Social Action (Social Development Integrated Centre) is an organisation dedicated to education, mobilisation and solidarity for communities and activists working for environmental justice, democracy and social change in Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea. The organisation is promoting increased citizens’ participation in addressing policy and practices in energy and mining, trade and investments that affects human rights, democracy and livelihoods.

Social Action works primarily in Nigeria while collaborating with other citizens groups in the ECOWAS zone and the Gulf of Guinea. Through active participation with national and regional networks, the organisation is connected to the global movement for social justice.

Our core beliefs

Nigeria, the largest country in West Africa, is experiencing increasing mass impoverishment with rapidly decaying social infrastructure. Lack of democracy and pervasive corruption in public and private institutions and civil society have meant that the enormous human and material resources including significant oil and gas revenues cannot be put to public good.

The potentials of democracy are yet to be fully realised as the culture of accountability and political responsibility is not adequately imbibed by policy makers and implementers. Also, the organisations within civil society still face the challenge of forging a critical and active mass of citizens to work for change in policy and practice. Present political practices don’t encourage popular participation in the decision-making processes in the different levels of government. Social Action believes that grassroots democracy is necessary for positive change, and this can best be expressed with communities’ ability to set forth their own development agenda.

Underdevelopment cannot be adequately addressed by dispensing foreign aid or government handouts aimed at attacking symptoms. Rather, underdevelopment should be addressed from an understanding of its different and interconnected causes and effects, manifesting in dictatorship, poverty, scarcity and conflict, hindered production capacity, environmental and human rights abuse, climate change etc. Global forces do influence and affect domestic realities. The character of subsisting direct foreign investment and expropriation of capital have resulted in environmental degradation, external debt, weakened local economy and compromised state institutions.

Social Action seeks to support community groups and other segments of civil society towards a collective self – analyses with the aim of encouraging and supporting change in citizens’ actions towards influencing democratic practice, people oriented policy, accountability and social justice.

The way we work

• Encouraging Public Debate on Policies:

The programmes of Social Action focus on analysis of issues around specific policies and practice and how these interconnect and affect citizen’s rights and livelihood. Working with communities and other citizen groups, peoples' alternatives can be forged and propagated while widening the space for public debate.

• Mass communication:

Social Action assembles and disseminates data and information on government and corporate policy and practice to the public with the aim of promoting popular understanding and debate, and to capture and disseminate public opinion to policy makers. This is done with systematic publication of books and other education materials. Activities targeting the expanding mass media (electronic and print) are used to convey information and perception between the public and policy makers and implementers.

• Monitoring:

Social Action monitors and documents the environmental and social practices of government, private investors, international financial institutions and communities for use by local and international citizens groups involved in advocating for change.

• Community Support:

Social Action provides support to communities and social movements involved in resistance to the negative impacts of resource extraction, trade policy, climate change etc. by providing them with information, media outlet and capacity building through community exchanges.

• Community and Democracy Action:

Social Action works with other citizens groups to support marginalized communities to organise and take direct actions to protect community rights, seek participation in development processes and defend democracy, using the courts of law and public opinion to cause positive change in the community, government and among public and private companies.

• Part of a Global Movement:

Social Action is working to build a national citizens movement that will be active in the global movement for social change.