Community Life Project Celebrates 30 Years Of Empowering Marginalised, Vulnerable Citizens

Posted on November 8, 2022

BY FUNSHO AROGUNDADE

The Community Life Project (CLP), a nonprofit civil society organisation founded in 1992 on Friday 4 November celebrated its 30th anniversary with an elaborate event.

The ceremony held at the AGIP Recital Hall, MUSON Centre, Onikan, Lagos had hundreds of celebrities, opinion molders, activists and community leaders in attendance to pay tributes to CLP’s three decades of impacting the Nigerian society positively as well as those grassroots citizens who have been impacted by the work of CLP.

Also among those who took the centre stage at the event were various grassroots women politicians who were empowered to increase their level of representation and participation in politics at the local level.

Ms. Ngozi Iwere, the founder and Executive Director of CLP noted that the 30th anniversary celebration is an occasion to celebrate the grassroots leaders who have been toiling hard to improve lives and service delivery in communities across the country.

Her words: “These grassroots leaders are the unsung heroes and heroines of our tedious nation-building efforts. They have been holding together this great nation through their ubiquitous trades such as carpenters, bike riders, grinding machine operators, mechanics, vulcanisers, market men and women, hairdressers, tailors, photographers, welders and numerous others. They have worked assiduously with us at CLP over these past three decades to improve elections and local governance all over the country. We plan to celebrate their efforts as we mark our 30th anniversary,” Iwere said.

Her view was echoed by CLP’s Programme Manager, Mr. Francis Onahor, who added that the organisation has not only made great impact over the years but has executed all its programmes through highly ethical approaches that uphold the human dignity of one and all.

CLP stands tall in the family of Civil Society Organisations in Nigeria as an example of a resourceful, results-oriented, and resilient institution; a promoter of equity and social inclusion; a convener of stakeholders, development agencies and faith-based communities; and a resource for thousands grassroots leaders.

Since it was founded in 1992, the NGO has been empowering the marginalised and most vulnerable grassroots citizens to take greater responsibility for their well-being, end inequality and build thriving communities.

The non-profit civil society organisation has took off to effectively increase the access of grassroots citizens to knowledge and skills for HIV/AIDS prevention, care and control through community engagement in the Isolo community of Lagos metropolis, subsequently expanded to neighbouring communities – Oshodi and Mushin – and then scaled up nationally to lead the charge for social inclusion, grassroots community organising, social mobilisation and empowerment of voiceless communities to express voice and exercise agency.

Some of the youths that CLP’s Theatre-for-Development programme helped discover their hidden creative abilities to actualise their dreams and then gone on to become internationally renowned and celebrated script writers, actors, music stars and icons in the entertainment industry including Chiedozie Nzeribe (Sambasa), Lateef Adedimeji, Kingsley Okonkwo (KCee), to mention a few were also at the event to share their stories.

Over the past three decades, CLP has also built the capacity of government agencies and public officers to better deliver services to people at the grassroots.

It worked with the Lagos State AID Control Agency (LASACA) in the 1990s to ensure that HIV/AIDs prevention activities reach the grassroots and helped to strengthen the health system response in Lagos State by training and retraining health workers.

CLP also facilitated the integration of HIV/AIDs prevention activities into existing services at the primary health care level and has been training local government officials, especially budget officers, community development department to ensure that grassroots citizens participate in budget preparation and implementation.

In his submission at the event, Mr O.K Rotimi, a director of Community Development with Ekiti State Government noted that “On budget preparation back then, the approach was a top-down which had little or no impact on the people but CLP has pushed the process to the level of making it participatory where the Community people are empowered to participate in budget making and controlling their own development”.

Celine Osukwu, one of CLP’s Programme Managers, added that CLP has been a leading NGO institution working with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to improve the conduct and outcomes of election in Nigeria.

According to Osukwu, the organisation was instrumental in helping INEC to deliver credible voters register in the country and also to mobilise citizens for voters’ registration, permanent voters’ card (PVC) collection and election observation and reporting.

“One of the impacts of CLP is pushing for the inclusion and participation of Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) in the electoral process. Today, CLP stands tall in the family of Civil Society Organisations in Nigeria as an example of a resourceful, results-oriented, and resilient institution; a promoter of equity and social inclusion; a convener of stakeholders,” she revealed.

Celebrity photographer and singer, T.Y. Bello, who is a member of the CLP Board, expressed her joy for been part of the nonprofit civil society organisation for the past 12 years.

She congratulated every one who has been part of the success story of the organisation in the last three decades.