CEDSI commenced activities in 1983 as a purely  philanthropic organization geared towards improving the  quality of life of widows, orphans and other less  privileged ones. As a step forward and at the turn of the new millennium, in order to join hands with the global community towards achieving the lofty goals of strengthening the Niger Delta community folks for sustainable development, a group of professionals came together leading to the birth of the ‘Center for Development Support Initiatives CEDSI'.

The Center for Development Support Initiatives is a 501 (C ) registered charity founded in the year 1999 with a 5 member Board of Trustees. Its key vision was to support communities towards managing and supporting their development process in a peaceful and sustainable manner.

With a an initial staff strength of 4 and operating from the Country head office, Rivers State, Nigeria, CEDSI now has a staff strength of 34,and presence in 9 states across the Niger Delta including he FCT. In view of its support for an initial 5 communities in a pilot project called 'women advocate for development and Peace' today, CEDSI ha facilitated and continues to work with over 500 communities wit a current budget managing over N5Billion!Iits vales and expertise has made us stand out in the delivery of our projects with professionalism, efficiency and quality delivery as our watch word!