S4C develops regulatory compliance clinic for NPOs, to get first hand information on opportunities, regulations 

Stanley Ihedigbo

As part of efforts to address some of the challenges faced by Non-Profit Organizations (NPOs) globally, one of the leading Civil Society Organisations (CSO) in Africa, Space for Change (S4C), has developed a  Regulatory Compliance Clinic (RCC), which provides opportunity to learn from experts, including regulators, by offering first-hand information.

Information on  how to comply with various laws and regulations, duties, and obligations to regulators, including anti-money laundering and combating terrorism financing (AML/CFT) obligations.

According to the Executive Director, S4C, Ms. Victoria Ibezim-Ohaeri, the aim of the group on RCC was to increase the capacity of CSOs to comply with the various laws, regulations, and policies, as well as their duties and obligations to the various regulatory bodies in each country.

She added that the clinic was to  strengthen the capacity of CSOs to identify and mitigate ML/TF abuse and institutional strengthening of CSOs.

The Executive Director of S4C, noted that globally, NPOs face several challenges, one of which is the issue of compliance with the different laws and regulations, obligations, and duties towards the relevant regulators.

“NPOs are often overwhelmed by the constant churning out of laws, bills, and regulations in an attempt to regulate the NPO sector, thereby creating more compliance issues. One of the factors contributing to non-compliance among NPOs is that compliance can sometimes be expensive, as only well-funded organizations can afford the services of professionals to meet their various compliance obligations. What this has led to is that smaller NPOs with less funding are not able to meet their compliance obligations”, he stressed.