The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) is a

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

organization headquartered in

Abuja Abuja (; , ) is the capital city of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, strategically situated at the geographic midpoint of the country within the Federal Capital Territory (Nigeria), Federal Capital Territory (FCT). As the seat of the Federal G ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

. The organization aims to promote the values of

democracy Democracy (from , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitiv ...

peace Peace is a state of harmony in the absence of hostility and violence, and everything that discusses achieving human welfare through justice and peaceful conditions. In a societal sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (suc ...

and

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

, particularly in the

West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

n sub-region. Established in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

in 1997 and subsequently registered in Lagos in 1999, the CDD mobilizes global opinion and resources for democratic development and provides a space for critical reflection on the challenges posed to the democratization and development processes in

. It also provides alternatives and best practices for sustaining democracy and development in the region.

History

The CDD was founded in 1997 in London at a time when Nigeria was under military rule. Its first activity was to organize a roundtable discussion on the future of democracy in

. One of the founding members was Biko Agozino, a criminologist whose books explored the impact of

colonization 475px, Map of the year each country achieved List of sovereign states by date of formation, independence. Colonization (British English: colonisation) is a process of establishing occupation of or control over foreign territories or peoples f ...

on the way racial and ethnic minorities are treated by justice systems worldwide. The Center works on policy-oriented scholarship on introducing and improving democratic processes, improving economic governance, safety and development throughout Africa. The Centre is engaged in capacity-building work, policy analysis and advocacy, and as a research reference point on democratic governance, human security, and people-centered development in the region.

Activities

CDD has offices in

Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...

, and Maiduguri in Nigeria and an international office in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. The center conducts research on democratization and governance and also trains groups and individuals who are promoting democracy and development in the region. In collaboration with the Kituo Cha Katiba (East African Centre for Constitutional Development), the CDD has run a capacity-building project funded by the

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a $25,000 (about $550,000 in 2023) gift from Edsel Ford. ...

. The project sponsors East African Women Lawyers for Graduate Masters Programs.

Promoting accountability by monitoring election campaign promises

The Buharimeter project, supported by the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), was a tool designed to track over 222 election pledges made by President

Muhammadu Buhari Muhammadu Buhari (born 17 December 1942) is a Nigerian politician who served as the president of Nigeria from 2015 to 2023. A retired Nigerian army major general, he was the military head of state of Nigeria from 31 December 1983 to 27 Augu ...

, and the

All Progressives Congress The All Progressives Congress (APC) is one of the two major contemporary political parties in Nigeria, along with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Founded on 6 February 2013 from a merger of Nigeria's three largest opposition parties, t ...

(APC) to Nigerians before the 2015 general elections. Buharimeter's one-year report did provide a synopsis of citizens' perception of the implications of the actions of the government and also revealed the degree to which Nigerians were aware of campaign promises and the actions carried out to achieve them. Knowledge about the existence of the Buharimeter and its findings have taken a global outlook. Aside from highlighting how the initiative was widely reported internationally, Buharimeter is now listed as one of the promise tracking initiatives on the Duke Reporters' Lab. The one-year report was the fifth report released since the project's launch. Others include 30 days, 60 days, 100 days, 7 months' and mid-term assessment reports published in July 2017 and can be viewed on Buharimeter reports. In May 2018, the Buharimeter team at the CDD was expected to release a third-year report which would score the performance of Nigeria's President after 3 years.

Work on
Boko Haram Boko Haram, officially known as Jama'at Ahl al-Sunna li al-Da'wa wa al-Jihad (), is a self-proclaimed jihadist militant group based in northeastern Nigeria and also active in Chad, Niger, northern Cameroon, and Mali. In 2016, the group spli ...
insurgence

The CDD organised the first intervention that brought Borno residents, the government, and civil society together at the height of the insurgency in 2011. Since then it has organised several forums, developed counter radical narratives, and supported the Operation Safe Corridor (OSC) program of the Nigerian Government on deradicalisation, rehabilitation of former

Boko Haram Boko Haram, officially known as Jama'at Ahl al-Sunna li al-Da'wa wa al-Jihad (), is a self-proclaimed jihadist militant group based in northeastern Nigeria and also active in Chad, Niger, northern Cameroon, and Mali. In 2016, the group spli ...

militants and has an MOU with the Presidential Committee on the North East Initiative.

Work on disinformation and misinformation

The Centre runs a project on disinformation and misinformation in Nigeria. It has released reports on the fake news ecosystem in Nigeria. In collaboration with

Daily Trust Media Trust is a privately held Nigerian newspaper publishing company based in Abuja that publishes the English-language ''Daily Trust'', ''Weekly Trust'', ''Sunday Trust'' and the Hausa-language ''Aminiya'' newspapers, as well as a new pan-Afric ...

, it launched a

fact-checking Fact-checking is the process of verifying the factual accuracy of questioned reporting and statements. Fact-checking can be conducted before or after the text or content is published or otherwise disseminated. Internal fact-checking is such che ...

website.

Leadership

The current Director of CDD is Dr. Dauda Garuba.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Centre For Democracy And Development Human rights organisations based in the United Kingdom Democracy promotion