By Adide Samuel Emelis, Project Manager, BRIDGE Project – CRADI
There’s something quietly powerful about sitting in a room where everyone; implementing partners, government agencies, programme teams; is genuinely working toward the same goal. That’s what I experienced in Makurdi from the 16th to 18th of June, 2026, at the SPRiNG Year 3 Co-Creation Workshop, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since.
Let me give you a little context.
When Crest Research and Development Institute (CRADI) joined the Strengthening Peace and Resilience in Nigeria (SPRiNG) programme in Year 2 as an implementing partner on the “Building Resilient Communities: Integrated Climate Adaptation and Conflict Mitigation in Nigeria’s Middle-Belt Region (BRIDGE)” Project, our eight-month initiative focused on climate adaptation and conflict mitigation across Plateau and Benue States. We came in with energy, commitment, and honestly, a few gaps we didn’t even know we had. No one sat us down at the start and said, “here’s how the programme thinks, here’s what we’re tracking, here are the indicators that matter.” We hit the ground running, and we ran hard. But there were moments; in reporting cycles, in implementation decisions; where we could feel the disconnect. We were doing good work, but we weren’t always singing from the same hymn sheet as the broader programme.
That gap wasn’t anyone’s fault. It was structural. And it showed up in ways that only become visible in retrospect. So, when the invitation arrived for the Year 3 Co-Creation Workshop, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. What I got was something I wish we’d had from day one.
Over three days, the SPRiNG team walked us through everything: the revised state implementation strategy, workstream priorities, the MEL framework, the GEDSI approach, even the nuts and bolts of proposal and budget development. Government ministries and agencies were in the room too: the Benue State Commission for Peace and Reconciliation; Bureau for International Cooperation and Development; the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, the Benue Civil Protection Guard; Ministry of Water Resources, Environment, and Climate Change – the full ecosystem of actors that this work ultimately depends on. We didn’t just receive information; we brainstormed together, identified intervention areas collaboratively, and by the close of the workshop, we witnessed the unveiling of the SPRiNG Benue State Compact (2026–2027) by the SPRiNG Team Leader, Dr. Okoha Ukiwo. That moment felt like more than a formality. It felt like a commitment made in public, by people who had just spent three days building it together.
Here’s what struck me most: this is what adaptive programming actually looks like in practice. It’s easy to talk about “learning and adaptation” as a concept. It’s another thing entirely to watch a programme look at its Year 2 experience, acknowledge where the gaps were, and deliberately redesign its entry point for partners in Year 3. That takes institutional honesty. And it makes a real difference.
As implementing partners, we now go into Year 3 knowing what’s expected of us, what success looks like, and how our work connects to the larger picture. That clarity isn’t just administratively convenient; it’s the difference between implementing in isolation and implementing as part of something coherent.
Co-creation, when it’s done well, isn’t a workshop format. It’s a philosophy. It says: the people doing the work on the ground have knowledge that should shape the programme, not just execute it. And reciprocally, partners deserve to understand the programme well enough to genuinely contribute to it.
I left Makurdi feeling something I don’t always feel at the end of a three-day workshop: genuinely ready. Ready to go into Year 3 not just with a plan, but with context, alignment, and a sense of shared ownership.
That, to me, is worth writing about.
The Building Resilient Communities: Integrated Climate Adaptation and Conflict Mitigation in Nigeria’s Middle-Belt Region 
shared memories of how their fields and rivers once behaved. They described streams that no longer flow throughout the year and soils that respond differently to planting. Women spoke about the pressure these changes place on their homes, their farms and their ability to provide food. They explained how sudden dry spells, erosion and new pest outbreaks are stretching the resources of many households. Youth voiced concerns about what lies ahead for their generation. They spoke about extreme heat, water scarcity, flooding and land degradation that threaten both farming and the wider community. Although each group entered the room with different experiences, their concerns pointed to the same reality. Farming inputs are becoming too expensive. Water is harder to access. Road networks make it difficult to reach markets, and agricultural extension services are not consistent enough to support farmers as they adapt to new conditions. Yet, despite these shared difficulties, the atmosphere was hopeful rather than discouraged.
g, learning safer agricultural practices and mobilising other young people to protect the environment. These ideas flowed naturally because they were rooted in the community’s lived experience.
