CAPACITY BUILDING INSTITUTE

DARC has a well developed training institute for the NGO sector, Private Foundations and Microfinance Sector. The training service is customized to meet the needs of these sectors. This we do through in-depth analysis of the training needs of our client. We use the result of the analysis to review our training curriculum and tailor it accordingly.

DARC faculty is composed of multidisciplinary team of experts drawn from various backgrounds that has considerably experience in conducting trainings both locally and internationally.

DARC offers training in the following areas:

" Governance
" Advocacy
" Fund Raising
" Proposal Writing
" Report Writing
" Program Planning and Implementation
" Monitoring and Evaluation
" Budgeting and Financial Management
" Organizational Development and Sustainability

Dissemination/Awareness Creation Program

We organize occasional seminars for the NGO sector to sensitize them on topical issues. DARC has organized sensitization seminars on areas such as:

Pension

Pension Scheme Workshop

DARC further deepened the NGO Pension sensitization and dissemination program in 2006 by taking the program to staff of select NGOs, networks and coalitions across the country. DARC partnered with select registered Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) and the civil societies, networks, and coalitions for the pension scheme presentations to be made to their staff at their respective offices.

Staff members of the selected organizations were educated on the new pension scheme and able to realize the importance of subscribing to a PFA. They were better positioned and made informed choices on the PFAs that are now managing their pension schemes.

Realizing the importance of this scheme, some of the participating organizations have started pension scheme for their staff members. This contributes to improved working environment, thus they can retain their staff and improve on their programming activities, as well as attain greater impact and organizational sustainability.

Insurance

DARC/ADIC Insurance Workshop

A workshop on Benefits of Insurance for NGOs was organized by Development Alternatives and Resource Center (DARC) in partnership with ADIC Insurance Limited, a subsidiary of Diamond Bank Group. The one-day workshop which exposed the participants to the advantages of insurance facilities for their organizations was held at the Dover Hotel, Lekki phase 1, Lagos on the 20th of September, 2007.

At the workshop, benefits of insurance to the NGO sector were highlighted. Some of the benefits include guaranteed stability and sustainability for NGOs, provision of security, and confidence to individual staff and organizations.

The benefits of smartcard especially for NGOs who work in microfinance for rural areas, was also highlighted.

This workshop was organized to encourage the non-profit organizations to use insurance as a strategy to reduce operational risk.

Taxation

Taxation workshop for NGO sector

The workshop, Taxation and the NGO Sector in Nigeria organized by DARC on May 30th, 2008 at the Education Empowerment Centre, G.R.A, Ikeja, formed a platform that exposed the non profit organizations to the current tax reform program and what is expected of the NGO sector. From the keynote address delivered by Mrs. Ifueko Omoigui-Okauru, the Executive Chairman of FIRS who was represented by Mr. Obri, there is a huge level of ignorance on the part of NGOs as to their obligations under the relevant tax status. She said that though the NGOs are not expected to pay income tax since they are non-profit in nature, but that is valid only to the extent that they do not engage in any trading activities from which they will earn profit or income and if they do, such profits will be subject to income tax. Mrs Omoigui-Okauru also told the participants from the NGO sector that apart from income tax; there are other taxes such as the Value Added Tax (VAT) as well as taxes on employment income like Personal Income Tax or Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) from which NGOs are not exempted from. She said in addition that NGOs are expected to file their annual audited financial statement of their operation to FIRS in order to confirm that the NGO has not engaged in any taxable activities during the period of report.

A lecture on "Tax policy in Nigeria" and "Tax compliance, NGOs in perspective" was delivered at the workshop by Mr. Olusegun Owokade, tax consultant from PricewaterhouseCoopers. Mr. Owokade who facilitated on the above topics threw more light on taxation and the NGO sector. He also emphasized on NGO and Withholding Tax (WHT) whereby daily financial transactions of NGO attracts WHT. He further explained that interest, dividend, rent and royalty incomes earned by NGO are liable to WHT which is in line with sections 78 to 80 of CITA. Mr. Owokade also spoke on the NGO and Employee Taxes where he clearly stated that;

" Employees working for the NGO are not exempted from taxes. " The employees must pay their income tax under the PAYE scheme operated by the NGO " NGO is required to register for PAYE scheme with the relevant state tax authority and deduct tax from employees incomes " Tax deducted is to be remitted to the revenue through approved revenue collecting bank within 10th day following the month of deduction. " NGO would be liable for any under deduction or under-remittance of PAYE tax of their employees to the state authority. " Penalty for non-compliance is 10% and interest rate at the prevailing market rate (currently at about 21%).

Other employee taxes mentioned was the pension which is based on the pension reform Act 2004 that requires every employee and employer to make mandatory minimum contributions of 7.5% each, of the employee's basic salary, housing and transport allowances to an approved Pension Fund Administrator (PFA).

In conclusion, Mr. Owokade urged the NGOs to take initiative to develop and put in place a frame work of rules for self-regulation aimed at ensuring compliance with best practice.

A topic on "Pay AS You Earn" was facilitated by Mrs. Folashade Oyedepo, Head of Finance, DARC. She introduced to the participants the procedures for arriving at tax due and the computation of the income tax.

The participants were overwhelmed on the clarity of issues discussed. Most misunderstanding issues of taxation and the non-profit sector were clearly resolved and participants were informed.