Our Strategies
By clearly identifying our niche, we intend to focus our activities on five key themes which are linked and overlap creating a holistic approach to our role of building one voice and one purpose.
They include:
Competence and Skill Building:
Capacity building and institutional development will be a strategic intervention for the next coming years. Development action now calls for multi-skills. A majority of Civil Society Organizations (CSO) has focused on development and expansion of programmatic interventions and initiatives, to support them, the CSO Network will focus on quality processes, production development processes and community resource management.
The CSO Network intends to strengthen members participation to be more responsive to the concerns of the needs of the poor taking cognizance of the current social, economic and political environment. Therefore our strategy will be on learning and training as a foundation for informed long-term participation for the realization of good governance, improved income capabilities and a better life.
Utilizing collaborations with the membership to provide new and continued training, we propose to improve the quality of their performance through mutual learning, sharing and exchange of knowledge, experience and ideas to enhance our contribution to influence development at our local levels.
The CSO Network therefore proposes to use three strategic interventions, Technical Assistance by providing analytical discussion on policy issues focusing on Human Rights, Democracy and Public Administration. Management Assistance by addressing organizational systems and structures.
Relationship and alliance building through provision of open to promote joint policy development between the members, the government and other development actors.
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Lobbying and Advocacy
Maximizing community participation to utilize and grab opportunities and democratic space will be key if any positive change is to occur. We shall play the role of building the capacities of the members in development and supporting them in lobbying activities while engaging in the political space.
To strengthen and transform citizen participation in the management of their development requires keeping abreast of the quickly changing policy environment. Getting and staying informed will therefore become increasingly critical. There will be a strategic focus to accumulate, distribute and inform on all relevant policy. Our Strategic interventions will use a two fold approach:
- Build the capacities of the members by expanding their skill and knowledge base in lobbying in order to influence for positive policies.
- Use a community focused approach to address the challenges of participation through the management of community structures to respond to citizen priority needs.
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Information Exchange
The efficiency of communication exchange is vital to the effectiveness of the members of the CSO Network. Members generate a lot of information and have a long history of reflective learning from their experience and perspectives to bring and share.
Through decentralization of information flow, it will be possible to efficiently disseminate the vast information available leading to improved coordination for a more effective influence base.
Our Information strategies therefore requires that we
Strengthen the capacity of the organization to access, store, use and disseminate current information at a rapid pace
Develop communication skills that will facilitate better communication with others....
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Networking and Collaboration
The non-profit sector is facing demanding social challenges, increasing competition, duplication and isolation all these amidst little resources. By building stronger and value based partnership we hope to achieve that which we cannot achieve on our own.
We propose to enhance networking as a strategy to strengthen institutional and poverty based interventions. This will help in providing connections and build critical thinking across the various sectors. Of particular interest at a time of scarce travel funds will be the use of existing organizations and formed networks as entry points for holding multi-meetings on related issues.
We propose to strengthen our relationship with the Government for joint programme development and effective coordination.
Improve collaboration and strengthen linkages among the members to enable mutual learning and increase programme quality
Promote networking with local/urban based organization for scaling up and impact.
Support and strengthen local structures for easy administration of members’ activities in the region.
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Resources Mobilization
Aid to Africa is decreasing and there has been a drop in the amount of money given to civil society organization. This has opened up many threats and even opportunities for the sector. CSOs have to master the ability to manage the scarce resources better as they are currently operating in a competitive market.
This calls for cross sectoral collaboration with the Government, Private Sector and our development partners as well as staff development through training on how to mobilize local resources and build autonomous relationship with these resource centres. We therefore propose to do the following:
Cultivating relationships with the Government and Private Sector to expand the resource base thus ensuring the future sustainability and stability of our work
Assume a leadership role on behalf of the members, by becoming an invaluable source of information.
Provide capacity building opportunities on different techniques for resource mobilization
Strengthen members communication and marketing skills leading to better image profiling....
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