RIASSUNTO
Abstract:
Pro-Natura International (Nigeria): has been working in the Niger Delta for several years, facilitating community-led development that builds partnership with secondary stakeholders: government, donor agencies, the private sector (including the gas and oil industry) and nongovernmental agencies. These stakeholders provide communities (the primary stakeholders) with funding and technical assistance to support technically correct, fundable projects proposed, planned, implemented, managed and owned by community dwellers.
PNI's ""Niger Delta Coastal Development Initiative"" seeks to pacify and develop this coastal corridor by building more community-based development-oriented institutions and creating the capacity which they need in order to be both viable and sustainable. From The Niger Delta: A Coastal Development Initiative
Introduction:
Much of the Niger Delta has been classified1 as “a zone of high intensity conflict (i.e. over 1,000 fatalities per year).” Much of the violence associated with this conflict has been directed at the oil industry and has affected 'Business' in general. Pro-Natura International (Nigeria), or 'PNIN', has worked in the region since the early 1990s. Even before it was formally constituted as a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), it's staff were living in the swamps and communities of Bayelsa, enjoying “interesting times”.
PNIN experimented together with the Ijaw and other people in the region, in the use of 'interactive participation'2: an approach to community development, as well as participatory methods and processes, that had not been tried there before. There emerged a model emerged that works (be it imperfectly!); is replicable; and, offers hope and the possibility of peace, to communities as well as to 'Business'!
PNIN's 'show-case' is the Akassa Clan. Members of the Akassa Development Foundation (ADF), clan, area and village-level community-owned and managed institutions have the will and the capacity to generate and implement their own development plans and projects. The ADF's credibility, relevance and accountability is measured by the degree of support it gets from individuals and interest groups at the grass roots level.
Initially, the ADF (a novel concept: a corporate3, community-based organisation), which oversees the development process in Akassa, was funded by oil interests, through PNIN. Today, run by villagers, it receives funding from a variety of other secondary stakeholders, directly into its own bank account; utilises its funds in accordance with agreed technically correct project proposals; and, reports to its donors who also receive externally audited accounts.
PNIN's role in this process has been to;
1. be a catalyst or 'change agent', creating awareness amongst stakeholders about the needs and possibilities for change;
2. facilitate institutional development and capacity building for community-led development;
3. develop self confidence amongst emerging leaders and build self-esteem particularly with women and youth who participate;
4. build partnerships between primary and secondary stakeholders;
5. source and leverage
funding from partners for the implementation of project proposals, complete with technically correct work plans and cost estimates;
technical assistance from partners, if/when the community does not have adequate / sufficient capacity locally (within or accessible nearby);
6. providing secondary stakeholders with an 'exit strategy' enabling them to (eventually) concentrate on their own