Our program
Development and Peace has been implementing development projects in Nigeria since 1974. Our program is structured along three main lines: citizen democratization and participation, conflict resolution and the promotion of a culture of peace, and finally, natural resource control and management for the benefit of the population in general, and of communities living in oil-producing areas in particular.
We partner up with human rights organizations that support slum dwellers who live under the constant threat of illegal eviction. Our activities also cover women’s economic empowerment through access to microcredit and family farming.
“I started with 300 birds, and now I own 700! I’ve started other agricultural enterprises, such as growing plantain and raising snails”. Samuel Oladipupo, a small family farmer in Ijebu-Ode, had the opportunity to participate in several training sessions on bookkeeping, veterinary skills, and management.
Leading up to the March 2015 presidential elections, a range of initiatives to inform and engage young people, women, religious leaders and political parties from both the country’s north and south were carried out in order to ensure transparent and peaceful elections.
The situation
With a population of 173.6 million, almost five times as large as Canada’s, Nigeria is the most densely populated country in Africa. It is also the continent’s leading economy, especially due to its substantial oil production.
Nigeria is located in Western Africa, on the Gulf of Guinea. The nation remains low on the human development index (152nd out of 187). Economic growth does not benefit development, poverty continues to rise and inequalities to deepen.
Nigeria has suffered at the hands of violent religious fundamentalist groups, in particular in the states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, and the evident spillover is of great concern to a number of adjacent states, including Cameroon, Niger and Chad.