Our Strategic Plan

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Introduction

Basic Rights Counsel Initiative (BRCI) is a response to the increasing risks and emerging complex adversities that children face in the Nigerian society. Safety and opportunities remain a far cry for many children and grave forms of abuse colour their growth experience. Millions of children suffer violence every year in Nigeria – approximately 6 out of every 10 children experience some form of physical, emotional or sexual violence before the age of 18. One in two children experience physical violence; one in four girls and one in ten boys experience sexual violence; and one in six girls and one in five boys experience emotional violence2. Most children do not tell anyone what has happened to them and fewer than five per cent receive the help they need to recover.

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In Cross River State (CRS) located in the Southern part of Nigeria, violence against children occur almost on a daily basis and has assumed various forms and dimensions ranging from brutal battery to starvation, neglect, sexual abuse, labour/servitude. In most recent times, child witch branding, stigmatization and torture leading to incapacitation or death has become one of the most serious forms of  violence against children (VAC) and has been greatly fueled by misguided religious teachings combined with traditional beliefs and practices. Pastors of a minority of churches in Calabar are frequent perpetrators of witchcraft-related abuses often stigmatizing children and subjecting them to horrific abuse, which at times, amounts to torture. These abuses are of concern in their own right but also hold grave repercussions for a child’s growth and development.

The organization’s commitment to responding to these grave forms of abuse and violation of the rights of children has been greatly hindered by the lack of a clear strategic focus together with limited institutional management procedures and corporate governance, which has largely affected her resource strength.

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In 2017, BRCI undertook a strategic planning process in order to reposition itself to ably play its role as a leading child protection organization in Cross River State, Nigeria. That process culminated in the development of a strategic plan document which was to run for four years between 2017 – 2021. The process provided an opportunity for BRCI staff & management as well as the governing board to achieve shared understanding of BRCI’s vision and mission while also assessing BRCI’s capacity to effectively deal with child development and women’s rights programming. However, during a progress review meeting with new staff and board members of BRCI in October 2020, the organization realized that not much progress has been recorded in implementing the plan due to a few structural issues and decided that the plan be extended to run up until 2025.

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This reviewed strategic plan presents a framework for BRCI’s future actions for the next 5 years, 2020 – 2025. It focuses on refocusing and strengthening of her programmatic and institutional priorities that will enable BRCI to become more professional, with greater capacity to deliver more impact.

The strategic plan will further be broken down into annual work plans and budgets that would specifically define the issues and designate time-bound activities and partnerships.