The West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI) has urged non-profit organisations to reduce dependence on funding from foreign governments and institutional donors for strategic financing of their projects.
Ms Nana Afadzinu, Executive Director, WACSI, made this appeal during the West Africa Civil Society Week on Thursday in Lagos.
The WACSI director said this during a panel discussion titled, “Reimagining the Role of Civil Society in a Closed Civic Space in West Africa: Policy, Capacity, Tools, and Resources for the Future”.
Afadzinu urged Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to develop sustainable strategies that would provide them with more funding for injection into response to social issues.
According to her, Africans are generous, therefore, CSOs can leverage liberality to solve social justice, poverty, inequality, discrimination, and depression, among others.
“People are giving a lot using crowd-sourcing. We need a mind-shift as CSOs. Some CSOs offer services that could be commercialised such as consulting.
“Some have guest houses that they generate funds from to support their non-profit work,” she said.
Afadzinu called for collaboration among CSOs, saying that they could leverage each other’s strength to deepen impact rather than competing among themselves.
Similarly, Mr Oyebisi Oluseyi, Executive Director, Nigeria Network of NGOs (NNNGO), said that CSOs must balance confrontation with collaboration to strengthen impact.
Oluseyi noted that there had been concerns about the self-regulation of non-profit organisations, adding that robust engagement with the government was ongoing to ensure a clear and favourable space.
Also, Ms. Denise Mubaiwa, Shared Learning Officer, Programme Support Unit, Open Society-Africa, said the organisation supported progressive economic and social norms, policies, and practices that created opportunity and promoted equality and rights.
Mubaiwa said that Open Society-Africa was implementing a ‘future thinking’ research that would strengthen understanding and factors responsible for certain issues in Africa.
The week is organised by WACSI in collaboration with the West Africa Democracy Solidarity Network (WADEMOS) and the Ford Foundation.
The conference sought to deepen understanding of the evolving landscape and redefine the role of civil society in countering the decline of democracy, coup attempts, and encroachments on civic freedoms in West Africa.
It tackled the connection of shrinking civic space and constraints on gender equality; freedom of expression, association and assembly and human rights.
It also sought to tackle constraints on press freedom; digital security and protection; regional security and youth activism among others.
The three-day event which began on Aug. 29 had more than 100 civil society leaders, activists, and development partners from West African countries in attendance.
