Consultative Dialogue between the Southern Africa Trust and Angolan CSOs
11 June 2007
Hotel Forum Luanda, Angola
1. Introduction
A consultative dialogue between the Southern Africa Trust and Angolan civil society organisations was held on 11 June, 2007 at Hotel Forum with the following objectives:
- to introduce the work of Southern Africa Trust to Angolan civil society organisations and key government personnel;
- to discuss ways of working with Angolan civil society organisations on initiatives to overcome poverty at the national and regional levels;
- to understand the dynamics of CSOs in Angola so as to enable the Trust to respond effectively to their needs; and
- to introduce the Drivers of Change Award to Angolan stakeholders.
2. Opening Session
The consultative dialogue was opened by Mr. Antonio Kiala, President of FONGA whose organisation co-hosted the dialogue with the Trust. In outlining the role of FONGA in Angola and the SADC region, Mr. Kiala, noted the challenges facing his organisation. These included lack of proper mechanisms for communicating with members; poor co-ordination of activities; and a poor regulatory environment for civil society.
3. Introduction of the Trust
In introducing the work of the Trust, Mr. Neville Gabriel, the Executive Director of the Southern Africa Trust, gave an overview of the operations of the Trust. Mr. Gabriel highlighted the strategies of the Trust as capacity building; facilitating increased regional policy dialogue among governments, business and civil society; evidence-based policy development; and the provision of grants to a wide range of organisations to engage in regional poverty reduction policy work.
He expressed the Trust’s willingness to develop a co-operative relationship with Angolan CSOs through FONGA. Mr. Gabriel emphasised on the importance of CSOs rooting their work in practical experiences of the poor and using the learnings to influence pro-poor policies.
4. Research Portfolio
The Southern Africa Trust’s Regional Integration Advisor, Dr Themba Mhlongo outlined the research portfolio of the Trust. Dr Mhlongo noted that the Trust had completed research on Aid Effectiveness: Trends and Impacts of Shifting Financial Flows to Civil Society Organisations in Southern Africa. The other research is on Establishing a CSO Support Mechanism with the Pan African Parliament, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development and the African Peer Review Mechanism. He also spoke about ongoing research on Mapping Southern African Poverty Reduction Strategies and up-coming research including Drivers of Regional Integration and the Role of Microfinance in Poverty Reduction in Southern Africa. Dr Mhlongo informed the CSOs on the forthcoming SADC Poverty and Development Conference to be held in Mauritius in April/May next year and stressed the need for them to prepare for this conference. (See Annex One on the presentation)
5. Grants Application Process
Mr. Ashley Green-Thompson, a consultant for the Southern African Trust, sketched the process of grant making used by the Trust in pursuit of its strategic objectives in the region. A key challenge facing the grant making facility is the need to develop partnerships in all the SADC countries. Presently the Trust has no grant partner in Angola, and after discussion there was agreement that organisations of civil society should be encouraged to apply for support from the Trust. Participants engaged in robust debate about the perceived complexity of the process and the stringent criteria for grant partners to meet. The presentation was concluded with a commitment by the Trust to fostering new relationships – through the grant making facility - with Angolan CSOs.
6. CSOs in Angola: Key Issues, Emerging Trends and Challenges
Mr. Sergio Calundungo from Angola gave an overview on key issues, emerging trends and challenges with regard to civil society work in Angola. He identified the following as key issues for CSOs in Angola:
- Building of a democratic state;
- Addressing poverty and inequality;
- National reconciliation; and
- Influencing political, social, cultural and economic policies.
Emerging issues in Angola according to Mr. Calundungo are:
- CSOs are doing great work in emergency issues;
- In helping displaced people, the model is now development assistance;
- Focus more on causes of poverty in relation to human rights; and
- Some CSOs in Angola are adopting a confrontational model in their engagement.
7. Introduction of Drivers of Change Award
The Communications and Partnerships Manager of the Southern Africa Trust, Ms Petronilla Ndebele presented the Drivers of Change Award that recognises individuals or organisations from across the southern Africa region that are making a real impact, especially in developing effective public policies and strategies, to overcome poverty. It is awarded in three categories: civil society organisations, government, and business. Ms Ndebele stressed the significance of identifying best practices and models used by CSOs in Angola in overcoming poverty and sharing these at the regional level.
8. Discussion: Key Issues
- Many CSOs work in service delivery at the expense of a policy focus. However, policy engagement must be backed by practical experiences of people living in poverty.
- It is crucial for CSOs to know about policies and have the capacity to interpret them. CSOs should deepen their knowledge on economic policies to enable them to interpret economic issues.
- There is lack of co-ordination among CSOs. Networks should be established to maximise the impact of civil society work in Angola.
- There is need for a legislative environment that is favourable to CSOs.
- CSOs should define how they want to engage so that they can be heard by those in power.
- It is critical for civil society to participate in the electoral process.
- There is need to build social trust between civil society, government and business.
9. Potential Areas of Collaboration between the Trust and Angolan CSOs:
- Support the national process towards preparation for the SADC Poverty and Development Conference;
- PRSP mapping in SADC countries;
- Looking at the best practices civil society organisations use to influence policy processes;
- Building the capacity of CSOs; and
- Grant-making to appropriate civil society initiatives
10. Meeting with the Special Advisor to the President
The Trust delegation accompanied by FONGA President met with the Special Advisor to the President of Angola, Dr. Albina Africano on 12 June 2007, to discuss cooperation between the government and civil society organisations.
Ms. Albina Africano expressed her support for the Trust’s engagement in Angola and encouraged the Trust to give as much support as possible to ensuring the success of the SADC Conference on Poverty Development. She emphasised the need for Angolan civil society organisations to be s supported to more actively engaged and assertive with the Angolan government.
Annexures:
Annex One: Briefing on Southern Africa Trust Research Portfolio
Annex Two: List of Participants
Annex One
CSO Dialogue – Angola: Research Portfolio, SADC P&D Conference, and Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue.
Completed Research
Aid Effectiveness: Trends and Impacts of Shifting Financial Flows to Civil Society Organisations in Southern Africa - This research is on the extent to which external donor support to CSOs is being affected by the new emphasis on aid effectiveness, particularly through the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness (2005) and the Windhoek Declaration (2006), within the context of ownership, harmonisation, alignment, results and mutual accountability. The output of the research was presented to the March 2nd 2007 Donor Round Table in Gaborone, Botswana. Many CSOs participated in the Donor Round Table. This report has put the role of civil society in the ongoing debate on Aid Effectiveness.
Establishing a CSO Support Mechanism for Engagement with the Pan African Parliament, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), the African Peer Review Mechanism (ARPM): This report on CSO Support mechanism for engagement with PAP, NEPAD and APRM was presented at the first Pan African Parliament (PAP) Consultative meeting with key African CSOs held between 7- 8 May, 2007.
Ongoing Research
Mapping Southern African Poverty Reduction Strategies -Field work on mapping Poverty Reduction Strategies (PRS) was conducted in 12 countries in the SADC region through policy research work commissioned by the RPO unit to monitor policy trends and gaps in poverty reduction strategies in southern Africa. Some preliminary findings from the research show that:
Upcoming Research
- Drivers of Regional Integration
- Scoping study on Indices of multiple deprivation in Southern African
- Optimizing Regional Integration in Southern Africa
- The role of microfinance in poverty reduction in Southern Africa
- Enhancing CSO involvement in the SADC Conference on Poverty and Development through Mozambique’s G-20 model
Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue
1st CSO Consultative Dialogue with the Pan African Parliament (PAP) - 7-8 May, 2007 – This dialogue did not only provide a useful platform for CSOs to interface with PAP but also helped clarify what opportunities and spaces were available for CSOs to engage with PAP. In addition, CSOs had the opportunity to debate the proposal on the African Union Government which resulted in the development of a formal to submission to PAP.
Progress on the SADC Conference on Poverty and Development - Following the approval by the SADC Council of Ministers meeting March, 2007 of a framework for the content and process of the conference, the planning and implementation of the conference on the part of Trust has been initiated. The Trust has been very directly involved in moving this process forward through:
- Technical advisory support to the SADC secretariat, including support to the development of the concept framework that was approved by the SADC Council of Ministers;
- Convening an internal technical task team of the Trust to support this work, whose terms of reference.
- Convening, with the SADC Council of NGOs (SADC-CNGO), of an initial small workshop for a few civil society networks, including the Southern African Regional Poverty Network (SARPN), the Southern African Trade Union Coordinating Council (SATUCC), the Economic Justice Network (EJN) of the Fellowship of Christian Councils in Southern Africa (FOCCISA), the SADC Parliamentary Forum, and the G20 of the Poverty Observatory in Mozambique, based in the Foundation for Community Development (FDC) in Maputo
- Providing technical assistance to the SADC Secretariat to support and pioneer the work of the poverty conference which will include research coordination and facilitating multi-stakeholder policy dialogue engagements between and among key stakeholders.
Other Initiatives
Developing a Regional CSO Capacity Building Strategy for the Southern Africa Trust – Work is underway to develop a regional capacity building strategy for the Southern Africa Trust which draws on the strengthens and weaknesses of already existing capacity building initiatives. This initiative is in line with the Southern Africa Trust’s drive to promote linkages amongst CSOs working in the region, and will be an important intervention to improving the capacity of CSOs to engage in regional policy processes aimed at overcoming poverty.
Participants list for
Consultative Dialogue with Angolan Civil Society,
Hotel Forum, 11 June 2007
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