Support to the FCDO Nigerian Office on Development Diplomacy

  • Status:
  • Complete
  • Programme:
  • Partnership to Engage Reform and Learn
  • Funder:
  • FCDO
  • Years:
  • 2020-21
  • Key Policy Areas:
  • Climate change and energyDecentralisation and federalismFiscal policy and domestic resource mobilisationSocial protection and poverty
  • Type of Support:
  • Supporting International Donors

In spring of 2020 FCDO convened a group of the leading international development partners in Nigeria, including the UK, US, EU, World Bank and UN. The objective was to improve international coordination in response to Covid-19 and to increase the influence of the partners on policy decisions by the Government of Nigeria (GoN). The key ambition of the FCDO Head of Office was to increase UK impact by engaging at a policy or system wide level.

Kivu provided specialist support to this group, informing its decisions with high-quality and politically sensitive advice. This involved facilitating a process through which FCDO and other development partners selected the most promising policy issues on which they engage with the GoN. It then required Kivu to provide advice about how to develop technically and politically informed policy engagement strategies which were appropriate for different issues.

Key Impacts:
  • Improved coordination among the development partners, allowing them to focus on a smaller group of more promising policy issues
  • Greater political sensitivity to the interests of the Government of Nigeria, with a stronger focus on choosing the right interlocutor for the right issue
  • Better engagement from the Government of Nigeria with the international partners on key policy issues