CIVICUS AGNA held the fourth AGNA General Membership Meeting, on the 18th of June 2008, in Glasgow, Scotland. AGNA also held a workshop on national associations’ engagement with the state during the CIVICUS World Assembly, held in Glasgow between the 18th and 21st of June, 2008. The AGNA Annual General Meeting and Workshop for 2009 will held in Johannesburg from the 20th to 22nd September. The theme for the 2009 Workshop is the Legitimacy, Transparency and Accountability of National Associations. The Workshop will preceeded by a session on the global economic and financial crisis and its effects on civil society.

CIVICUS AGNA has also launched a capacity building toolkit/ resource guide on “How to Establish and Run a National Association?”. The first part of the toolkit will focus on outlining some of the enabling factors in setting-up national associations. The second section of the toolkit will address the challenges established national associations face in terms of their own legitimacy as “representatives” of civil society, accountability and transparency, as well as the difficulties arising from the passage of restrictive not-for-profit legislation and due to resource shortages.

In the aim of promoting peer-learning and sharing of best-practice examples among national associations, CIVICUS AGNA is launching exchange-visits for AGNA members. Exchange visits seek to provide participants with the opportunity for deeper collaboration, joint reflection and strategic thinking on approaches to tackle common problems.

In order to increase the knowledge base about national associations and build stronger links among AGNA’s membership, CIVICUS AGNA supports members’ joint-research papers on topics of relevance to national associations. The most recent research papers will be presented and discussed during the AGNA workshop in Glasgow during the CIVICUS World Assembly.

Since its inception, AGNA has launched a number of initiatives and activities resolved around two inter-related pillars of increasing the knowledge base of/about national associations and of creating a space for peer-learning and knowledge sharing in the aim of increasing national associations’ individual and collective impacts.

CIVICUS AGNA seeks to implement the work plan devised at the 2004 inaugural AGNA meeting by carrying out the following activities:
1. CIVICUS to provide logistical, administrative, and programmatic support to the CIVICUS AGNA and the Steering Committee (SC);
2. CIVICUS AGNA Steering Committee to provide guidelines and a framework for the group’s activities;
3. CIVICUS to expand the membership base of the AGNA;
4. CIVICUS to encourage national associations to communicate with one another, sharing knowledge, information and tools;
5. CIVICUS and Steering Committee Members to coordinate annual AGNA Membership meetings, workshops, and events at CIVICUS World Assemblies;
6. CIVICUS to strengthen and build the capacity of national association organisations by acting as a focal point for members to share knowledge, information, tools, and to link common interests with one another;
7. CIVICUS to act as a departure point for research that promotes comparative studies on aspects of civil society.
CIVICUS World Assembly and AGNA

Confirmed members of AGNA are invited to a meeting of the CIVICUS Affinity Group of National NGO Associations (AGNA) that takes place in Johannesburg from the 20th to the 22nd of September.

Meeting

At the inaugural meeting in Gaborone, Botswana in 2004, a Steering Committee for AGNA was elected. It has been working to establish a network of national associations from countries around the world. AGNA now holds annual membership meetings, alongside the CIVICUS World Assembly, enabling national associations to increase opportunities to learn from each other and work more closely together.

The aim of these annual meetings is to facilitate mutual learning and to discuss and plan priorities for AGNA. Some of these topics are related to the role of national umbrellas, their mandate, funding and relations with government and business. Read the full 2006, 2007 and 2008 AGNA meeting reports.
AGNA’s next full day meeting takes place in August 2009 in Montreal, Canada. Should you wish to participate and fit the criteria, please send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Workshops

CIVICUS AGNA emphasizes “Peer Learning/ Mutual Support” activities at the annual general membership meetings and the CIVICUS World Assembly.

At the 2006 CIVICUS World Assembly, AGNA organised a workshop on the role of national associations in civil society. Read the full 2006 AGNA workshop report. At the subsequent CIVICUS World Assembly, AGNA held a workshop on national associations’ experiences in coalition-building and campaigning in the aim of influencing public policy. Read the full 2007 AGNA workshop report. On the 19th of June 2008, CIVICUS AGNA held a workshop on national associations’ engagement with the state focusing on providing best-practice examples of national associations’ experiences in mitigating external constraints and improving their internal capacity to effectively increase their impact in influencing public policy and holding governments to account. Read the full 2008 AGNA workshop report.

Both CIVICUS and the Steering Committee are committed to supporting the activities of the AGNA and are encouraging a wide participation by national association representatives.

Why Attend

The annual AGNA meeting provides an opportunity for members (and prospective members) to meet, develop strong relations, offer feedback on AGNA’s performance, make suggestions for AGNA’s role and activities, and build on the progress of their work to address common issues in such a way that their work is not just sustained, but enhanced from year to year.

We do hope to see you in Johannesburg in September!

To learn more about means to participate in AGNA’s initiatives, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .