Spaces for Change

S4C works to increase public participation, especially of the youth, women & communities in social and economic policy development & decision-making in W/A.

[Spaces for Change @Spaces4Change]

Capping the activities of the Opening Ceremony with the official launch of the novel AML/CFT report titled, "Overcompliance with FATF Recommendation 8 in West Africa: Towards Dismantling Regulatory Burdens for NGOs".

The report traces the historical background and drivers of overcompliance with FATF Recommendations in the subregion, including how they manifest through mandatory registrations, multiple licensing points, financial exclusion, bank over-regulation, duplicity and overlapping regulatory functions, among others.

It concludes with targeted recommendations for international watchdogs, external assessors, state regulators, financial institutions, and NPOs, too.

Download the report 👉 https://t.co/g3LwfXtkLN

#3AMLCFT26

[Spaces for Change @Spaces4Change]

TRANSITIONING FROM THE OLD TO THE REVISED FATF REC 8: LESSONS ACROSS AFRICA ~ FATF-R8-Compliant countries (like Tunisia and Nigeria) share their journey towards attaining a compliant rating on FATF Recommendation 8. They also share how they are transitioning from the old language to the revised FATF Rec 8: What was the state of play before the revisions? What has now changed? How are different contexts implementing the risk-based approach?
#3AMLCFT2026

https://t.co/BAdbv5YAyf via @YouTube

[Spaces for Change @Spaces4Change]

Welcome to another edition of our monthly newsletter 😁

In this month's edition, we reflect on some of our activities from July.

From hosting Africa's largest AML/CFT convening, our appointment as a co-chair of the Global NPO Coalition on FATF, to leading the PCPS project delegation together with the VP of the Open Society Foundations to the Bayelsa State Government House in Yenagoa, and equipping members of the Neighborhood Watch Group (NWG) in Ondewari - a riverine community in offshore Bayelsa State - with practical instructions, technological skills 👨🏿‍💻 and resources for bolstering crime prevention 🫆, patrol coordination, and digital evidence gathering, our activities cut across our major pillars of civic space protection, digital rights and tech justice, and research and knowledge building.

Click the link https://t.co/AenKAjKFI3 to read more.

#PublicSafety #AMLCFT #3AMLCFT26

[Spaces for Change @Spaces4Change]

How Spaces for Change Is Helping Bayelsa Communities Reclaim Their Future https://t.co/k2Vhtiux0L

[Spaces for Change @Spaces4Change]

FROM GREY LISTING TO RESILIENCE: THE ROLE OF NON-PROFIT ORGANISATIONS IN AML/CFT COMPLIANCE #3AMLCFT2026

Listen to experts discusss Nigeria's successful exit from the FATF grey-list, highlighting the valuable lessons learned such as the importance of partnership, outreach, institutional coordination and sustained engagement with stakeholders, especially the non-profit organizations.

https://t.co/99UxmKcpyL via @YouTube

[Spaces for Change @Spaces4Change]

Last week, we stepped away from our desks and closed our offices for our annual staff retreat.

Bringing together both current and former members of the Spaces for Change team, this year's edition created a rare opportunity to reflect on the organization's past achievements, present realities, and future aspirations.

Through engaging conversations, team-building activities, and moments of shared reflection, we reconnected with one another, celebrated our wins, and explored the opportunity not just to unwind but to renew our collective energy and strengthen our commitment to delivering impactful work throughout the rest of the year.

#InstitutionalStrengthening #Teambonding

[Spaces for Change @Spaces4Change]

Spaces for Change is honoured to announce its appointment as co-chair of the Global NPO Coalition on FATF, alongside the Human Security Collective and the Charity & Security Network. We recognise that this responsibility comes with an even greater obligation to serve. We are deeply grateful to our partners, colleagues, beneficiaries, and the many stakeholders whose collaboration, trust, and steadfast support have contributed to this milestone.

Click the link 👉 https://t.co/QURROUMF6C to read more.

[Spaces for Change @Spaces4Change]

Thank you for attending #3AMLCFT2026!

[Tracka @TrackaNG]

We joined civil society actors from over 30 countries at the 3rd Africa High-Level Civil Society Conference, held in Abuja.

The conference focused on critical discussions around risk assessment for Non-Profit Organizations (NPOs), and strategies to safeguard civic space globally.

The engagement also created opportunities to share Tracka’s work on community-driven accountability.

We stay committed to amplifying citizens' voices and strengthening accountability systems, locally and globally.

[Africancenterdev @Africenterdev]

Our Executive Director, @JulietIbekaku, joined leading women in Africa’s AML/CFT sector for an insightful plenary discussion on leadership, career journeys, challenges and key lessons.

Watch below. 👇

[Spaces for Change @Spaces4Change]

🧑‍🤝‍🧑1000+ beneficiaries
📅12 Months
👥10+ local communities
📍5 Local Government Areas
🌎 2 States
🎯One project

@Spaces4Change has been implementing the People-Centered Public Safety (PCPS) project under the Security and Rights Opportunity (SRO) project.

Together with our local partners and support from the @OpenSociety, we have been equipping communities in Bayelsa and Benue States with the public safety tools to organise, advocate, and protect their abodes themselves and for themselves.

Click the link https://t.co/XUd8OcMwC5 to read about the project.

#PublicSafety

[Spaces for Change @Spaces4Change]

Last week, the Bayelsa State Government @BayelsaStateGov, led by the Deputy Governor, Dr. Peter Akpe, warmly received the @Spaces4Change delegation at the Bayelsa State Government House in Yenagoa, together with the funders and the partners implementing the People-Centered Public Safety (PCPS) project, supported by @OpenSociety.

While discussions on security, governance and civic participation often take place in conference rooms and policy circles, their real impact is measured in communities where children can walk to school without fear, women can return safely from their farms, businesses operate in safer environments and young people find opportunities that steer them away from crime.

Under the PCPS project, SPACES FOR CHANGE has been working to make communities (in Southern Ijaw, Ogbia and Yenagoa in Bayelsa State) safer through the empowerment of local security volunteers and neighbourhood watch groups, environmental sanitation, community participation, and digital skills training for local youth, while building stronger collaboration between citizens and security agencies. Instead of viewing citizens only as beneficiaries, PCPS initiatives see them as active partners capable of identifying threats, preventing violence and promoting peaceful coexistence.

And as Bayelsa State strongly commended SPACES FOR CHANGE and now seeks to extend the PCPS project across all eight local government areas, the partnership between government, civil society and international organizations may become a model showing that lasting security is built not only with policies and patrols, but also through trust, participation and shared responsibility.

#Communities #PublicSafety

[Spaces for Change @Spaces4Change]

NPO REGULATORS' MASTERCLASS: Protecting the Non Profit Sector While Mitigating Terrorism-financing Risks... highlights the critical role of non-profit regulators and financial intelligence units in ensuring the adoption and enforcement of risk-based approaches for monitoring and mitigating terrorism financing risks in the NPO sector. #3AMLCFT2026

https://t.co/DYE0Kpa8df

[Spaces for Change @Spaces4Change]

Financial Inclusion, Risk Management and Non-Profit Organizations ~ How are banks and other financial institutions (BOFIs) ensuring that the enforcement of AML/CFT compliance measures does not obstruct legitimate humanitarian action? Listen to this masterclass by
@Compliance_Inst

#3AMLCFT2026

[Compliance Institute, Nigeria @Compliance_Inst]

Proud to partner with @Spaces4Change at the 3rd Africa High-Level Civil Society AML/CFT Conference 2026. Together, we're advancing financial inclusion, risk-based compliance, and AML/CFT reform in Africa. #CIN

[Spaces for Change @Spaces4Change]

WOMEN IN AML/CFT AFRICA ~ Listen to women occupying c-suite roles in leading AML/CFT institutions across Africa discuss their career journey to the top: the limitations, milestones, crossroads, family life and winning formulas!

#3AMLCFT2026

https://t.co/O0PJhfgbGQ via @YouTube

[Spaces for Change @Spaces4Change]

Evaluating Countries' Compliance with FATF Recommendation 8 ~ What do external assessors at the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and FATF regional style bodies (FSRBs) look out for when determining whether or not a country is compliant with FATF Recommendation 8? Listen to FSRBs (@GiabaEcowas, @esaamlg , @GABAC) in Africa shed light on the strategies for preparing adequately for mutual evaluations, follow-up procedures and the ICRG process. #3AMLCFT2026

https://t.co/4kXl92zHaZ

[Spaces for Change @Spaces4Change]

Financial Inclusion, Risk Management and Non-Profit Organizations ~ How are banks and other financial institutions (BOFIs) ensuring that the enforcement of AML/CFT compliance measures does not obstruct legitimate humanitarian action? Listen to this masterclass by @Compliance_Inst

#3AMLCFT2026

https://t.co/fNC1Hvjs3d

[Spaces for Change @Spaces4Change]

Financial Inclusion, Risk Management and Non-Profit Organizations ~ How are banks and other financial institutions (BOFIs) ensuring that the enforcement of AML/CFT compliance measures does not obstruct legitimate humanitarian action? Listen to this masterclass by @Compliance_Inst

#3AMLCFT2026

https://t.co/fNC1Hvjs3d

[Spaces for Change @Spaces4Change]

Sending a THANK YOU note is hard. It's hard to mention everyone by name, especially the individuals and institutions that accompanied SPACES FOR CHANGE to organize this historic convergence that consolidates 10 years of our AML/CFT research, advocacy, and technical assistance to governments in West Africa.

We reserve our special thanks to all the governmental and intergovernmental bodies that facilitated the necessary approvals for the conference to be held in Nigeria. We thank agency heads for their cooperation, accelerated visa processing for delegates, and for guaranteeing everyone's safety.

Words cannot express our gratitude to the national and international institutions that hosted masterclasses, plenary or parallel sessions, including supporting their speakers/panelists to attend the conference. So many persons and allies gave sound planning advice and facilitated access to critical stakeholders. Many more deployed their own personal resources, personnel, connections, and influence to ensure the overall event's success. We see you: The Exchange With Femi Soneye, Muazu Umar, Juliet IBEKAKU-NWAGWU, Bawo Egbakhumeh (MPA, CAMS, CFE, ACIB, ACIN), Lia van Broekhoven, Compliance Institute of Nigeria (@Compliance_Inst), Samuel Diminas, Sangeeta Goswami, Terver Ayua-Jor, IBINABO AMACHREE, Nigeria Television Authority (@NTANewsNow), and so many others we cannot mention here.

We cannot forget the members of the Multistakeholder Working Group on Charities (MSWGC) and the Technical Working Group on NPO Risk Assessment for their maximum cooperation. Events of this nature highlight the importance of trust-based philanthropy. That is why our thankfulness to our donors knows no bounds. Thank you for trusting us and for accompanying us on this decade-long journey to improve the operating environment for non-profit organizations in Nigeria and beyond.

Most importantly, we thank Professor Ben Saul (@profbensaul) for travelling 25 hours to Nigeria to deliver the keynote; our book reviewers, Progress Nicole Egbogu and Professor Shehu Abdulahi; the entertainers; and hundreds of stakeholders who admire and support our work, both remotely and visibly. To you all, 200+ delegates from over 30 countries, your travel to Nigeria remains the biggest sacrifice!

Please join us in MASSIVELY thanking the conference co-organizers: the Special Control Unit against Money Laundering (SCUML) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Civic Advisory Hub (@civicadvisory), Human Security Collective (@HSCollective), Fund for Global Human Rights (@FundHumanRights), International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL), UNODC, Action Group on Free Civic Space (@ActionGroupFCS), Global NPO Coalition on FATF, CSO Coalition on Human Rights and Counter Terrorism (@cso_coalitionCT) and Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA).

While we cannot mention everyone by name, we acknowledge that we couldn't have hosted the 3rd Africa High-Level Civil Society AML/CFT Conference 2026 alone.

GRACIAS!