Frederick Philander
20 August 2008
Windhoek — The Embassy of Finland on Friday held its 4th Round Table Conference with more than 30 old and new civil society partners at the Habitat Research and Development Centre in Katutura.
More than 40 Namibians from different organizations attended the one-day workshop.
"The Embassy of Finland in Namibia, through its Fund for Local Cooperation, has built a valuable partnership with many NGOs and institutions over time. The objective of the fund is to complement other Finnish development efforts - with an overall aim of alleviating widespread poverty in Namibia," said the Finnish project manager, Elise Heikkinen.
According to her special attention is given to initiatives that strengthen civil society development by enhancing social equality, gender equality, open civil society participation and human rights.
"Activities aimed at strengthening and diversifying the relations between Finnish and Namibian organisations are being supported. Funds are also increasingly directed to projects that support ecologically sustainable development and preservation of environment. And lastly, the strengthening of local cultural identity is on our agenda," she said in welcoming the workshop participants.
However, external assistance cannot be a substitute for a country's own national resources, she warned.
"At its best, external assistance serves as a catalyst for development, to enhance conditions where governments, private sector, communities and individuals take the initiative and lead into their own hands. We have for some time now recognised that the importance to become financially sustainable and increasingly independent from international donors, is rising on the strategic thinking-agenda of many civil society organisations.
"To answer this call from our partners in development, since 2006 we have organised round table partners' meetings and offered capacity building and training. Based on your feedback, the embassy has understood that these seminars and occasions have, besides the skills development, allowed our partners the opportunity for networking and sharing of ideas and experiences," she said.
In continuation of strengthening and supporting the civil society organizations we give technical assistance to our project partners in order to ensure the desired impact on development.
"The assessment of the impact of the development projects and strengthening of monitoring is high on our agenda. The Embassy of Finland needs to improve its project management and harmonise it with the administration of other cooperation activities. We support the harmonisation of development procedures. The general guideline is to develop the institutions' own procedures and to strengthen their capacity so that they can take responsibility for managing the development process," she told participants.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 New Era. 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.
