We are delighted to announce that the winner of the 9th annual $100,000 ONE Africa Award is Connected Development (CODE)!
CODE winners collecting their ONE Africa Award with members of the ONE team!
CODE is a Nigerian based advocacy organization with a mission to empower marginalized communities by improving access to information needed to better local public services. CODE have won the 2016 award as they have proven that they can effectively wield their expertise to empower local communities to claim funds that have been appropriated to them. Through these activities, CODE has contributed to reducing poverty in target communities by boosting citizen participation in governance. CODE have also been successful in achieving wins in the fight against corruption in Nigeria.
CODE’s Follow The Money initiative: “We advocate, visualize and track government spending and international aid, and let you know how effective it has been in our rural communities. “
CODE’s Follow the Money (FTM) campaign aims to promote transparency, accountability and citizen engagement by monitoring and tracking aid and governmental implementation of capital funds intended for local communities in three basic thematic areas: health, education and environment. The campaign has engaged local community members by providing training on how to track missing or misappropriated local funds and used their robust online presence to educate citizens and lobby governments to produce funds where they have been promised.
The Freedom of Information Act has been a key tool CODE has leveraged to secure information from international development partners and governmental agencies on their budgets and development programs intended to benefit citizens they work with.
In its fight against poverty, CODE’s advocacy and campaign work encourages citizen participation by utilizing online and traditional media engagements, town hall meetings, stakeholders meetings and community outreach programs to connect citizens with each other and their political leaders. Other CODE programs include Disaster & Emergency Response Human Rights & Conflict.
Congratulations to CODE and our other ONE Africa Award finalists Kenya Connect and ELLILTA – Women at Risk (EWAR), together with the hundreds of organizations who applied this year for the incredible work they lead on to make a difference in communities they serve. There are countless African-led organizations and grassroots groups doing incredible, life-changing work across the continent and we wish them continued success.
