The Breakdown of CEEDS
3..EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The high level of poverty in Nigeria remains a major challenge to Nigeria's achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. Cognizance of this fact, the National Planning Commission has developed a home grown four-year Rural Development Plan and Poverty Reduction Strategy for Nigeria: The Community Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (CEEDS).
CEEDS concept is based on a holistic, participatory and demand driven approach to development that makes the Communities or rural communities the focus of integrated poverty reduction initiatives. CEEDS involves mass mobilization and resource allocation to poor Villages and poor urban communities to implement and manage their identified priority needs, including basic infrastructure. CEEDS mission is to transform rural Communities into modern communities. The goals remain, poverty reduction, wealth creation, employment generation, value reorientation and capacity building, as enunciated in NEEDS/CEEDS documents.
CEEDS combines both top-down and bottom-up approaches to development, through in-direct and facilitating Government interventions, when necessary and direct Community initiatives. For instance interventions such as dissemination of research findings to Communities and individual households, advocacy on health issues, ICT, access to market information and capacity building would be undertaken by relevant governments while the Communities, will be simultaneously empowered to identify, implement and manage multi sectoral micro-projects that would improve their lives. This ensures that both the village and poorest individual household needs are addressed in a comprehensive manner within the plan period.
CEEDS is anchored on seven key strategic areas. This include poverty reduction through social mobilization and partnership for development, community capacity enhancement, micro-finance, public works, ecological restoration and improvement, and productivity enhancement that is research driven. 
CEEDS is to be implemented in all the Communities in Nigeria. However, it is projected that about 8288 Communities would be touched during the planned period (2008-2011).This estimate is based on average of 224 Communities per State in four years. It is also based on the absorptive capacity of the economy, derived from the on-going Community-based Poverty Reduction Project in 12 Pilot States. The choice of Communities will be based on first come basis after needs assessment.

The plan is estimated to cost about N248.64 billion or approximately US$2 billion in four years. The funds would be sourced at a ratio of 40: 20: 5: 1: 34 Federal, State, LGA, beneficiary communities and others sources. The National Solidarity Fund mechanisms have been designed to harness contributions from all avenues either in cash or kind, to bridge the 34 per cent resource gap. As designed, contributors to NSF, in addition to being honoured, would be given the opportunity to channel their resources to their choice Communities and micro- projects. For instance, concerned Nigerians including those in Diaspora would freely determine where their contributions would be used. Similarly, the Development Partners rather than contribute to a common purse would freely choose States and areas of intervention but in a coordinated manner that ensures optimal resource utilization. This ensures that their different accounting procurement procedures are maintained. It is estimated that 30 million Nigerians would be removed from poverty by the end of 2011.
CEEDS institutional arrangement involves the three tiers of government: Federal, State and Local Government. At the National level, the National Planning Commission is the plan coordinator and National Authorizing Office, while Federal Ministry of Finance co-manages the National Solidarity Fund (NSF) with the private sector. A National Steering Committee (NSC), comprising of relevant MDA's, would facilitate implementation of the plan. The same structure is replicated at the State level. The State Plannind Commission will coordinate the plan at and would absorb the existing social fund agencies in their respective States, where applicable. The CEEDS Implementation Unit will be located in each Local Government Area, while Development Partners, CSOs NGOs, CBOs and OPS, would facilitate the plan implementation.
CEEDS is a data based plan. All the baseline data are put in public domain. Its main features include; democratic decision making process, transparency, poverty targeting, collaboration and coordination, monitoring and evaluation, resource mobilization and impact assessment.
CEEDS is complimentary to LEEDS/SEEDS and NEEDS in the sense that aggregated community needs, would form major inputs into LEEDS, as Communities make up a Local Government Area. Similarly aggregated LEEDS programmes in each State, would form major inputs in SEEDS/NEEDS. CEEDS becomes the base for people centred plan of action and Government interventions.
The critical success factors include: political commitment, effective collaboration, smooth and timely flow of funds, ownership and buy-in by the communities and all stakeholders.
In conclusion, CEEDS has the potency to weed out poverty in Nigeria, even before 2015, if well implemented.

1..PREFACE 
.This is the first draft of Nigeria's Community Economic Empowerment Development Strategy (CEEDS) designed by the National Planning Commission. The model has been subjected to numerous consultations, particularly at the 2006 Joint Planning Board Meeting (JPB), involving Commissioners and Permanent Secretaries of State Planning Commission. It is planned that the model would be subjected to further nationwide consultations before its finalization. CEEDS is a four-year medium term plan for poverty reduction that is derived from poor villages.
The Community development model recognizes the dynamic setting of our villages as vehicles for change, self-reliance and grass-root mobilization for development, which holds high promise for social, political and economic transformation. The model builds on the need to accelerate poverty reduction on a sustainable basis in order for Nigeria to attain the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015.
CEEDS is anchored on an all-inclusive participatory process that combines effectively both the top-down and bottom-up, demand driven approaches to development. CEEDS puts villages squarely on the driver's seat in meeting their basic needs. The villages are to identify, implement and maintain their priority projects while projects beyond their capability are undertaken in a systematic transparent process by the relevant government within the plan period. The objective is to improve the total quality of life of the rural and urban poor communities in Nigeria through improvement in their access to socio economic infrastructure and income generating activities. The participatory process ensures ownership and sustainability. 
CEEDS takes cognizance of the over-arching goals of poverty-reduction, wealth creation, employment generation, value re-orientation, and capacity building at the grassroots level, as encapsulated in NEEDS/SEEDS. CEEDS is a data based plan, designed to meet simultaneously both the communal and poorest individual household needs. Specifically the model is designed to create work for every one in the Community and to feed into the Local Government Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (LEEDS) as aggregated Community needs would form major input in LEEDS.
CEEDS borrows heavily from the Community-based Poverty Reduction Project (CPRP) initiated and funded by the World Bank and the African Development Bank (ADB), which is being coordinated in 12 pilot States by the Commission and has been very successful, in terms of funds management by local communities and project implementation. Over US$70 million has been managed transparently and in a most cost effective way, at the community level, with over 3000 multi-sectoral micro projects executed under the CPRP. The community response rate has been beyond our expectation.
CEEDS also, draws copiously from other poverty initiatives, and from best international practices. These lessons and experiences garnered from foreign countries have been adapted to our own unique peculiarities as a nation.
The model articulates a realistic vision of the thrust, targets, institutional arrangement, financial plans and implementation modalities for a holistic Rural development plan that is based on effective collaboration by the three tiers of Government, and key stakeholders. CEEDS introduces a National Solidarity Fund (NSF) mechanism that ensures that adequate fund is sourced from all avenues and used transparently to address the issue of poverty. CEEDS is an open process. Every information is put in public domain. CEEDS charts the road map and the destination. It builds on the restoration of enduring relationship between the government and the citizenry. The model marks the beginning of grassroots planning in Nigeria. This model is novel and would be the springboard for rapid and sustainable community empowerment and development, and a fulfillment of our social charter.
Senator Mohammed Sanusi Daggash
Honourable Minister and Deputy Chairman
National Planning Commission


7.0..HOW WILL CEEDS WORK?
. 
CEEDS is a data based plan. The number of Communities participating, number of households that would be touched, Communities identified priority needs, poorest individual households needs, tasks to be undertaken, input, output, Agency responsible, expected outcome, current levels of poverty, the poor peoples own analysis of the reasons for their poverty, including other baseline data, would be aggregated and collated into a data base, and made public even before the commencement of the programme.
CEEDS will be implemented in all the poor Communities in Nigeria. Every Community would have the opportunity to participate. Although there is currently, no available data on the total number of Communities and their spatial distribution in States and Local Governments, however, a rough estimate shows that there are over 10,000 poor Communities in Nigeria. The number of Communities in each Local Government Area differs in size and in some cases topography, thus it is unrealistic to assume uniform rates across the board.

However, CEEDS is designed to accommodate this differences using top-down and bottom up approaches, as the need arises. The plan targets the development of 8288 Communities within the plan period and the removal of 30 million Nigerians from poverty. 
Development of CEEDS would involve the following steps:- First step would involve series of stakeholders' consultations that would engender wide spread buy-in, and enrich the model. The second step would be to conduct a survey of Community conditions, household surveys, advocacy and sensitization and preparatory activities. These would create awareness and provide base line data for the plan. Thereafter Communities would be batched, according to the degree of poverty, based on poverty survey in all the States. The Communities would be made to identify in a democratic manner about 10 priority needs, out of which about five are to be implemented. The identified projects would be aggregated and Communities involved in the preparation of the plan. Resources would be made available to participating Communities in three tranches based on approved work plan and effective monitoring to implement their identified priority needs. CEEDS provides for community contributions, as resources would be given to communities on condition that they contribute 5- 10 per cent of their requirement either in cash or kind. This engenders ownership.
7.1. WHAT IS NEW?
CEEDS is unique. It combines both top-down and bottom-up approaches to development through direct and indirect facilitating government interventions, when necessary and direct community initiatives. For instance projects requiring complex engineering works such as major bridges or road net-work linking several Communities, dissemination of productivity enhancing research findings, ICT, ecological erosion including difficult terrain, access to market information etc, would be initiated by relevant governments, while the Communities identified extreme poor household would be empowered to identify, implement, and manage their priority projects. In addition, public works, micro- finance, induced private sector led industrialization that would enhance income generating activities would be pursued in a comprehensive manner that ensures that both communal needs as a whole and individual household needs are met simultaneously within the plan period.
CEEDS takes cognisance of the constitutional separation of powers among governments. It is based on a collaborative relationship among the three tiers of government, Federal, State and LGA, the Communities and other stakeholders. Implementation of CEEDS involves voluntary capital fund transfer from the governments and other contributors including the Communities, to be managed at the community level for implementation of micro projects and poverty reducing initiatives. Every poor community in Nigeria would be eligible to benefit, subject to fund limitations. This integrated coordinated planning approach would ensure rapid and equitable development of facilities nationwide. 

 
7.2. CHARACTERISTIS OF UNDER-DEVELOPED COMMUNITIES:
Nigeria has a population of 140 million (NPC 2006), 36 States, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and 774 Local Government Areas. Presently, there is no available data on total number of poor Communities, their spatial distribution among States and LGAs and other baseline data in Nigeria. The National Population Commission is currently making preparatory efforts to conduct a survey in this direction. However, a rough estimate indicates that there are over 10,000 poor Communities scattered in the 36 States and FCT. 
7.3. DEFINITION:
A Community in this context is interchangeble with a village, it is defined as a rural settlement, comprising of a group of people that have social and cultural affinity and live in the same environment. Major characteristics of poor Communities are as follows:
7.4. INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT:
The poor Communities or villages are characterized by lack of access to basic physical infrastructure such as paved roads, electricity, portable water, transportation, sporting or recreational facilities, irrigation facilities, telephone facilities, and sanitation facilities. 
7.3. Social development:
The poor Communities are characterized by low human development indices including low income, low literacy rates, high infant and maternal mortality, underemployment/disguised unemployment and morbidity rates, and high rate of under weight babies. High bio-diversity of the environment often gives rise to more virulent infectious diseases and lack of access to quality healthcare, coupled with poor nutrition predisposes, poor Communities to high disease burden, including malaria, HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, dental and eye problems, resulting in low labour productivity rates. Also, due to lack of access to basic infrastructure, science, technology and innovation, micro credit, executive capacity and market information, rural Communities in Nigeria are often characterized by low labour productivity, low yields and its resultant low income. Poor Communities are often exposed to harsh conditions, including ecological problems, such as desertification, erosion and pollution. The patter of settlements is not planed and drainage facilities are often-existence. Aesthetical beauty and general cleanliness are lacking.