Justice Actors Develop Advocacy Tools To Tackle Injustice In Nigeria

Several organisations working on diverse areas of social justice across Nigeria have developed advocacy tool, as effort to tackle social injustice in Nigeria.

The organisations comprises of Center for Social Awareness Advocacy and Ethics (CSAAE); Youth and Students Advocates for Development Initiative (YSAD); Foundation for Societal Empowerment and Rejuvenation (FOSER); Youth Hub Africa; Carmelite Prisoners’ Interest Organization (CAPIO); Citizens Commons and YIAGA Africa, under the aegis of Voice Nigeria-supported Community of Practice on Social Justice.

Programme coordinator, Voice Nigeria, Ijeoma Okwor at the virtual launch of the advocacy document “Compendium of Learnings on Social Justice in Nigeria”, said the Community of Practice on Social Justice is a group of organizations working to advocate for social justice in Nigeria.

Over the past couple of months, Okwor said the organizations have shared their various learnings on social justice, which served as a guide to advocating for social justice, adding that, “These rich resources have been put together into a learning resource and we hope it will be as informative to the wider society as it has been to the Community of Practice.”

Speaking on the advocacy tool, the chief executive officer, Youth and Students Advocates for Development Initiative (YSAD), Obinna Nwagbara said the document is divided into three parts. “The first part titled Understanding Social Justice in Nigeria seeks to set a context for the social justice milieu in Nigeria and beyond. It shares a primer on the concept, background and principles of social justice as well as the legal framework within which social justice operates.

“The second part of the document on Tools and Tactics for Effective Social Justice Advocacy, looks at ways in which key approaches can be employed to achieve results in Social Justice Advocacy. These include practical how-to tips on media advocacy, community organizing, advocacy in the most unlikely places as well as ensuring an effective feedback mechanism and citizen engagement. The final part is hinged on Advancing Social Justice in Nigeria,” Nwagbara revealed.

Overall, the CEO said the learning resource is a collation of experiences that will hopefully serve as a guide and contribute to the growth and learning of individuals, teams, and organisations within the social justice space, adding that this is the aspiration of the contributors who, through their work in diverse fields, have x-rayed social justice issues and endeavoured to showcase what has worked and what is possible.