Presentation Reviews Chevron’s Successful Corporate Social Investment in Nigeria

March 07, 2019

Chevron took a bold step in 2010 by launching the Foundation for Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND). Its goal: support inclusive economic growth across the Niger Delta where Chevron operates so local businesses and communities could benefit over the long term from more robust markets, better prepared workforces, and reduced conflict.

Nine years later, PIND has grown into a leading catalyst for economic and social growth in the Niger Delta, according to PIND Executive Director Dr. Dara Akala, photo left, who reviewed PIND’s results at a presentation March 5 at DAI’s office in Bethesda, Maryland.

“We are striving to create transformational change in the region,” said Akala, recounting the Niger Delta’s history of civil conflict and economic malaise. “We are getting different parts of society to work together. We have cultivated a network that is doing the work and making it happen.”

Chevron’s foundation hired DAI in 2010 to help guide PIND and assist the organization as it matured. Headquartered in Abuja with offices in Warri and Port Harcourt, PIND has helped:

• 560,000 farmers improve their farming and business skills.

• 300,000 farmers and small and medium-sized enterprises increase their incomes by a cumulative $56.5 million.

• Create more than 12,000 jobs.

• Produce more than 50 research articles on equitable socioeconomic programs, gender inclusion, infrastructure needs, and other areas that underpin development assistance in Nigeria by PIND and others.

• Leverage $100 million in development assistance by donors such as the U.S. Agency for International Development, U.K. Department for International Development, UNICEF, and the Ford Foundation.

Operating in nine southern states that comprise the oil and gas producing region, PIND employs 40+ development professionals who currently oversee 10 programs in economic development, capacity building, regional advocacy, and peace-building.

Akala said PIND has grown in complement with Chevron’s Global Memorandum of Understanding to build positive relationships among its fence-line communities—those adjacent to Chevron operations—by promoting economic and social stability across the Niger Delta through programs to assist investors, business service providers, local governance, and civil society.

PIND’s Partners for Peace network counts more than 8,000 members contributing to the region’s improved business and social environment by establishing state chapters, intervening and mitigating local conflicts, creating an SMS early warning/response infrastructure, and making itself a recognizable brand for peace.

“Our goal is to deepen PIND’s foothold as the delta’s go-to designer and implementer of local development assistance programs,” said DAI’s Bill Grant, who helped design PIND’s original strategy and has since led DAI’s assistance to the organization. “Thirty million people live in the Niger Delta, and while there is great opportunity thanks to oil and gas production, the region needs to work together so businesses and communities can benefit.”

PIND has spurred innovative thinking about new ways for corporate social responsibility programming, inspiring other companies in Nigeria and exploring ways to transfer lessons and best practices to Angola, Venezuela, and other countries where Chevron operates that have similar underlying challenges.