the selection process would be merit-based, relying on technical and objective criteria that prioritise past performance and alignment with the initiative’s focus areas.
She emphasised that the initiative especially targets women-led NGOs that have historically received less funding despite their critical role in advancing gender equity.
“Many credible organisations are being left out of new funding streams, which now focus heavily on areas like artificial intelligence and climate justice. Our focus remains on gender equality, which intersects with all these global priorities but continues to be underfunded,” Dr Walker noted.
Walker noted that the NSI is being funded by the Ford Foundation, which she commended for being one of the few donors currently investing in local, community-based organisations.
On his part, the project manager of the dRPC, Dr Stanley Ukpai, described the launch of the Nigeria NGO Support Initiative (NSI) as a timely intervention in a shrinking civic space. He noted that the past few years have been especially difficult for civil society organisations in Nigeria.
“The ecosystem for civil society has been quite precarious… we’ve seen civil society rise and fall while implementing important projects and key issues in Nigeria,” he said.
He stated that the NSI represents a new phase in this longstanding commitment. “Today, we are launching and expressing an important phase of the civil society era in Nigeria.”
He expressed hope that the initiative will spark a broader conversation and action within the development space.
“We hope that at the end of this, we will have kick-started something that will make the rounds and also lead to more development for Nigeria,” Ukpai said.
