The greatest challenge to be met by most African countries is how to
ensure that the ongoing economic recovery and growth is sustained and improved. This
requires that all-round development has to be addressed in a determined and persistent
manner,focussing on poverty reduction, rural development and private sector development,
including micro- and small-enterprise promotion. The implementation of such a development
programme calls for the existence of an enabling environment and the mobilization of all
development partners including the private profit-making sector and civil society, to
contribute in a concerted way to the development process.
The pursuit of popular participation guarantees the full and active participation of citizens and this is essential for meeting the challenges of Africa’s development and for responding to global demands necessitated by globalization and liberalization. To realize such a goal, efforts should focus on how to make civil society organizations (CSOs) including non-governmental organizations (NGOs), capable and credible partners in the development process. Yes, there has been a substantive increase in the number of CSOs, and more and more of them are being called upon to play more prominent roles. The case for the popular participation of CSOs was strongly made at the landmark 1990 International Conference on Popular Participation in the Recovery and Development Process in Africa, held in Arusha, Republic of Tanzania. The conference, which adopted the "African Charter for Popular Participation in Development and Transformation", laid out the framework for promoting broad -based popular participation.
Several other emerging situations have given prominence to CSOs. Regional and global programmes have forcefully brought to the forefront the need for a development process that is broad-based, recognizing and valuing the potential of its human contribution. Renewed emphasis on democratization and good governance calls for the involvement of all partners, including civil society. All these developments have in some ways led to the redefinition of CSO roles and work orientation.
There is evidence showing that CSOs are achieving some results such as in the area of micro-credit where NGOs and community-based groups have recorded some success in achieving better results in savings mobilization and small-scale lending. However, they are yet to reach their full potential as credible development partners. Collectively, they must think strategically on how to deal with all these expectations. This requires reflection and action on issues internal to the CSO community - issues of internal governance, internal frictions as a result of diversity in interest and sense of purpose, over-dependence on external sources of funding, weak institutional capacity and lack of focus and direction.
Addressing these shortcomings of CSOs is the thrust of this publication. This initiative launched by ECA aims at increasing the effectiveness of selected non-self servicing indigenous African CSOs involved in development activities related to:
To accomplish this, this ECA publication has focussed on the needs and the means of developing and/or enhancing CSO capacity in the critical areas of:
A much more integrated approach addressing both the acquisition and utilization of capacity is proposed. This takes into consideration the need to adopt strategies that utilizes both traditional methods such as training and non-conventional instruments and processes such as promotion of partnerships, launching an effective communication and information-dissemination programme and establishment of a CSO support centre. A distinguishing feature of the capacity-building approach is that the process is seen as an integral part of programme and project delivery, rather than as the usual independent, stand- alone programming.
Such an approach also recognizes the need for the existence of an enabling environment as an essential factor in the capacity-building effort. The creation of this environment is the responsibility of all – government, private sector and CSOs. These actors should work towards improvement in the policy environment, including establishment of flexible and decentralized structures that allow CSOs to operate as an integral component of the development effort rather than at the periphery.
Other important factors to consider in the capacity-building process include needs assessment to identify capacity gaps, adoption of an action plan indicating the broad objectives, time frame for implementation, partnership arrangement, cost and a well- conceived monitoring and evaluation programme.
Finally, improvement in CSO capacity should be a cooperative effort involving: