The Policy Innovation Centre has launched its second edition of ‘The Purple Book’, an advocacy tool to catalyze innovation and measurable progress towards advancing a gender-inclusive society in Nigeria.
In a signed press statement by its Executive Director Osasuyi Dirisu, the launch was achieved during the 30th Nigerian Economic Summit (NES #30) Public Lecture and Founders’ Forum held recently at the Lagos Business School.
According to the statement, the Chairman of NESG, Mr Niyi Yussuf, in his remarks at the event stated that the Public Lecture reaffirmed the essentiality of Public Private Partnership in tackling the complex economic realities of vulnerable Nigerians.
Yussuf reiterated NESG’s unwavering commitment in driving reforms through rigorous research, economic and social programs, and inclusive summits, all aimed at shaping the socio-economic development of the society.
“Thirty year ago, at a critical juncture in our nation’s history, the NES was borne out of necessity when the winds of economic challenges blew fiercely, necessitating a platform for a robust public-private dialogue in Nigeria”.
During the unveiling of ‘The Purple Book’, the Executive Director of Policy Innovation Centre, Dr Osasuyi Dirisu said that “the Purple Book serves as an advocacy tool that stakeholders, governments and organizations could use to achieve better policy implementation for gender and inclusion in Nigeria.
“It is also a curation of new evidence, contextually relevant solutions and recommendations from the Gender and Inclusion Summit. The Gender and Inclusion Summit was conceptualized in 2022 as an annual event to explore transformative ways to advance inclusion and gender-responsive governance in Africa,” she said.
She stated further that “the Gender and Inclusion Summit served as a platform to amplify stakeholders’ voices about Gender Equality and Inclusion. ‘The Purple Book’ provides an opportunity for us all to move ‘From Voices to Action’ by reflecting on approaches to improve the Gender Equality profile of Nigeria.
The statement expressed worries that the complexity of issues faced by most countries is increasingly inter-related and dynamic, stressing that Policies and Interventions must be human centered, realistic and connect the often multi-faceted nature of the needs and challenges people face in their everyday lives.
“The PIC is positioned to support the delivery of better policies and innovative solutions for high impact interventions across Africa,” the statement added.
The Policy Innovation Centre (PIC) is the first national institutionalized behavioral initiative in Africa supporting government and stakeholders to make behaviorally informed decisions and generate evidence for impact driven interventions in critical thematic areas.
The centre is an initiative of the Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG), a leading think tank in Africa redefining evidence-based policy advocacy. In 2017, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) provided funding to establish the ‘interim Policy Innovation Unit (PIU)” as a proof of concept to assess whether a behavioral insights (BI) unit could work in the Nigerian context to improve public sector outcomes. Based on the demonstrated success, the PIC was launched in October 2021 to deepen the impact of social interventions in Nigeria.
