Civil society could play better role in development

CIVIL society is not meeting its full potential in contributing to the country’s development. This was the overall view at a panel discussion on Tuesday evening, where panellists from non-governmental organisations (NGOs), faith-based organisations and Government came together to review and debate the role of civil society in national development.

The overriding concerns that came from the discussion included a lack of co-ordination between civil society organisations, inadequate engagement between Government and civil society, and too much of a focus on service delivery instead of advocacy.Speaking on behalf of NGOs, the chairperson of the Namibia Non-Governmental Organisation Forum (Nangof) Trust, Ronnie Dempers, said NGOs and community-based organisations (CBOs) are ‘caught up in service delivery mode’.He questioned whether they are doing enough to help people understand their rights, hold leaders accountable and ensure that quality services are reaching the people.’We can’t just be filling the gaps left by Government. Sustainability lies in developing people that claim, defend, and stand in advocacy of their rights,’ Dempers said, adding that a weak civil society would be a liability to the nation.He said civil society and Government are not engaging each other enough, and suggested that the role of civil societies in relation with Government should be to ‘come up with innovative solutions to identified problems, pilot them, and then have Government adopt successful programmes on a national scale’.A case in point would be the piloting of the Basic Income Grant (BIG) project at Otjivero-Omitara, which is set to end in December, and which has shown promising developmental signs. To date, Government has not committed itself to adopting the BIG.On the part of Government, Mary-Tuyeni Hangula, Deputy Director of Multilateral Programmes at the National Planning Commission (NPC), pointed to a need for better structures for improved engagement between civil society and Government. She criticised the NGO sector for being unwilling to commit to a Registration Bill, despite their participation in the development of the Government and civil society partnership policy, which makes provision for such a bill.’From the Government’s perspective, we (Government and civil society) need to create a suitable environment and to make a commitment to people that we will not operate in a fragmented way,’ Hangula said.’Government is not trying to compete with civil organisations, but to develop a relationship where Government can outsource projects to NGOs when it doesn’t have the capacity to do so itself,’ she added.Dr Henry Platt, Executive Director of the faith-based organisation Church Alliance for Orphans (Cafo), also stressed the importance of ‘effective partnerships among stakeholders, governments, development partners and civil organisations in order to develop the country for all its citizens’.While he said that challenges such as inadequate funding, lack of co-ordination, unhealthy competition and repressive laws are hampering civil society in effectively playing its role, he also acknowledged that civil society has several roles to play in complementing the State.He said civil society can raise awareness among people, work towards good governance, address poverty reduction, play an important role in the budgetary process to make sure the National Budget reflects the real needs of people, develop a culture of critical dialogue, and protect national core values such as good ethics, anti-corruption, tolerance and reconciliation.nangula@namibian.com.na