The Centre for Population and Environmental Development (CPED) is an independent Think Tank organization dedicated to promoting sustainable development and reducing poverty and inequality through policy oriented research and active engagement on development issues. CPED is located in Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria. The Organisation was formally registered in Nigeria by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) in 1999. CPED is a member of different Think Tank Networks including the “West Africa Think Tanks Network (WATTNet)”, and also a beneficiary of the Think Tank Initiative (TTI), a multi-donor program of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada. The Centre’s Executive Director is Professor Emeritus Andrew Godwin Onokerhoraye, vice chancellor University of Benin (1992-1998).
CPED core programme areas can be broadly categorized into: Action Research; Policy Engagement, Communications and Advocacy; Intervention Programme and Capacity Building for Policy makers, CSOs and Mentees from allied institutions. CPED research agenda covers (1) Climate change with particular reference to the wetland and coaster regions (2) Gender and development (3) Health Systems and Health Care Service Delivery (4) Research on Governance and Development (5) Peace Building and Development in Niger Delta Region (6) Growth, Development and Equity.
CPED has three major organs designed to achieve its mission as follows: Board of Trustees; Committee of fellows and Management. The Board of Trustees comprised of people who have distinguished themselves in public and private service and are mainly interested in contributing to development in Nigeria through policy research and intervention activities. The Board of Trustees has the responsibility of assisting the organization in raising funds for its activities and in monitoring all its programs and expenditure. The Board meets every quarter to review the activities of the Centre. CPED committee of fellows comprise of Nigerian-based researchers and those based abroad. The fellows are involved in the various research, advocacy and intervention projects of CPED both at the proposal development stage and during execution. Most members of the Board of Trustees are also fellows of the Centre since they are involved in some of the action research and intervention project activities that are in their area of specialization. The executive Director of the Centre is the head of the management of CPED and he supervises the overall activities in each of the Divisions.