tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4577251188417774920.post7747859710540651367..comments2020-07-25T13:42:41.890-07:00Comments on Chris Underwood's Blog: OGP & Civil Society: A snapshot from South Africa Chris Underwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03026438313352911527noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4577251188417774920.post-17498904735239356502014-12-05T00:25:32.270-08:002014-12-05T00:25:32.270-08:00I am encouraged to see OGP members -- be it South ...I am encouraged to see OGP members -- be it South Africa or any other country -- being held accountable and answerable for their failures to act on what are increasingly looking like hollow commitments. I would like to know, however, the extent to which those who attended both meetings are representative of citizens and of their needs (these are two distinct things). And, in the spirit of openness, is there a publicly available attendance register of these meetings? Are there minutes from the meetings on both days available online and without restricted access? CSO fervour is one thing, but those representing citizens also need to be held accountable. Especially when, as the comment above rightly points out, the NGO/CSO landscape is one characterised by competitiveness rather than by collaboration and solidarity. Not quite the same situation as a common-cause rally against an oppressive State. Francois van Schalkwykhttps://za.linkedin.com/in/francoisvanschalkwyk/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4577251188417774920.post-59130702709404645042014-12-04T08:21:11.478-08:002014-12-04T08:21:11.478-08:00Interesting insights - it’s true that civil societ...Interesting insights - it’s true that civil society in SA has the potential of being very effective in the OGP process, just like it did during the apartheid and Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) days. However, in order to become its vibrant self again, this sector has a few challenges it needs to overcome first. These include issues of lack of funding &amp; resources, lack of strong leadership within its various sectors, among others. One that I would like to point out specifically is the challenge of resources and funding - the majority of NGOs find themselves with a fragile funding base while other are on the verge of scaling down or shutting operations altogether. This is largely due to most donors deeming SA as a middle earning country and the need to re-allocate resources to the so-called emerging economies or marginalised countries. After the end of apartheid and subsequently, the government’s new commitments to provide ARVs in the country, much of the money that was donated directly to CSOs to end apartheid and or to “fight against HIV and AIDS”, started to flow directly to the government for state initiated programmes or for technical support to specific or strategic government departments. With most donors emphasizing the need for CSOs to align their programmes with governments’ – the so called collaborative approaches. This has largely resulted in most civil society organisations either competing for funds, or abandoning their watchdog status, or losing their autonomy as they became an extension of government’s service delivery arm, radically changing the scope and nature of their operations or seeking new identities to ‘fit the funding criteria’, etc. The extensive competition for funding which is fuelled by shrinking resources and to some extent, donors’ over emphasis on collaborative approaches, has undermined the sector&#39;s ability to act cohesively, as it had done in the past. So NGOs and its various sectors, need to start finding ways of collaborating, sharing resources and expertise in order to effectively rise up and constructively meet the challenges of the OGP environment in SA.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com