Niger Delta Partnership Initiative
/OVERVIEW: The Niger Delta Partnership Initiative focuses its global development grantmaking on economic development and peacebuilding in the conflict-torn region of Nigeria.
IP TAKE: This is not a particularly transparent or accessible funder. Grantseekers should be prepared to network and communicate with this funder, which lacks responsiveness, so patience will be key.
This group also receives much funding from oil giant Chevron Corp., which may be an important consideration for some grantees.
PROFILE: Located in Washington, D.C., the Niger Delta Partnership Initiative (NPDI) seeks to catalyze systematic change to “break the cycle of poverty and conflict by creating strong and stable communities in Nigeria’s Niger Delta.” While the Niger Delta is oil-rich (oil accounts for around eighty percent of the country’s revenues), nearly half of the region’s people remain impoverished. NDPI works with local, community-based organizations to reduce conflict and increase opportunity. The foundation has programs in economic development, peacebuilding and enabling environment, which focuses on advocacy and capacity building.
Grants for Global Development
NDPI’s global development grantmaking includes two main areas: promoting economic development and creating an enabling environment. NDPI’s economic development program takes a “market-based approach to help grow the region’s most promising sectors,” which include palm oil, cassava, and fish farming. This program aims to build capacity in the region by facilitating farmers’s access to technological resources and training, as well as promoting local associations that help members organize and advocate. NDPI also supports efforts to educate and influence policymakers regarding the needs and challenges of the agricultural industry and the communities that sustain it.
NDPI’s enabling environment program centers around capacity building and aims to “equip local governments, organizations, communities and individuals with the knowledge, strategies and support they need to build a stable and prosperous Niger Delta.” This program prioritizes “research and analysis of what causes social and economic instability” in order to better plan and direct the efforts of its other two programs. NDPI supports local, community-based nonprofits directly with capacity building to “improve their programs and advocacy efforts,” and it works with the Nigerian government and the international community to inform them of “effective development practices to attract additional investment.” NDPI also sponsors conferences and round-table discussions for political and economic leaders.
Grants for Global Security
The foundation’s peacebuilding program supports groups that engage local communities and stakeholders in peacebuilding efforts and conflict mitigation. Believing peace and financial stability intertwined, the NPDI’s peacebuilding grantmaking focuses on the “[n]exus between peacebuilding and economic development... Healthy market systems flourish in peaceful societies. Jobs created through economic development initiatives, in turn, help reinforce peace.” Thus, the NDPI focuses its peacebuilding efforts on conflict analysis, conflict resolution training and peace education to mitigate peace. Through its Partners for Peace (P4P) Network and its partnership with The Fund for Peace, the NDPI collaborates with traditional rulers, civil society actors, government officials, community leaders, local business leaders and students.
Important Grant Details:
Precise grant amounts are unclear since its tax filings do not reveal individual grantees. However, the financials section shows that the foundation awards $8 million in grants annually.
The NPDI does not accept unsolicited requests for funding or grant applications.
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