Climate change: NGO trains 40 civil societies for effective engagement in Nasarawa

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By Linus Ogbu, Lafia

Global Initiative for Food Security and Ecosystem Preservation (GIFSEP), an NGO, has trained 40 stakeholders of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) under the platform of Nasarawa State Network on Environment and Climate Justice (NASNECJ) to effectively advocate for climate justice.

GIFSEP is implementing a 5 year project in Nasarawa state known as the African Activists for Climate Change (AACJ ) in partnership with OXFAM with support from Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) of the Netherlands and the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance.

Mr Joseph Ibrahim, GIFSEP Project Officer for AACJ in Nasarawa state, said on Wednesday in Lafia that the training aimed at strengthening the civil space around climate justice in the state.

According to him, the training aimed also at building the capacities of CSOs to enable them sustain engagement with government and other relevant stakeholders around climate change and climate justice.

Ibrahim explained that the organisation had earlier established the NASNECJ to work as an advocacy group to engage stakeholders on the need to design policies that would ensure climate justice in the state.

“We established the NASNECJ but that the network has not really been functioning properly, so there is need to build their capacities, and also identify grey areas to strengthen the network to be able to engage government more effectively.

“We are also hoping that the group will be coordinated with a leadership structure that can be more responsive and responsible for engaging with relevant stakeholders in the state,” he said.

Ibrahim said GIFSEP has been engaging government and community leaders across the 13 local government areas in the state on how to adapt to climate change issues and build resilience.

“We are already in the process of documenting and scaling up some of those indigenous knowledge that we have gotten from the communities on how they have been adapting to climate change effects,” he said.

Also speaking, Mr Tine Agernor, lead facilitator at the training and Programme Manager, Eunice Spring of Life Foundation, said the training aimed at creating a platform for transformational change in the context of climate justice.

“This training will help participants to track and report the outcomes of climate actions and community engagement.

“It will also hold stakeholders accountable for their commitments to sustainability as well as empowering citizens to drive climate actions in their communities,” he said.

Dr Degree Umar, a participant at the training who is also a lecturer in the Department of Geology, Federal University of Lafia, said the training would create space for CSOs to engage relevant stakeholders towards addressing climate change impacts.

GIFSEP had established and inaugurated leadership structure of NASNECJ for effective coordination in the state at the meeting.