Project Overview
The Pharos project “Support for Incubators of Pluralism in Nigeria” aims at strengthening the actors of social cohesion with technical and material support to promote cultural and religious pluralism in communities faced with tension linked by means of identity. The CSOs working on building social cohesion in communities with a focus on young people are the target groups of this project. The selected CSOs will form a network of incubators of Pluralism Actors that will promote inter-group collaborations and communication to boost Pluralism as a major input in the construction of peace in communities. Therefore, this project launch is aimed at bringing together 20 different CSOs identified based on their peace-building interventions and effort towards protecting human dignity and right
The General Objective is to reinforce civil rights (protection from discrimination on grounds such as race, gender, national origin, color, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, or disability and individual rights such as privacy, the freedoms of thought and conscience, speech and expression, religion or belief, the press, assembly and movement) and political rights (such as the rights of the accused, including the right to a fair trial; due process: The right to seek redress or a legal remedy; and rights of participation in civil society and politics such as freedom of association, the right to assemble).
Project Structure
Coordinated by the Justice Development and Peace Caritas/Commission (JDPC), Funded by the Pharos Observatoire-France, the Centre for Community Actions for Peace and Development (CCAPAD) has been selected as a member organization to partner in the implementation of the project and has so far been actively engaged thereupon.
Project Objectives
The Specific Objectives of the project are:
- To strengthen the capacity of institutional actors in promoting pluralism in Nigeria.
- To reduce stigmatization and defamation proceedings against disadvantaged groups as minority religions, poor people, women and most vulnerable members of the community.
- To promote the social inclusion of disadvantaged groups as minority religions, poor people, women and most vulnerable members of society in the delivery of social services.
- To encourage and promote interfaith cooperation through civic education.
- To promote inter-faith/cultural cooperation among people of different faiths/cultures.
Some Interventions
In view of the 2023 Gubernatorial election, the pharos team of the Centre for Community Actions for Peace and Development (CCAPAD) implemented an activity titled: Awareness Creation for youth in Bassa, Jos-East, Jos-South and Barkin Ladi LGAs of Plateau State Nigeria. The activity was aimed to create awareness among youths on ethnic and religious politics against 2023 Gubernatorial election in the state and to Strengthen their capacities on the peaceful conduct of the elections, to understand the need for peaceful coexistence as a Nation and the importance of violence-free election in the state.
At the end of the presentation, the participants were able to come up with an action plan on how to ensure peaceful and credible elections in their various communities.
