Civil Societies must seek for the permanent forum to combat disasters and safeguard human rights

Mafuru Mjita EliazarForum, Tanzania
Posted Fri 22:45 GMT

The focus of this session was on the Cooperation for Development and Empowering Civil Society. The panel discussion included Prof. Jean Pierre Gontard, Graduate Institute for Development Studies, Mr. Traore Wodjo Fini of Club Union Africaine, Mr. Pierre Petita of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and Mr. Ruben Ortiz of Agreotour/Konojel.

Opening the session Pierre Petita said the subject of empowerment is complex and ambiguous due to the different elements found in different NGOs and civil society. He added that everyone seems to accept the idea of civil society, governments, UN agencies, International Corporations, Private Sectors and the Public. He pointed out two important things for any civil society to attain its objectives. It should have clear representation and should have its own source of funding.

Mr. Petita who has been working in different West Africa projects, said that the rise of civil society is a result of many problems including lack of political stability, bad government management, limitation on the role of private sector, lack of a proper economic infrastructure and climatic changes in different areas in the world.

He raised even more questions when he considered the issues of development and the empowerment of civil society. “What for instance do we have in mind when we say that we are there to help the poorest and sustain them, are there real partners who can assist the population who live below the poverty line Isn’t it inconsistent for civil societies to use aid for empowerment rather than using local resources and initiatives”?

We want to act directly with the state
The second speaker gave an overview of what had happened historically in the case of NGOs and civil society in Africa. Mr. Traore Wodjo Fini of Club Union Africaine (Cote d`Ivoire) said that in that in the 1960's most NGOs became affiliated to political parties immediately after independence. Between the 80's and 90's, he said that the African NGOs and civil society observed that the World Bank was more sympathetic. Consequently all Africans including governments looked to World Bank for finance. From the 1990's to date we observed a Pan African syndicate known as restructuring in that time many NGOs and Civil Society formations from all types, sectors and areas such as AIDS, Women, Human Rights and Environment. However, he pointed out that many NGOs and Civil Society had been unable to get the aid they wanted or in the amounts needed. This had caused much difficulty for NGOs. At the end of his

In America, Indigenous People is still on the Agenda even if Governments do not care
Mr. Ruben Ortiz (Agreotour/Konoje) started by citing his experience in Guatemala and in Latin America. He urged that Civil Society to find a permanent forum to deal with disasters and human rights. He argued that the NGO community was able to offer better service compared to the governments years ago. He noted that many organizations of Civil Society, Foundations, and NGO’s were started simply to get money to their founders. At the same time the governments created their own NGOs. The United Nations started to make more use of NGOs.

Then came the period of “Cooperation Alliance”. Most States to fail miserably in promoting and offering services. In this time, he added, there was little development in the social and economic areas. Those elements of Civil Society which survived did so because of their specialisation or they were in networks which were working on micro works as in Argentina, Brazil and Columbia.

Mr. Ruben concluded by saying that Civil Society had been strengthened in the last 15 years in Latin America.

Responses and conclusions
The main problem of Civil Society is poverty said a Minister from Benin “but we think decentralization will help”.

We need responsible NGOs and Civil Societies, those that not only have names but can act. Another speaker from Benin responded by saying that many corporations do not want bilateral cooperation with governments and therefore seeks partnership with civil society. It is therefore important to empower civil society on a long term basis in order to influence political decisions making.

A UNDP staff member in Guatemala speaking as ordinary participant said Civil Society needed to be free and should not be reinforced rather they should take their responsibility.

We need money transfer to go directly to Civil Society and NGOs and we required NGOs to have efficient network and to support their activities at the local levels, villages and population needs.

A Swiss Agency staff member said “we need somebody who has a decent project and method of working so we can take him on as a partner, otherwise we will never get any where”.

Mr. Ruben then reminded the participants that Civil Society includes indigenous peoples who also figure in international planning. We need the Indigenous in Guatemala to be helped in long term projects by international agencies rather than justifying their existence through short term projects. Indigenous people wanted their governments to include them in their budget.