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Step up your role in quest for change, CSOs advised

Civil society stakeholders attend an outreach session at the East African Community (EAC) headquarters in Arusha yesterday, which was the third day of this year’s CSO Week. PHOTO | COURTESY

By  The Citizen Reporter

Media/news company

Mwananchi Communications Limited

What you need to know:

  • EAC official says not-for-profit voluntary entities have a noble role of ensuring that governments in Africa fast-track policy formulation for positive change to be expedited

Arusha.  Civil society organisations (CSOs) were yesterday challenged to keep governments in Africa on their toes if they hope to see further positive changes in society.

A gender and community development officer with the East African Community (EAC), Mr Morris Tayebwa, said many proposals and policies were gathering dust on government shelves and CSOs needed to do more in efforts to bring about change.

Speaking at the EAC headquarters during an outreach session on the third day of this year’s CSOs Week, Mr Tayebwa noted that non-State, not-for-profit voluntary entities had a noble role of ensuring that governments in Africa fast-tracked policy formulation for positive change to be realised.

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“Some laws and policies have not been passed because we, as CSOs, have not played our part effectively,” he said, adding that CSOs should hold governments and businesses to account to ensure that no one was left behind in the quest for development.

The EAC official assured CSOs in East Africa that the regional organisation’s doors were open to them, saying articles 127, 128 and 129 of the EAC Treaty focused on creating an enabling environment for civil societies.

Mr Tayebwa added that the EAC’s engagement with CSOs through the East African Civil Society Organisations Forum (EACSOF) had greatly contributed to agenda-setting in the EAC secretary-general’s forums.

“EACSOF has spearheaded research, advocacy and discussions on various EAC policies and legislations such as the Gender Bill and the EAC HIV/Aids Bill,” he said.

Mr Tayebwa, however, decried delays in registering some CSO national chapters and weak linkages with other bodies, saying they were adversely affecting the activities of non-State, not-for-profit voluntary entities.

He also singled out lack of sustainable financial resources and hostile political environments as among the reasons hampering the creation of vibrant CSOs in the region.

Airing her views during the session, Ms Grace Abena James from the 6th Region African Diaspora Alliance in Tanzania (6RADAT) reaffirmed the organisation’s commitment to sustaining CSOs activities through resource mobilisation.

“I want to assure you all that we are in this together in our efforts to have strong, vibrant and effective CSOs in the region,” she said.

This year’s CSO Week, which opened on Monday and ends tomorrow, has been organised by the Foundation for Civil Society (FCS) and has brought together participants from civil society, private sector and the government under the theme “Tech and Society: Then, Now and Beyond”.

Since the event began, discussions have revolved around the transformative power of tech and society in Tanzania.

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