4 December 2007
Maputo — Civil society organisations will only have a visible impact on development when governments and international organisations recognise civil society as a effective partner, argued Mozambique's former first lady, Graca Machel, in Maputo on Tuesday.
Machel, who now heads one of the country's most prominent NGOs, the Community Development Foundation (FDC), was speaking at the opening of a seminar assessing the current state of Mozambican civil society.
She said that recognition of the role of civil society must involve the creation of permanent channels of communication between civil society and government agencies, parliamentarians, and international bodies.
Machel recognised there has been a substantial growth in the number of organisations active in Mozambican society, many of which were set up to provide services that complement those of the government.
"Over time, several civil society organisations have been uniting into networks in order to ensure greater impact", she said.
Taking Civil Society as the arena outside of the family, the state and the market, where people join together to develop common interests, Machel said the research into Mozambican civil society rested on four pillars - the structure of organisations, the political, economic and social environment in which they work, the values that sustain their activities, and the impact they have on communities.
The study under discussion at the seminar notes that there has been a proliferation of civil society bodies since the mid-1990s, due to the climate of peace and pluralism that has prevailed in Mozambique.
But many of the organisations are financially weak, and do not have the resources to achieve the goals they set themselves. Most of their funding comes from abroad.
The study showed that, in 2003, the latest year for which the statistics are available, 71 per cent of the money for civil society bodies came from foreign agencies, and only five per cent came from the fees paid by their own members. A further five per cent came from the sale of goods and services, and four per cent from donations from companies or individuals. Three per cent came from the Mozambican government in the form of subsidies or contracts.
This money is not spread evenly. One per cent of the country's civil society organisations accounts for 42 per cent of the funding and employs 32 per cent of all civil society staff.
Ndolamb Ngokwey, the resident coordinator of the United Nations system in Mozambique, told the seminar that the UN regards it as key to know the true state of civil society in Mozambique, the activities it undertakes, and the impact they have.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) was one of the bodies that collaborated in drawing up the study on civil society.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2007 Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
