13 August 2014. Former Minister in the Mandela Cabinet, co-founder of COSATU and lifetime activist, Jay Naidoo, will be playing a new role as an advisor to CIVICUS, the global civil society alliance.
“We are delighted to be able to draw on Jay’s vast experience in helping civil society navigate the confluence of crises humanity faces at the moment,” said Dr Danny Sriskandarajah, Secretary-General of CIVICUS.
As a global alliance with a mission to strengthen civil society, the CIVCUS Board asked Jay Naidoo to form and chair an advisory council to help it think through some of the challenges facing civil society. So far, together with the CIVICUS Secretary-General, he has had numerous conversations with civil society actors – from grassroots activists to the CEOs of some of the biggest NGOs in the world.
“Humanity is on the edge of a precipice and we need to make some hard choices. As activists and civil society leaders around the world we need to ask ourselves whether we are really doing anything to make a difference, to change the world,” said Jay Naidoo.
Naidoo and Sriskandarajah were recently part of a group of leading civil society figures and activists that drafted an open letter to their friends and colleagues in civil society around the world. The letter is intended to challenge civil society and inspire it to think radically and boldly in order to be more effective.
“The letter is intended to be the start of a process of helping to plot a new path and will be further engaged during International Civil Society Week in November in Johannesburg,” said Sriskandarajah.
The letter can be found at http://blogs.civicus.org/civicus/. CIVICUS (@CIVICUSalliance) will host a Twitter chat on the letter with Jay Naidoo (@Jay_Naidoo) and Danny Sriskandarajah (@civicusSG) on Thursday 14 August at 14h00 (GMT+2).
