Southern Africa: Charter Project Africa Awards Three Further Grants for Democratic Governance Initiatives in SADC Region

14 November 2023
Democracy Works (Johannesburg)
press release By Lerato Maloka

Seven organisations working on democracy, governance, and civic technologies in Southern Africa received seed grants from DWF as part of the Charter Project Africa in 2022. DWF provided technical support, among other initiatives, to grantees in Botswana, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia, including hosting four successful national-level multi-stakeholder dialogues to build consensus on concrete actions and strategies to further civil society engagement with the African Governance Architecture (AGA) and national stakeholders in each national context.

The Charter Project Africa has now awarded three further grants to SADC organisations - SADC Lawyers Association, Action for Democratic Governance (A4DG), and SADC Youth Network & Center for Young Leaders in Africa. These grants will enable the effective implementation of their Democratic Governance Initiatives (DGIs) in their respective countries. A4DG from Tanzania is leading an initiative to amplify SADC Principles of Democratic Elections. The SADC Lawyers Association, based in South Africa, focuses on promoting gender responsiveness of the ACDEG on Political Participation of Women in Elections and Electoral Processes. Zambia's SADC Youth Network/ Center for Young Leaders in Africa (CYLA) Zambia is also receiving a grant to promote the Africa Charter in Elections and Political Processes in Zambia.

"The grants aim to support civil society deploying civic technology to strengthen democratic governance. The interventions are structured in a way that allows citizens' engagement with members of the AGA platform. The mobilisation of citizens' groups at different levels in an inclusive and multi-stakeholder approach should enable the construction of consensus positions within civil society on the ACDEG. These positions can then be shared among CSOs and citizens in South Africa and with national, sub-regional, and regional institutions," Nompumelelo Sibalukhulu, Programme Manager.

Stay tuned to their website and social media pages for updates on the latest DGIs.

About Charter Project Africa

The Charter Project Africa, launched in November 2021, works in 11 countries across the continent. It has provided grants, technical assistance, resources, and know-how to civic initiatives that promote democracy and use civic technology to amplify citizen voices in Southern Africa together with consortium partners AfricTivistes, Code for Africa (CfA), Gorée Institute, European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) and European Partnership for Democracy (EPD).

Read this report on Democracy Works.

Tagged:
Copyright © 2023 Democracy Works. 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 publishes around 500 reports a day from more than 100 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct.

Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica. To address comments or complaints, please Contact us.