The Development Research and Projects Centre (dRPC), with backing from the Ford Foundation, has awarded N85 million to 17 Nigerian indigenous non-profit organisations as part of its NGO Support Initiative (NSI), aimed at addressing funding gaps resulting from recent USAID cuts.

The Executive Director, dRPC, Dr Judith-Ann Walker, made this known during the official launch of the NSI Grant Award for the first cohort yesterday in Abuja.

She stated that the initiative intends to assist NGOs that have lost funding from USAID and other international organisations and that each of the 17 awarded NGOs will receive N5 million to implement their proposals over the next three months.

“This particular initiative is to respond to a particular challenge that we have seen. Many NGOs have lost their income and their grants, and they have lost their ability to impact positively on their communities, and the work that they’ve done and established for years.

“So this initiative aims to address this break in funding and development work at the community level by giving them that support so they can continue the work they have started because many of them have had to stop their programmes because of the absence of funding,” she explains.

According to Dr. Walker, “17 NGOs will be awarded this grant, N5 million each. We know that they are close to the communities. So, what we would advise them is that they should continue the good work, and impact positively on the lives of people at the community level.”

She praised the proposals submitted by the NGOs and urged them to leverage the funds to enhance living conditions in their respective communities. She described the NSI grant as a significant boost for civil society in Nigeria, emphasising that it will help maintain the operational viability of affected NGOs and reinforce their ability to address social issues.