Role of CSOs in fostering good governance

Csociety organisations (COSs) have an increasingly important role to play in society. Euro-Lex defines CSOs as an organisational structure whose members serve the general interest through a democratic process and which plays the role of mediator between public authorities and citizens.

It is difficult to imagine how governments and communities would survive without CSOs, especially in Africa.

Governments in Africa are perpetually falling short in the area of service delivery in a number of areas and if CSOs did not come in to fill the gap, there would be a huge schism between the haves and have not’s.

Think of health care, education, agriculture, faith and social cohesion and how African governments seem to always need assistance in those areas.

IVIL FAILURE

The question of whether it is due to paucity of resources or sheer failure to get national priorities straight is a debate for another day.

One of the outstanding characteristics of COSs is how they are intentional in their interventions in working with people at grassroots level. Governments have a notoriety for working above the heads of the people, if you will. Policy, legislation and programmes in general are seldom needs-based.

CSOs tend to be more community-centric and methodical in their approaches. They bring a vital human touch and human hand necessary for grassroots-based development. Systems such as monitoring and evaluation, which ensure value for money, are synonymous with CSOs. This sets them apart from governments.

One of the areas CSOs play a huge part in is in the area of human rights. And human rights are infact, all that governments are about. The arena of politics is all about public goods and service delivery and governments, in their tripartite form; executive, legislature and judiciary, area about that. In the discharge of their duties, there are often many gaps.

RESOURCES

Sometimes these are deliberate due to a lack of political will; sometimes they are due to actual lack of capacity in resources, technical and/or financial. CSOs are the only entities that are able to call out governments where they fall short as regards to protection, fulfillment and promotion of human rights.

The world over, governments stand a better chance to function at their optimum if there are strong institutions and a critical mass that knows and understands their rights. Governments are not to spend resources and energy on human rights education for the citizens.

They probably fear that this would be arming the citizens against the very governments. An enlightened citizenry that knows their rights keeps governments in check. It knows what questions to ask and what to demand of governments.

VITAL

In this regard, CSOs have and continue to play a vital role in human rights education.

Through advocacy and sometimes litigation, CSOs assist the citizenry realize their rights. A case in point in Eswatini would be the seminal free primary education case of 2009.

It took a CSO to haul the Eswatini Government to court to demand the fulfillment of the constitutional obligation to provide free primary education. Even though the government contested the matter, the court ruled in favour of the CSO and because of that, thousands of emaSwati children had access to free and basic education.

Closer to home, it took a CSO to force the South African government, vial litigation, to make available life-saving antiretroviral treatment for HIV positive citizens when the government had a different opinion on the matter. Litigation is arguably one of the most effective ways of realizing human rights and getting governments to do what they are supposed to do.

Unfortunately, litigation is very expensive and can often be a war of attrition. COSs, as demonstrated in these two referenced cases, come in very handy with the resources associated with litigation.

In these processes, they accompany society in monitoring government policies and holding them accountable. By so doing, they nudge government to uphold good governance and accountability.

POLICY-MAKING

There is also a role CSOs play in policy-making. By pointing to loopholes in policy, they assist policy-makers refine policy. In that way, CSOs make governments more responsive to society’s demands. Civil society stakeholders also provide important perspectives and suggest innovative approaches to local problems, through their local knowledge, insights and technical expertise. In this regard, they promote public dialogue about decisions that affect the lives of local people and environments and hold governments and policymakers publicly accountable.

Depending on the kind of work they do, the relationship between governments and organised CSOs is often acrimonious. There is always the apprehension that some CSOs are externally funded with the sole intention of sowing seeds of national discord. That is where some governments fail to resist the temptation to come down hard on CSOs and systematically close spaces for them.

The fault, I may argue, is with both parties, governments need to make peace with the fact that CSOs are a salient feature and player in a democratic State.

Even supranational organisations, like the United Nations, realize the undeniable role of CSOs and engage them in their processes.

There are more benefits for governments in the form of capacity and resources to deliver services better and be more compliant with human rights obligations if they cooperate and work with CSOs. CSOs, as well, often do fall into the temptation to be confrontational in their engagements with governments. This posture barely achieves much and governments tend to coil up and refuse to engage with CSOs constructively.

POWER

In order to effectively play their role, CSOs need to be deliberate in fostering good relationship with those whose hands are on the levers of power. This relationship must be principled and professional to be mutually beneficial. CSOs need to master the art of negotiation and develop high emotional intelligence. Governments act through functionaries who are human beings. The human touch is very important even as CSOs do advocacy work and advance their mission. This, by no means, suggests that they have to be apologetic in the work they do. As bridges between the people and governments, they need to nurture that relationship and work more towards collaboration.