Project
Ready to Run
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Amount Funded
140,048 EUROProject Duration
01 Aug 2021 - 01 Feb 2023 -
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Lead organisation
Yiaga Africa Initiative
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Yiaga Africa was launched as a student organization in 2007 at the University of Jos, Nigeria, and has since established itself as a leading civil society organization in Africa. Since its inception, the organisation has carved a niche for itself as one of Africa’s frontline non-profit organisations promoting participatory democracy, human rights, and civic participation.
Yiaga Africa envisions a democratic and developed Africa where citizens are actively engaged in the governance processes. Our goal is to build and support sustainable democracy and development anchored on the principles of inclusion, accountability, and justice through research, advocacy, and capacity development. What we aim to achieve is guided by the values of integrity, transparency, accountability, inclusion, excellence, teamwork, and innovation.
The organization is headed by a governing board, composed of seasoned professionals drawn from academia, inter-governmental organizations, international non-governmental organizations, civil society, and the diplomatic corps. The board is made up of eight (8) members and is headed by the board Chairman with the Executive Director acting as Secretary. The board ratifies decisions taken by the management team.
Yiaga Africa is divided into eight (8) departments namely, Programs, Finance, Administration and Human Resources, Information Technology, Internal Audit, and Compliance, Knowledge Management and Learning, Procurement, and the Media department, with each department headed by a departmental head. The heads of departments make up the management team, headed by the Executive Director. The management team oversees the daily operations of the organization.
Effecting change by solving social problems through movement building and community organizing. Yiaga Africa prides itself as a community organizing and movement building organization. We have consistently shown that in designing programs to address social issues, we prioritize citizen participation and engagement in crafting sustainable solutions. For instance, in elections, where Yiaga Africa has risen to become a foremost election observation group in Nigeria, citizens participation is one of the four-pronged areas in which we approach election programming. Yiaga Africa promotes active and sustained citizens participation in the electoral process through campaigns, workshops, web-based tools, and traditional media. We also conduct periodic civic camps for first-time voters in addition to democracy clubs established in high schools to mobilize and empower young people for civic leadership.
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Organisation
Yiaga Africa was launched as a student organization in 2007 at the University of Jos, Nigeria, and has since established itself as a leading civil society organization in Africa. Since its inception, the organisation has carved a niche for itself as one of Africa’s frontline non-profit organisations promoting participatory democracy, human rights, and civic participation.
Yiaga Africa envisions a democratic and developed Africa where citizens are actively engaged in the governance processes. Our goal is to build and support sustainable democracy and development anchored on the principles of inclusion, accountability, and justice through research, advocacy, and capacity development. What we aim to achieve is guided by the values of integrity, transparency, accountability, inclusion, excellence, teamwork, and innovation.
The organization is headed by a governing board, composed of seasoned professionals drawn from academia, inter-governmental organizations, international non-governmental organizations, civil society, and the diplomatic corps. The board is made up of eight (8) members and is headed by the board Chairman with the Executive Director acting as Secretary. The board ratifies decisions taken by the management team.
Yiaga Africa is divided into eight (8) departments namely, Programs, Finance, Administration and Human Resources, Information Technology, Internal Audit, and Compliance, Knowledge Management and Learning, Procurement, and the Media department, with each department headed by a departmental head. The heads of departments make up the management team, headed by the Executive Director. The management team oversees the daily operations of the organization.
Effecting change by solving social problems through movement building and community organizing. Yiaga Africa prides itself as a community organizing and movement building organization. We have consistently shown that in designing programs to address social issues, we prioritize citizen participation and engagement in crafting sustainable solutions. For instance, in elections, where Yiaga Africa has risen to become a foremost election observation group in Nigeria, citizens participation is one of the four-pronged areas in which we approach election programming. Yiaga Africa promotes active and sustained citizens participation in the electoral process through campaigns, workshops, web-based tools, and traditional media. We also conduct periodic civic camps for first-time voters in addition to democracy clubs established in high schools to mobilize and empower young people for civic leadership.
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Project
Yiaga Africa launched the Ready To Run campaign to support young women, and men with competence, capacity and character to run for elective office in the 2019 general elections and beyond. Ready To Run is the response to a need observed during the Not Too Young To Run campaign, to equip young people with the requisite capacity needed to run an issue-based campaign, win elections and occupy elective office. Upon its launch, the Ready To Run campaign set out to achieve four (4) major objectives, to locate, inspire, support, and provide linkages to young people vying for elective office.
Ultimately, the Ready To Run campaign will seek to mobilize young people to engage the political process towards the 2023 elections with a view to increasing youth candidacy and youth representation in the decision-making process by 10%. The campaign will engage with different stakeholders, including political parties and the joint committee on electoral reforms in ensuring the emergence of young people as candidates in the 2023 general elections, while leveraging on our existing structures at the state level to galvanize support for young people running for elective office in their locality through media campaigns on radio.
Following the passage into law of the age reduction bill, popularly referred to as the #NotTooYoungToRun Act, which widened the space for young people to participate in the political process, and resulted in an increase in youth candidacy in the 2019 general elections, the low number of young people that contested and won their election still calls for concern. Data from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) shows that young people make up more than half the number of registered voters, with 51.11% of registered voters being between the ages of 18 -35. In addition, the recent #EndSARS protests against police brutality led by young people across the country indicate that there is a renewed willingness to participate in the political process. Thus, there is a need to leverage these numerical strengths and yearnings in mobilizing young people to engage the political process towards the 2023 general elections. The solutions that are being proposed are aimed at engaging with political parties towards ensuring open, transparent, and direct party primaries, reduction in campaign costs for young people, and increased inclusion and representation as party candidates.
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Yiaga Africa launched the Ready To Run campaign to support young women, and men with competence, capacity and character to run for elective office in the 2019 general elections and beyond. Ready To Run is the response to a need observed during the Not Too Young To Run campaign, to equip young people with the requisite capacity needed to run an issue-based campaign, win elections and occupy elective office. Upon its launch, the Ready To Run campaign set out to achieve four (4) major objectives, to locate, inspire, support, and provide linkages to young people vying for elective office.
Ultimately, the Ready To Run campaign will seek to mobilize young people to engage the political process towards the 2023 elections with a view to increasing youth candidacy and youth representation in the decision-making process by 10%. The campaign will engage with different stakeholders, including political parties and the joint committee on electoral reforms in ensuring the emergence of young people as candidates in the 2023 general elections, while leveraging on our existing structures at the state level to galvanize support for young people running for elective office in their locality through media campaigns on radio.
Following the passage into law of the age reduction bill, popularly referred to as the #NotTooYoungToRun Act, which widened the space for young people to participate in the political process, and resulted in an increase in youth candidacy in the 2019 general elections, the low number of young people that contested and won their election still calls for concern. Data from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) shows that young people make up more than half the number of registered voters, with 51.11% of registered voters being between the ages of 18 -35. In addition, the recent #EndSARS protests against police brutality led by young people across the country indicate that there is a renewed willingness to participate in the political process. Thus, there is a need to leverage these numerical strengths and yearnings in mobilizing young people to engage the political process towards the 2023 general elections. The solutions that are being proposed are aimed at engaging with political parties towards ensuring open, transparent, and direct party primaries, reduction in campaign costs for young people, and increased inclusion and representation as party candidates.