Accreditation of Youth NGOs

The Ministry shall CERTIFY and ACCREDIT all deserving Youth Serving Organisations as its implementing partners for National Youth Policy in the National Youth Policy Implementing Partners Database (NYPIP Database). The Policy acknowledges Youth development as a cross-cutting national agenda which will involve all development sectors, including the government, the civil society, the organised private sector, international development agencies, and the youth themselves.

Accordingly, this section sets out the guidelines for the accreditation of all youth organisations that will be involved in the implementation of the National Youth Policy.

2.1 DEFINITION OF ACCREDITATION

For the purpose of this exercise, Accreditation shall mean: the action or process of officially recognizing a youth serving organisation as having a particular status, capability or being qualified to, on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, perform a particular activity or activities in the implementation of the National Youth Policy.

2.2 CRITERIA FOR ACCREDITATION 

An organisation would be required to satisfy the following conditions before it can be duly accredited and certified as an official National Youth Policy Implementing Partner (NYPIP) to the Ministry: 

• Must satisfy all conditions for registration set out in Section 1.4 above

• Must have a corporate code of governance that meets international standard;

•  Must demonstrate acceptable protocols for transparency and accountability, and its financial dealings and other standard operating procedures;

• Must present report of audited accounts for one year (i.e., the year preceding the date of registration);

• Present evidence/certificate of SCUML Registration (Special Control Unit on Money Laundering;)

•  Must have a comprehensive report of its activities for at least 2 years for organisations that have been operating for more than 2 years while organisations operating for less than 2 years can send reports of its activities for period they have been in existence;

• Evidence of recognition from State Ministry of Youth and Sport Development where the headquarters is domiciled;

2.3 PROCEDURE FOR ACCREDITATION

A registered organisation seeking accreditation as a National Youth Policy Implementing Partner will be required TO APPLY FROM ITS PROFILE PAGE on the NYREG Portal and follow the steps thereafter.

2.4 MINISTRY’S DUE DILIGENCE BEFORE ACCREDITATION

Upon receipt of an application for accreditation by any organisation, the Ministry shall undertake the following as part of its due diligence procedure:

• Verification of terms of organisation’s registration with CAC;

• Undertake physical visit to organisation’s office;

• Conduct interviews with some members of the organisation’s Board where necessary;

• Verification of the status of the organisation with other regulatory agencies like EFCC, ICPC, SCMUL;

• Documentation of evidence of registration, including report of visit and interview by officer responsible;

• Issuance of Provisional Letter of Accreditation (pending satisfactory performance for a period of 2 years);

• Issuance of a Certificate of Accreditation to the organisation and a letter conveying its privileges for partnering with the Ministry.

2.5 PRIVILEDGES FOR ACCREDITATION

An Organisation accredited by the Ministry as a National Youth Policy Implementing Partner shall enjoy the following privileges:

• Endorsement of its programmes by Ministry – by way of letters, etc; 

• First priority to participate in Ministry’s programmes, events, etc subject to existing space or opportunity;

• Technical support/ assistance in programme planning and implementation (where requested);

• Opportunity to benefit and access grants from Ministry, the National Youth Investment Funds, etc; 

• Is a pre-condition to access the National Youth Investment Fund. 

• Grant Recommendation/Endorsements to other Donor organizations and agencies for funding of the organisation’s programmes

2.6 CATEGORISATION OF ACCREDITED ORGANISATIONS 

There shall be four categories of Accreditation for Implementing partners as follows:

1. CATEGORY A ORGANISATIONS:  These are Organisations with national spread and a track record of executing national scale programmes. They may or may not have recognition from relevant International Donor and Funding Agencies. 
2. CATEGORY B ORGANISATIONS: organisations directly responsible for the execution of the strategies and activities at the regional level. Examples include State Ministries of Youth Development,  
3. Category C ORGANISATIONS: These are organisation operating at the State level.
4. CATEGORY D ORGANISATIONS: these are organisations operating at the grassroot level. They include Community Based Organisations (CBOs), and other grass-root level organisations with direct access to the Youth. 

Classification	Scope of coverage	Definition
First level (Category A)	National	The YSO must have direct presence in at least 2/3 of all States and/or functional offices in, at least, 6 States in the 6 geo-political zones of the country.
Second Level (Category B)	Regional	The YSO must have direct presence and/or functional offices in, at least, 1 State in two or three geo-political zones of the country.
Third Level (Category C)	State	The YSO must have direct presence and/or functional offices in at least a State in the Country.
Third Level (Category D)	Grassroot	Any YSO that does not meet the criteria listed in (A), (B) & (C) above.

2.7 ACCREDIATION FEE

An Organisation seeking to be accredited as National Youth Policy implementation partners shall be required to pay the prescribed fees in line with their respective categorisation as following:

Classification	Scope of coverage	Processing Fee
First level (Category A)	National	100,000
Second Level (Category B)	Regional	75,000
Third Level (Category C)	State	50,000
Third Level (Category D)	Grassroots	NA

2.8 RENEWAL OF ACCREDITATION

The Ministry shall require every organisation to renew its accreditation after every five years.

2.9 REVOCATION OF ACCREDITATION

The Ministry shall withdraw or revoke the ACCREDITATION of an organisation under any or all of the following circumstances:

• Whenever an organisation fails to submit reports of its activities for 12 Months;

• When a Criminal and/or fraudulent practice is established against such an organisation;

In the event of the above, the Ministry shall communicate the revocation of the organisation’s accreditation to its registered address and recommend to the Corporate Affairs Commission to do same. It shall also place an advert notifying the general public about same on the Ministry’s website, the registration portal and in at least two national dailies. 

Dormant/ blacklisted organisations would be required to write officially to the Ministry for revalidation stating the reasons for dormancy.