What is Civil Society Anyway?

50 Pages·2012·1.59 MB·English

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What is Civil Society Anyway?
Engaging an Evolving Third Sector
in Lagos State

Dede Kadiri
And
Ayo Adebusoye
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Survey report submitted to the Lagos State Civil Society Partnership (LACSOP)
July 2012
© Lagos State Civil Society Partnership and InnovationMatters
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,
without the prior written permission of the publishers.
URL : http://www.lacsop.org
URL : http://www.innovationmatters.com.ng.
This report is a research outcome of the nature and scope of the Lagos State civil society. This document
does not necessarily reflect the views of neither the State Accountability and Voice Initiative (SAVI) nor
the United Kingdom’s Department For International Development (DFID).
Further copies of the report can be viewed or downloaded from LACSOP’s and InnovationMatters’
websites respectively, and printed copies can be obtained from the LACSOP, InnovationMatters and
SAVI. No part of this report may be reproduced without the permission of LACSOP and
InnovationMatters.
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FORWARD
"Measurement is the first step that leads to control and eventually to improvement. If you can't
measure something, you can't understand it. If you can't understand it, you can't control it. If
you can't control it, you can't improve it."
- H. James Harrington
For too long, the question “who is civil society?,” has remained unanswered. This question
has been asked consistently by the public sector, often the recipients of civil society
activism. It has also been asked by the private sector called to account to consumers and
demonstrate corporate social responsibility (CSR). Even more interesting is the
observation that groups ordinarily classified as civil society such as NGOs, are now
increasingly questioning themselves. This is emerging from an evolution process that has
moved from the explosion of the third sector to an intense competition for resources. The
sector is now facing a crisis of legitimacy with increasing demands for the valuation of their
contribution to society.
Efforts to define the change process of the CSO have been made in this book. To do this, we
have relied on evidence generated in primary data and resources from secondary data
including previous analysis, expert writings and newspaper reports of civil society
activism.
In the face of these intimidating complexities, the social sector is constantly evolving and
the evolution process is fed by purpose-built civil societies. Therefore, at the
commencement of this assessment exercise, the researchers understood that compiling an
assessment of civil society in Lagos State is must take into perspective the extreme fluidity
of the third sector. This was a daunting task given the complexity of change and the current
levels of secrecy, intense competition among various CSOs, with government and with
private organisations.
The outcome of the research study is presented in two parts. The first part gives an
overview of the meaning and emergence of CSO in Nigeria with Lagos State in focus. Part II
illustrates the nature and character from civil society and what contributions are being
made to development through the third sector. Finally, an analysis of implications,
potentials and forecasts on the sector is discussed in Part III. In this section, we draw
conclusions from case studies and current trends at global levels and in the Lagos State
social sector.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This book is one of the first-ever attempts to define the nature and scope of the civil society
(CS) in Lagos State. Through this report, we review CS contributions to sub-national
development in qualitative and quantitative terms. However, a compendium of this nature
does not emerge from the efforts of just one or two people. The document has been
brought to life by the efforts and determination of a small group of committed people who
share a strong development vision and yes, seek to add legitimacy to the “third sector.”
In shaping this book, we have drawn heavily on the experiences of a team of dedicated
development practitioners who volunteered their time to the not-so-easy task of collecting
and collating data on civil society.
In this regard, the Lagos Civil Society Partnership (LACSOP) and InnovationMatters would
like to express gratitude to all those who generously gave their time, energy and resources
in order to contribute to the success of this research study. Specifically, LACSOP thanks
Nigerian Network of NGOs (NNNGO); the Female Leadership Forum (FLF); Civil Society
Action Coalition on Education For All (CSACEFA); Civil Society For HIV/AIDS in Nigeria
(CiSHAN); Development Network (DevNet); Women Law and Development Centre
(WLDCN); 21st Century (C21st); Justice Development and Peace Commission (JDPC),
Women Arise and the Nigerian Renaissance Movement (NRM).
Importantly, LACSOP is grateful to the State Accountability and Voice Initiative (SAVI),
Lagos, one of the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID)
programme suites, for providing the financial support needed to initiate this assessment.
Finally, LACSOP acknowledges the efforts of its Steering Committee in conceptualising and
designing this project and for supervising its implementation to completion.
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Table of Contents

FORWARD ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 4
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 5
TABLE OF CONTENTS ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 6
TABLES AND FIGURES ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 8
ABOUT CONTRIBUTING ORGANIZATIONS ...………………………………………………………………………………………. 10

PART I: BACKGOUND ...................................................................................................................................................12
Research Methodology ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….12
What is the civil society anyway? ………………………………………………………………………………………………………..13
How CSO is viewed by other development players ………………………………………………………………………………14
Civil society definitions ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 18

PART II: THE LAGOS CSO LANDSCAPE …………………………………………………………………………………………. 22
The Lagos State social sector in perspective …………………………………………………………………………………… ..22
How the Lagos State civil society is organised ………………………………………………………………………………….. 23
Survey on Lagos CSO: Findings and outcomes ……………………………………………………………………………………..26

PART III: LOOKING AHEAD: THE LAGOS STATE CSO ……………………………………………………………………..38
The challenge of survival …………………………………………………………………………………………. 38
Placing a value on social capital in Lagos State …………………………………………………………………………………… 40
New CSO frontlines for social change ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 42

APPENDICES ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 47
Percentage of CSO respondents’ Offices located in different LGAs ............................................................................. 48
Government agencies that support CSO respondents’ projects ………………………………………………………... 49
National private foundations that support CSO respondents’ projects ……………………………………………… 50
List of survey tool development and field supervisors ……………………………………………………………………… 51
List of data entry personnel........................................................................................................................................................ 51
List of Enumerators....................................................................................................................................................................... 52
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TABLES

Table 1 CSO Staffing

Table 2 Priority funding sources

Table 3 CSO Domain Presence

BOXES
Box 1 Address by Dr. Otive Igbuzor at the Nigerian Philanthropy
Forum, 2-3 December 2010.
Box 2 Richard Holloway, Using the Civil society Index, Assessing the
Health of Civil Society,” 2001.
BOX 3 Definitions UNDP, User Guide to Civil Society Assessments, 2010
Box 4 Social Capital Definition
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FIGURES

Figure 1 Civil society occupies the middle ground between state and
family
Figure 2 CSO in the Lagos State Social Space
Figure 3 Respondents geographical Spread
Figure 4 Type of organisations
Figure 5 Respondents’ Registration Status
Figure 6 Beneficiaries of organisations with children and young people
Figure 7 CSO Beneficiaries: People with Disabilities (PWDs)
Figure 8 CSO Beneficiaries: The general public
Figure 9 CSO Beneficiaries: Women Groups
Figure 10 CSO Beneficiaries: People of specific ethnic groups
Figure 11 CSO Staffing
Figure 12 CSO staffing disaggregated according to sex
Figure 13 Respondents’ priority funding rankings
Figure 14 Lagos State CSO Domain Presence
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About Contributing Organisations

The Lagos State Civil Society Coalition (LACSOP)

The Lagos State Civil Society Coalition (LACSOP) is a platform of major civil society
networks in Lagos State committed to adding value to development efforts in Lagos State,
Nigeria. Since its establishment in 2007, LACSOP programmes have been targeted at
increasing and sustaining access points for informed citizen-government engagements.

We coordinate citizens’ demands for pro-poor service delivery and promote ownership of
governance processes through collaborative interventions with the executive, legislature
and the media and by conducting independent assessments of government’s performance.

Mission: To promote wide scale ownership and participation in Lagos State
governance processes

Vision: The leading civil society platform for deepening democracy in Lagos State

InnovationMatters
InnovationMatters (IM) inspires people, organizations and governments to initiate and
adopt new approaches for gaining social and economic advantage. We do this by providing
and managing knowledge, which is needed for transitioning and sustaining institutional
changes.

(a) System Change Architecture (SCA)
Under this portfolio, IM applies qualitative fact finding processes to diagnose changes that
are needed for enhancing the performance of organizations. IM has supported key public
and private institutions in identifying and mapping changes to effective service delivery.

(b) Performance Management
We are building a track record of strengthening institutional capacities to deliver on
mandates. Through our Performance Management portfolio, IM places emphasis on social
impact. We support clients in measuring the qualitative and quantitative values of their
initiatives.
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PART 1
BACKGROUND

1.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
From the outset, this project’s research methodology sought to embrace the complex
nature of civil society organisations (CSOs) in their form and structure. One of the ways this
was accomplished was by adopting the broad definition of the term ‘civil society,” in data
collection and analysis processes. This was carried out in two ways. First, data sources
were expanded beyond formal non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to other informal
associational groups who are undertaking what is usually termed civil society activities. In
this report, these activities have been perceived to include social services and advocacy,
which are carried out on a voluntary basis and seek to meet public interests.
Secondly, in order to obtain a robust primary data, the research employed collaborative
methods with mainstream NGO networks or coalitions. The rationale for this approach was
to promote ownership, capacity building and to ensure that CSOs were self-assessing their
issues rather than promoting any external agenda. Also, it is important to point to the fact
that the research study was conceived by the NGO side of civil society and that a database
of these organisations appeared readily available from the memberships of LACSOP and the
Nigeria Network of Non-governmental Organisations (NNNGO). Consequently, the agreed
approach was to source primary data from these organisations and subsequently, from
other formal or informal citizen groups.
A conscious effort was also made at moving the third sector beyond conventional mapping
exercises. This research team understood from a desk review of various mapping exercises,
that CSO mappings are often commissioned by interested donor organisations seeking to
assess CSO project implementation capacity in particular areas of intervention. As a result,
demands for understanding the sector has been donor-driven and determined to meet
donor needs only. Although useful for specific projects and shaping development
intervention, donor-driven niche surveys cannot track or measure changes in the third
sector on a broad scale. Consequently, such findings can be short-termed and inadequate
for understanding broad CSO’s landscapes and how current realities can enable or limit
collective action or how these current events can catalyse societal change in the future.
This research’s approach amasses CSOs data for three main purposes, (i) to understand the
nature and the scope of CSO operations in Lagos State; (ii) to begin to assess the character
of the sector and to measure in quantitative terms, the contributions of the civic sector to
development in Lagos State; and (iii) to forecast likely events, or changes that may occur in
the future as a result of CSO activities. Consequently, the inquiries in the survey tool