On November 1st, 2022, Dimond Development Initiative (DDI) celebrated its 20th anniversary as an indigenous Nigerian non-profit providing development services to unserved and underserved communities. DDI’s anniversary was not only celebration of its service to the poor and vulnerable but stood as a testimony to benefits and value localization. Adamu Garba, DDI’s indefatigable Country Director, recounted the DDI origin story at the event. Adamu explained that DDI was formed as an outcome of a rigours pre-award assessment process in which several international development partners were considered to continue the work of U.S. African Development Foundation (USADF). He went on to share that the pre-award assessment and recommendation to award to DDI was conducted by the Nigerian non-profit, the development Research and Projects Centre (dRPC).
As part of the dRPC’s commitment to capacity strengthening of Nigerian civil society organizations and in furtherance of the Centre’s aid localization work, we are in conversation with Adamu Garba, where he reflects on experiences of growing a Nigerian non-profit from the roots of a USAID funded implemented partner.
In describing the context in which the U.S. African Development Foundation (USADF) decided to work itself out of business in Nigeria 20 years ago, Adamu shared that it all revolved around project management capacity gaps. He explained, that gaps in delivering quality, high fiduciary and sustainable projects informed the decision to identify and invest in a local implementer with the capacity and commitment to build capacity as part of bottom-up strategy. In Adamu’s words, 20 years ago “The development space was in dire need of an organization that would deploy participatory, bottom-up approaches and focus on addressing the basic needs of project participants effectively”. Not surprisingly, the pre-award assessment methodology used by the dRPC contained layers of questions to gather and triangulate data on the capacity and indeed value orientation of the partners to build capacity from the bottom up.
For over 20 years, DDI has implemented interventions five core workstreams for inclusive transformation, targeting grassroots communities; associations; and stakeholders with a particular focus on economically active women and adolescents. DDI’s 5 workstreams are: – Business Support & Enterprise Management, Agricultural Value Chain Development and Commodity Market Access Services; Renewable/Off-Grid Energy Support; Youth Employability Enhancement and Entrepreneurship Program as well as Grants Management.
When reflecting on DDI’s journey over the past 20 plus years, Adamu’s insights are a testimony of power of localization. He summed up his personal journey and the journey DDI by saying: “I strongly believed in the significance of incorporating a strong local presence in development initiatives – from beginning to end. Setting up DDI as a local NGO and becoming the local implementing partner of USADF allowed me to gain deeper insights into the local context and needs. This localization approach empowered DDI to design and implement projects that were more responsive to the specific challenges and aspirations of Nigerian communities. By working closely with local stakeholders and leveraging local expertise, DDI built on the achievements of USADF to fostered a greater sense of ownership and sustainability in the development projects we undertook”. As the dRPC thinks back to its role, midwifing the emergence of DDI, and also our 30 years of experience supporting Nigerian non-profits, we see the DDI success story as an example and model from which USAID can learn as the USAID/Nigeria Mission rolls out its localization agenda.
