2005

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 19, 2005

11:00-16:00, HBF Office
BEYOND TUNIS: Civil Society's Role in Transforming WSIS Action Plan into Reality

The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) is held in two phases. The first phase of WSIS took place in Geneva on 10-12 December 2003. It addressed the broad range of themes concerning the Information Society and adopted a Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action. The second phase will take place in Tunis on 16-18 November 2005. The WSIS process has been a long journey. The first phase having ended, all eyes are on the possible outcomes of the second phase and every family, caucus, delegation and interest group keep flying different colors - all towards the major objective of an all-inclusive Information Society.

In the next few weeks (and increasingly getting closer to days), the Tunis Summit will be held. The question that comes to mind when consideration is given to the need to transform the words (and plans) of the summit into action is, "what comes after Tunis?" Governments, private sector and the civil society (at large, and including members of the family such as the academia, media and focus groups) must in their respective countries, find ways of employing the multi-stakeholder platform in ensuring that the policy process helps to meet the need of the average citizen of their respective countries. For Nigeria, the whole WSIS process may only join the league of earlier (failed) efforts if its high promises are not brought down to action -- with benefits to the citizenry.

Many people in rural Nigeria, for example, are not bothered about the sub-section of chapter 27 or 28 that may be of immense interest to certain people; their question (and they have a right to ask) is, "where does my next meal come from and how do you (yes, you) explain why you have spent from my uncle's tax (since I'm not employed and my aunt is under-employed) to finance national input into the WSIS process?" The Civil Society occupies a major space that is dear to the heart of many citizens. In Nigeria, will each civil society organisations be able to translate the "chapeau" into visible action for the average citizen? Will the networks that the civil society has been able to create survive the process and find meaningful expression and be available as a platform for progress? The civil society has made multiple requests and has expressed diverse possibilities, would development be visible if these are engaged? For young people in particular, it is time to prove that energies can help propel development.

On Wednesday, 19 October, 2005, HBF hosts civil society actors to a roundtable session that will seek answers to the question of the role of Civil Society in transforming WSIS documents into action in Nigeria. Hosted by Heinrich Boll Foundation and featuring key stakeholders/actors that have played active roles in the WSIS process, including youth who have kept themselves busy with the job of transmission (of the policy process to "unreached regions") and translation (of words into action) through various projects, the roundtable will afford Nigeria the opportunity to re-examine its Tunis agenda while preparing for post-Tunis days ahead. What will the Nigerian Civil Society do with the WSIS process? We'll find out at the roundtable...

THURSDAY OCTOBER 29, 2005

GREEN SPACES IN METROPOLITAN LAGOS

10:00, HBF Office
GREEN SPACES IN THE MEGACITY:
URBAN GREENING AS A DEVELOPMENT TOOL

Environmental protection and sustainable development have been identified as national priorities in Nigeria. However, many on-going practices are not environmentally sustainable, especially in large cities such as Lagos. UN-Habitat estimates that by 2015, Lagos will have a population of 23 million and will have become the world's third most populous city (after Tokyo and Mumbai). To ensure its social, economic and environmental survival and sustainability is going to be a huge challenge.

Community Conservation and Development Initiatives (CCDI, Lagos) has prepared a small study of urban green spaces in Nigeria's foremost megacity. The study takes stock of such spaces - instructive examples reach from communal football fields through the urban wetland around the National Theatre to cases of urban agriculture and forestry - and provides ideas for their sustainable use and development.

At this event, the study is presented to the public and the media.

TUESDAY MAY 31, 2005

NIGERIA BEYOND OIL

10:00, HBF Office
NIGERIA: PREPARING FOR A FUTURE BEYOND OIL
Presentation of an ongoing research project by Ms. OMON ANENIH (Royal Holloway, University of London)

For decades, oil has been the driving force behind the Nigerian economy. With the influx of petro-dollars, the nation became preoccupied with this black gold and the mixed blessings that are characteristic of a petro-state. Now, with such pertinent concerns as security of supply, environmental/green issues, questions as to the social acceptability of fossil fuels, and pessimistic predictions regarding the peak of global production, influencing the policy agenda of consumer nations, this calls for a re-evaluation of the Nigerian position.

During her field study, Omon Anenih focused on the plans being made for the future of the Nigerian economy and the enabling environment into which government policies will have to be implemented. She identified the Nigerian public, political will of the Government and corruption as some of the main factors that are likely to affect the successful implementation of economic policies.

FRIDAY MAY 27, 2005

LAGOS WATER SECTOR REFORM

HBF Office, 9:00
PUBLIC POLICY FORUM ON THE LAGOS WATER SECTOR REFORM
Organizer: Anthony A. Akpan, Pan-African Vision for the Environment (PAVE, Lagos)

The Forum analyses the latest legal and political developments regarding the reform of the Lagos water sector, informs about the ongoing CSO consultations with World Bank representatives and strategises for future action.

Speakers:
• Anthony Akpan (PAVE): Update on CSOs engagement on the Lagos Water Sector Reform
• John Onyeukwu (Concerned Professionals, Lagos): Research Report on the Lagos Water Law
• Babatope Babalobi (Bread of Life Development Foundation, Lagos): Research Report on the Project Appraisal Document (PAD)
• Maj Fiil-Flynn (Coordinator, Water For All Campaign, Public Citizen, Washington D.C.): Water For All Campaign: Global Update
• Nikki Reisch (Africa Programme Coordinator, Bank Information Centre, Washington D.C.): CSO's engagement with International Financial Institutions: Global Experiences

TUESDAY - THURSDAY MAY 24 - 26, 2005

GOPP TRAINING WORKSHOP

HBF Office
GENDER-ORIENTED PROJECT PLANNING (GOPP) WORKSHOP
Trainer: Timi Owolabi

HBF Nigeria invites project partner organisations for a training workshop in project conceptualization, planning, monitoring and evaluation, based on GOPP, a new project planning instrument introduced by HBF international.

WEDNESDAY MAY 18, 2005

ANTI-CORRUPTION

HBF Office, 10:00
RECOVERING NIGERIA'S STOLEN WEALTH:
GLOBAL PARTNERSHIPS TO COMBAT CORRUPTION
Organized by Centre for Law and Social Action (Lagos)

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Darren Kew (University of Massachusetts, Boston)

Darren Kew, an Assistant Professor in the Graduate Dispute Resolution Program at the University of Massachusetts, has extensive knowledge and experience of democratization and conflict resolution in Nigeria. He conducted research in the late 1990s as a Fulbright Scholar on the role of Nigerian civil society in democratization and conflict resolution and has published extensively on the subject. He has been a Fulbright Scholar and Visiting Lecturer at the political science departments at the University of Lagos and Bayero University, Kano.

In 2004, Darren advised the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on strategy for seizing the US assets of corrupt Nigerian officials. He provided research that connected the Freedom of Information Coalition, a network of Nigerian NGOs with the relevant bureau in the US Department of Justice that can seize the assets of corrupt Nigerian officials stashed in the United States. He also provided several strategy papers for the coalition in regard to the asset seizure issue and to anti-corruption advocacy in general.

As a technical adviser to USAID, Darren authored "Anti-Corruption Synthesis Assessment and Strategy Development document for USAID/Nigeria, "Fighting Corruption in Nigeria," in May 2003. He was co-author of the "Democracy and Governance Strategic Assessment" [November 2002-March 2003] and "Civil Society Assessment in Nigeria" [January-March, 2004] for USAID's Nigeria Program. His most recent work "Pillars of Democracy? The Role of Civil Society in Democratization and Conflict Resolution in Nigeria" will be published shortly.