RIEF HISTORY OF SISDEV
Realizing that a lot of ground
breaking research, inventions and technologies made in the Universities and
research institutes are archived in dusty shelves and hardly cascade to the
larger society, a group of environmentalists and academic staff of the Abubakar
Tafawa Balewa University Bauchi, Nigeria came together to form a
non-governmental organization called Environment and Development Foundation
(EDF) in 2006. The main goal of EDF was to use research, advocacy and capacity
building in promoting and disseminating new initiatives and appropriate
technologies for resolution of environment problems. EDF has been in
existence since then and has recorded a lot of achievements and impacted positively in the society
especially in climate change mitigation and adaptation, renewable energy as
well as Water Sanitation and Hygiene.
However, after a strategic review
of its activities in 2017, the Board of Trustees and management of EDF decided
to restructure the organization to accommodate a wider developmental challenge
facing the country. These include: Good governance, Energy and Environment and
Peace and Security. This decision led to the conceptualization, planning and creation
of the Savannah Institute for Sustainable Development.
The Savannah Institute for
Sustainable Development is a non-governmental, non-partisan and non-sectarian
organization established to operationalize Sustainable Development in the
Savannah regions of Nigeria. SISDev is registered with Nigeria’s Corporate
Affairs Commission as a Company limited by guarantee on 11th September 2018 (RC
1523933). The vision of the organization is to have ‘A peaceful, prosperous
and corruption-free society in harmony with its natural environment’ and it
sets out on a mission to ‘be a veritable vehicle for achieving sustainable
development”.
SISDev is led by a Board of
Trustees of eminent personalities in the society and managed by thoroughbred
and selfless committee of fellows and volunteers who have excelled in their
various vocations.
The organization focuses on three
thematic areas in the first three years of its operation. These areas include: Good
governance, Peace and Security and Energy and Environment
The goals of SISDev include:
1.
To have an
inclusive, corruption-free society led by transparent, accountable and informed
leaders that emerge through legitimate processes.
2.
To have an
informed, safe and secure society
3.
To
inculcate the culture of environmental care among the people, ensuring clean,
‘green’ and climate-resilient society.
It seeks to achieve these goals
by advocating for policy changes, legislative impetus, social mobilization and
sensitization, partnership with development agencies, INGOs, NGOs and CBOs.
Typically, a bottom-up and inclusive solution to societal problem is identified
which is test run through partnership with the CBOs until when a model is found
and validated. This model is then cascaded down and replicated in different
contexts in the society for achievement of sustainable development. SISDev also
offers and delivers capacity building training on Sustainable Development for
various groups in the society.