Non government bodies urged to embrace advocacy
Stabroek News
March 14, 2004
Advocacy must be the watchword for non governmental organizations (NGOs), which still have a long way to go before they receive universal acceptance from policy makers, Richard Jones of the Caribbean Policy Development Centre (CPDC) said yesterday.
Jones was among the speakers at the opening session of the two-day conference on issues of interest to NGOs, which saw attendance by representatives of more than 80 civil society groups when it commenced at Hotel Tower yesterday. The event was organised by the Carter Center in Guyana and funded by USAID as part of a collaborative effort initiated in early 2002 with 25 partner NGOs to target civil society and participate in and influence policy decisions relevant, particularly, to women, youth and indigenous peoples.
Jones said advocacy for his organisation has several components including participatory research, civic consultations, formulating advocacy positions - developing partnerships with national, regional and international organisations - and putting positions to policy makers.
He said the importance of advocacy to the NGO sector has increased over the last decade and further, that NGOs have evolved from organisations that predominantly provide socio-economic services to economically disadvantaged persons (post- 1990) to institutions that attempt and do influence macro policies that ultimately affect the lives of our Caribbean peoples.
Success, according to Jones, is not easy to measure in advocacy and policy work and is usually a long-term investment since policy changes take time to achieve.
He mentioned that the NGO sector still has a long way to go "as we are far from receiving universal acceptance by policy makers...and there is much work to be done, considering the economic challenges the region faces over the next five years with the implementation of numerous trading agreements and the attending social fallout.
"Advocacy continues to be an integral methodology for our NGO movement to contribute to the betterment of a sustainable and equitable Caribbean."
Country Project Director of the Carter Center Melanie Reimer said the seminar was expected to serve as a forum for the various NGOs "to share their stories, their successes, their challenges, their lessons learned and allow for the open exchange of experiences and plans for the future with a wide cross-section of other NGOs, in the hope that all would be strengthened and inspired to do even better."
Speaking on behalf of USAID Dharmattie Sohai said that organisation's assistance is geared toward assisting civil society groups to influence the decision making process by equipping them with techniques, methodologies and information to make their voices heard or advocate.
She said the people who should benefit are often overlooked in the decision making process and among the reasons for this situation are: many people are shy, less vocal and less visible; there exists a lack of or limited awareness and limited capacity for human resources. These reasons are the basis "for the focus of USAID's Democracy and Governance programme and more particularly, [USAID's] assistance to civil society organisations in the area of capacity building and influencing decision making.
"In many instances, advocacy efforts are ineffective because of a lack of knowledge of existing systems, pressure points and procedures, in addition, `confrontational' engagement does not bear fruit and individuals and organisations lose the opportunity to engage decision makers in constructive pursuits of improvements in communities and the lives of people in general," Sohai said.
Delivering the feature address, Hugh Cholmondeley, a specialist in Communi-cations, Conflict Resolution and Development, urged participants to strive to achieve the highest possible standards of performance thereby contributing to the stability of the country and building a secure future.
He remarked that the theme of the conference: 'Making a Difference Together' has "a proverbial sting to its tail" and reminded that there are growing cracks of division and discord among our people.
"While we all make slow progress in several important areas of human endeavour, we must be aware that our social relations are deteriorating and the goal of achieving stability is becoming more elusive," Cholmondeley said.
There is need for to arrive at some degree of consensus about problems and challenges, he said, adding, "...all of us, Government, Opposition, political parties, NGOs, religious organisations, civil society and ordinary - must be aware that we are failing to find the most effective ways of involving all of our citizens in the difficult and complex tasks of
reconciliation, recovery and development."
Cholmondeley urged everyone present to seek objective ways of understanding real concerns, fears, hopes and aspirations of ordinary citizens, as consumers and not as members of a particular race or tribe. He suggested that their efforts at evaluation and the task of charting a course for the future must also evaluate the quality of their work.
"Your efforts should be based on a single constant: searching for imaginative, creative, practical and demonstrative ways to make a difference together," Cholmondeley asserted.
Lifeline Counselling Services, Guyana Human Rights Association, Mothers In Black, Help and Shelter, Habitat for Humanity, Guyana Relief Council, Guyana Women Lawyers Association and the recently formed Mediation Centre were among the large number of local NGOs which had representatives present. The forum was also attended by overseas-based NGO bodies with Phillip Westman for the Society for Promotion of Education and Research in Belize being one of them. The conference ends today. (Edlyn Benfield)