WHAT WE DO

AIFES strives to empower the Ogoni people and other marginalized peoples in the world by developing programs and projects in the areas of environment, energy, extractives, human rights, good governance and sustainable development. AIFES carries out its programs and campaigns through the following actions;

  1. Awareness-raising: We strengthen indigenous peoples’ capacities to take the lead in awareness-raising.
  2. Policy advocacy: We advocate strategic institutions and individuals to draw the attention of government and the dominant society to issues facing indigenous people. Our advocacy is focused on the local, national, and international realms.
  3. Education and training: We train and retrain our target beneficiaries on different issues to strengthen their ability to concisely and competently speak about their issues on any platform. We also undertake leadership training to empower community leaders to appropriately engage in relevant global, regional, national, and local processes. We give priority to indigenous women and youth.
  4. . Research: We research diverse issues, global and regional development to provide the basis for intellectual analysis and prognosis to the problems of Indigenous communities and other marginalized group
  5. Communication and publications: AIFES believes marginalized peoples should be thedriver of their own communication. In this way, we empower them to tell their own stories and communicate appropriately to the rest members of society. We also publish thematic issues on energy, the environment, and the economic development of marginalized communities to properly communicate these to the world through different media and avenues. These publications include information and education materials, video clips, magazine, policy briefs, bulletins, books, training modules, and other multimedia.

CORE AREAS

ENERGY ACCESS AND SOVEREIGNTY

BIODIVERSITY AND TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE

HUMAN RIGHTS ADVOCACY AND GOOD GOVERNANCE

Energy access remains a pivotal determinant of the transformation and development of communities. In AIFES, through the Local Energy Access Programme (LEAP), we believe that it is the right of communities and individuals to make their own decisions regarding energy generation, distribution, and consumption in a way that is appropriate and sustainable within their ecological, social, economic and cultural circumstances. It is our main concern to shift the discourse and priority to communities to make their own decisions about the sources, scales, and forms of ownership that structure energy access.
Mindful of the impact of energy, we are promoting increased reliance on renewable energy technologies like solar and promoting policy dialogues relating thereto. Energy sovereignty can accelerate electricity decarbonization while also empowering community-scale decision-making and offering communities control to reduce the various challenges associated with the fossil-fuel energy system




Traditional Knowledge remains central to Biodiversity conservation whilst biodiversity is essential to the transmission of traditional knowledge from generation to generation. The
importance of traditional knowledge cuts across different areas of our living, such as livelihood, health, environmental protection, and even the current challenges of climate change. AIFES is involved in several programs and activities directed at preserving and promoting Traditional knowledge for the common good of humanity.

The promotion of respect for and protection of human rights continue to be the heartbeat of our work considering that our programs and actions are focused on marginalized Indigenous and Minority communities and individuals whose rights are always under contemptuous assault by governments and corporations. The implementation of international human rights laws particularly the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples(UNDRIP) is our core objective under this area. We are involved with human rights education, training and advocacy activities. This, amongst others, include the facilitation of engagement of indigenous peoples and other marginalized groups with the overall human rights protection mechanisms such as the special procedures, complaint mechanisms, human rights council, conducting training workshops on international human rights instruments, treaty bodies, and grievance
mechanisms of international and regional financial institutions. Furthermore, human rights principles inform the content of good governance efforts such as the
development of legislative frameworks, policies, programs, budgetary allocations, and other measures whilst good governance reforms project human rights when they improve the state’s capacity to fulfill its responsibility to provide public goods and services. As a result, the Centre is also involved in Legal Reforms, Accountability and Transparency Frameworks, Peace and Conflicts Resolution, Gender Mainstreaming, Budget Monitoring, and Implementation of policies.