Abuja, Nigeria
PROMAD, a leading civic tech nonprofit organisation in Nigeria, has launched a two-in-one platform to drive citizen participation in Nigeria’s governance process.
The platform, Isunawa and FollowTheProjects, was launched at a youth, civil society organisations (CSOs) and media roundtable on youth, technology and development in Abuja, hosted by PROMAD, supported by the Nigeria Youth Futures Fund (NYFF) and the European Association for Local Democracy (ALDA).
Speaking during the roundtable, executive director of PROMAD, Daisi Omokungbe, said the organisation believe that meaningful change happens when citizens and communities are informed, engaged and empowered to take action.
“We believe that meaningful change happens when citizens are informed, engaged, and empowered to take action. The month of March marked a significant milestone in amplifying this belief with the official public launch of two of our civic tech tools, IsunawaAI and FollowTheProjects.
According to him, the platforms are more than just digital tools; they are practical solutions designed to bridge the gap between citizens and governance.
The organisation said IsunawaAI was built to simplify participatory budgeting by conducting needs assessments and data collection across Nigerian communities, shaping and influencing resource allocation and budgeting to meet citizens’ needs and drive development.
“The platform makes public finance more accessible to everyday Nigerians, as many citizens find understanding government budgets too complex for participation and out of reach.
“Isunawa has a chat feature where citizens can ask questions on what was budgeted for across sectors, find answers, and stay informed about how public funds are planned and distributed in real-time,” said Victor Omefe, the organisation’s senior research and analytics officer.
On the other hand, he explained that FollowTheProjects focuses on what happens after the budget is approved. It empowers citizens and communities to track, monitor and report the implementation of government projects in real time and demand accountability where it matters most.
He noted that the platform makes it easier for citizens to monitor, track, and report on the progress of public projects, helping tackle one of the most persistent challenges in public service delivery: abandoned or poorly executed projects in Nigeria.
PROMAD appealed to Nigeria to be part of the movement and use the solutions:
- Sign up and explore: https://followtheprojects.org/
- Fill your community’s needs
- Use the platform to stay informed and ask questions
- Share it with your friends, family, and networks. Encourage them to sign up
- Report and track projects or carry out needs assessments that matter to you and your community. By doing this, you help keep local, state, and national representatives informed, accountable, and responsive to the needs that truly matter to your community.
