Scope: Mapping Exercise for State Ranking of CSOs Regulatory Environment in Nigeria
Location: Nigeria
Application Close: 21 November 2025
Global Rights is an international human rights and governance capacity-building non-governmental organization. We work with local activists in Africa to promote and protect the rights of marginalized populations. For more than 30 years, we have worked to build the capacity of underserved communities in Nigeria and build platforms for participatory governance, working on a wide range of cross cutting issues including: women’s rights, access to justice, natural resource governance, climate change and human rights; civic space strengthening; and security and human rights.
Global Rights works at the intersection of the protection, promotion and fulfilment of human rights through good governance. Mandatorily, women’s rights, access to remedies, and disabilities issues, are focal threads woven through the fabric of all our programs.
Our programs address governance failures that exacerbate the disenfranchisement and violations of the rights of the poor and marginalized, women, and victims of discrimination.
Background
Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Nigeria face a challenging operational environment characterized by numerous and often restrictive regulatory requirements. These burdensome regulations, compounded by overlapping state and national frameworks, significantly hinder their effectiveness and sustainability. At the sub-national level, CSOs encounter an array of state-specific requirements, including mandatory registration with multiple state-level agencies, imposing additional financial and administrative burdens.
Despite the existing legal frameworks governing CSOs, a persistent narrative among regulatory agencies suggests that CSOs are inadequately regulated. This perception has led to the introduction of laws that further constrain civic space. A notable example is Part F of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 2020, which grants extensive control to government authorities over non-profit organizations, thereby stifling their autonomy.
In 2023, Global Rights developed a protocol and conducted a mapping exercise that ranked the level of responsiveness of each state’s regulatory environment for CSOs across the 36 states of Nigeria. A similar mapping exercise was conducted in 2024 to update the findings of the previous year, and the results were translated into a dashboard, which can be accessed via https://cso.globalrights.org/.
To further this objective, Global Rights is therefore seeking to engage a consultant to conduct a comprehensive mapping exercise to evaluate and rank the responsiveness of each state’s regulatory environment for CSOs across Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to update the state ranking dashboard with relevant data from 2025
Objectives
1. Review the existing protocol developed to assess the operational environment for CSOs within states and update it to include indicators that may not have been previously captured and seek its validation with key stakeholders.
2. Conduct a mapping exercise to identify each state’s responsiveness to improving the CSO regulatory environment across the 36 states and the FCT. This mapping will use the updated protocol developed.
Scope of Work
The consultancy will involve the following tasks:
● Review the existing protocol for state mapping of CSOs’ operational environments across Nigeria and validate it with CSO input. The methodology should include ranking states based on efforts to improve or repress civic space, considering factors such as:
○ Strength of legal and regulatory frameworks.
○ Level of harassment and intimidation faced by CSOs.
○ Degree of support provided to CSOs by state governments.
● Conduct a state-based mapping of the CSO regulatory framework, examining the operational environment and state responses to CSO regulations across the 36 states and the FCT.
● Produce a publishable report based on agreed criteria. The report should:
○ Include recommendations on useful data to periodically collect to update the state ranking dashboard.
○ Outline suggestions for useful components and compartments for the dashboard.
○ Provide strategies for improving legal and regulatory frameworks to create a more enabling environment for CSOs.
● Provide actionable recommendations on enhancing legal and regulatory frameworks to improve CSO operations effectively in each state.
Deliverables
The consultancy will deliver the following outputs:
● A publishable report providing state rankings with detailed recommendations for periodically updating the dashboard. The report will also include actionable suggestions for improving the legal and regulatory environment for CSOs in Nigeria.
Intellectual Property Rights
All intellectual property rights arising from the consultancy will be the property of Global Rights. The research team will not disclose or use any confidential information obtained during the consultancy for any purpose without written consent from Global Rights.
Confidentiality and Ethical Considerations
The research team will ensure that all data collected during the consultancy is treated with the utmost confidentiality and in accordance with ethical principles. This includes:
● Obtaining informed consent from all participants before data collection.
● Ensuring secure storage of data, accessible only to authorized personnel.
● Complying with relevant legal and ethical standards and reporting any ethical concerns or violations to Global Rights immediately.
Expected Qualifications
● A minimum of 5 years experience in conducting mapping exercises and baseline assessments.
● A good understanding of the CSOs’ regulatory environment in Nigeria.
● Excellent analytical and report-writing skills.
Timeline
The consultancy will be conducted over a period of 8 weeks.
Reporting
The research team will report to the Executive Director or the designate.
Proposal Submission
Applicants are encouraged to clearly indicate their level of experience and qualifications in the relevant areas. Interested and qualified consultants are invited to submit a proposal including the following:
● Methodology and work plan for performing the assignment
● Project delivery plans
● Budget
● Details of relevant services undertaken in the past, with a reference list indicating the scope of similar assignments.
How to apply
Click this link to apply https://forms.gle/xr1nKnbzMpZ6Pffj7