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CIVICUS Affinity Group of National NGO Associations
Work Plan NGO associations in countries around the world provide a collective voice for civil society in their countries and regions. In addition, they serve as a key interlocutor with government and business and help to create a strong enabling environment for civil society organisations, for democracy, for the rights of citizen action and participation. NGO associations also provide a range of services to civil society organisations that help them to be more effective, to identify the financial and human resources they need to do their work, and to promote their capacity to work together for common purposes. In June 2003 CIVICUS announced the establishment of an Affinity Group of National NGO Associations. The Affinity Group is designed to strengthen the key role that these associations play in fostering a strong and vibrant civil society. There are more than eighty national and regional (covering more than one country) associations and support centres of non-governmental organisations in countries around the world that focus on promoting the general interests of the NGO community in their respective country or region. By this we mean that the associations stand for the rights, the independence, the promotion and the strengthening of the non-governmental and non-profit organizations that are a critical part of civil society. The CIVICUS Affinity Group intends to foster greater co-operation across national and regional boundaries and the ability to pursue mutual interests. The Affinity Group is a project of CIVICUS and is managed by a Steering Committee constituted of CIVICUS members and partners. The Steering Committee is made up of representatives of NGO associations from Colombia, Estonia, Ghana, India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Scotland, Tanzania, and the United States. The criteria for joining the Affinity Group include all of the following: • The organisation is a national or regional network of NGOs (regional meaning: covering more than one country); • The organisation serves the general interests of the NGO community in that country/region; • It is a membership organisation, with its membership drawn from various sectors of the NGO community; • The primary purposes of the organisation include: to strengthen the capacity of NGOs and provide space for them to function; to advocate on behalf of its members on general NGO-related issues; and to provide services to its members and the wider community. This Affinity Group is not intended for organisations or networks that serve one particular field of interest, e.g. an NGO association working solely with and for youth organisations would not be eligible to join this Affinity Group. However, CIVICUS recognises the potential for the establishment of other Affinity Groups on the basis of thematic, sectoral, linguistic or geographical interest. 1.1 Operational goals and desired outcome The Affinity Group has the following goals: • Peer learning to enable NGO associations to learn from each other in a systematic way through the promotion of exchanges, dialogue and shared initiatives among members; • Addressing common issues -- national associations face common challenges in different contexts. Key issues include relationships with government and business, creation of enabling environment for NGOs, not-for-profit law, capacity building, sustainability, accountability, self regulation and others; • Develop and disseminate mechanisms and tools that promote the legitimacy and credibility of NGOs among their membership and constituency. This may include codes of ethics, auditing, and publication of narrative and financial reports. • Collective advocacy, sharing best practices -- working together to pursue the common interests of member associations, exert pressure at national and international levels, promoting benchmarks about the rights and responsibilities of NGO’s, and developing civil society work as a profession; • Providing technical support in countries which are considering the formation of a national association, or in defence of members who face adverse conditions; • Acting as an information hub, connecting domestic civil society to global issues and facilitating dialogue between global institutions and local civil society; and • Acting as a departure point for research, promoting comparative studies on aspects of NGO associations and how they can support civil society • Identify and provided services to members in need • Map the extent to which NGO associations exist around the world. 1.2 Outputs The likely outputs of the work of the Affinity Group by the end of November 2004, as proposed by the Steering Committee, are the following: • A better and collective understanding on the identity, concept and principle of national and regional NGO/NPO Associations and what they can collectively do together. • An active network involving national and regional associations in more than 40 countries in a range of peer learning and mutual support activities. The participants of the affinity group meeting in Gaborone, Botswana - 30 to 40 NGO Associations - will form the nucleus and the critical mass of the group. The affinity group will make efforts to attract eligible NGO associations but at this stage it will not engage in active membership recruitment activities. • An interactive website, resource centre and newsletter which supports the work of national associations; • Two regional or themed meetings of members to consider mutual interests and to stimulate joint work; • Provision of logistical and technical support for at least two new and emerging associations. • Conduct and post on the web a comprehensive inventory of national and regional NGO associations that serve the general interests of the NGO community at a national or regional level. |