CIVICUS believes civil society currently faces a generational opportunity to prove its value as a source of alternatives and moral leadership at a time of global economic, political, social and ecological crisis. As the CIVICUS alliance is embarking on a global consultative process to set a new civil society agenda for 2013 to 2017, it is exploring the needs and possibilities for civil society strengthening in the Caribbean.
Ahead of the Trinidad and Tobago consultation, on Tuesday 20 March, CIVICUS co-hosted with the Association of Development Agencies a national consultation in Kingston, Jamaica on the changing global environment and state of civil society. In Jamaica, a picture emerged of a fragmented and territorial civil society sector, competing for limited funding. Several participants emphasised that the policy environment for philanthropy, charitable organisations and volunteerism is at best hardly enabling, and at worst unfavourable. Civil society-government relations remain fraught, deeply politicised and barely cooperative. CIVICUS’ global findings of its Civil Society Index project suggest that civil society organisations (CSOs) are failing to connect with domestic constituencies or offer citizens meaningful routes to participation, and are not being supported to do so better.But in the face of these challenges, there also emerged a note of real optimism. In 2010, Jamaica went into national crisis during the extradition of Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke, yet it was also in this period that the Jamaica Civil Society Coalition came together for the first time. Featuring a broad range of CSOs, social movements, representatives and private sector non-state actors, the coalition continues to meet monthly to take a united stance on critical issues – whether on police abuses or budget issues. When the Jamaican Civil Society Coalition speaks, the nation tends to listen, and there seems to be evidence that when working as a coalition, civil society groups are able to make real breakthroughs in terms of policy influence.
In Trinidad and Tobago, the government at the end of 2011 announced a new Civil Society Board to oversee the development and inclusion of civil society. But how will this model differ in its effectiveness from the organic and needs-driven establishment of the Jamaican coalition. What might the two countries learn from each other’s experiences?
On Thursday 5 April, CIVICUS’ consultations on civil society strategy move on to Trinidad and Tobago, where a dialogue will be hosted by the Institute of International Relations, University of West Indies.
CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation (www.civicus.org) is an international civil society alliance of members and partners in over 100 countries. Its secretariat is based in Johannesburg, South Africa, and its Coordination and Planning Manager, Mark Nowottny, is currently based at the offices of CIVICUS member, the Caribbean Policy Development Centre in Barbados.
To attend the CIVICUS consultation in Trinidad and Tobago in the Boardroom of the Institute of International Relations, UWI, Thursday 5 April, 09:00 – 11:00, email or .
