Most of the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) are people specific. Success in achieving them is dependent on genuine ownership and participation, which in turn can only be guaranteed by inclusiveness and equity, the cornerstones of democratic governance. As the only continent that is not on track to achieve all the MDGs by 2015, Africa’s particular interest in ensuring the democratization of governance to achieve the MDGs is not a job for governments alone nor is it limited to the national level.

African countries have made major strides in democratizing governance since the 1990 Arusha Conference, which produced the African Charter for Popular Participation in Development and Transformation. The Arusha document was a milestone as it identified the lack of popular participation in development as central to the dismal state of African economies and cause of political instability and social calamity. Since then, the case for democracy, freedom of association, the rule of law and economic justice has no longer been in question.

Today, despite some bumps along the way, most African countries continue to make steady progress with increasing political accountability of the leadership, decentralization of decision-making processes and greater involvement of citizens in the development process. In spite of the visible progress, there remains a lot to be done. For instance, some African countries are yet to embark on this path due to continued conflict and political instability.

An active, informed and viable civil society has a vital role to play in building enduring democracies, underpinned by good governance practices. A well-developed civil society widens the democratic space and facilitates opportunities for citizens' participation in political and social life by giving voice to their aspirations and concerns.

The role of Civil society organizations (CSOs) goes beyond advocacy. CSOs have a crucial role to play in promoting democracy and popular participation at country level; service delivery especially in the social sector where government resources and capacities are stretched and supporting governments to articulate and fashion appropriate strategies for scaling up efforts to achieve the MDGs.

The United Nations maintains active partnership with civil society organizations. The formal and informal arrangements that the United Nations has with civil society organizations is aptly demonstrated by the acronym CONGO – The Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations.

The common engagement of the UN and CSOs in Africa should be driven by African priorities and the African Union agenda. This, after all, was the spirit behind NEPAD which emphasized African ownership and responsibility for the development of the continent. NEPAD emphasized political, economic and corporate governance. It also led to the creation of the African Peer Review Mechanism, which is a concrete example of the positive steps that African countries are taking of their own accord to improve governance in the continent.  

The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) is well placed to play a catalytic role in deepening the engagement of CSOs with other key actors at the regional and global level. This is due to its dual role as the regional arm of the United Nations as well as its close partnership and collaboration with the African Union Commission and the NEPAD and APRM secretariats. As part of its recent repositioning exercise, ECA will aim to revitalize the African Centre for Civil Society within its Governance and Public Administration Division. This section will help to manage knowledge, build consensus and provide advisory services in this critical area of our work. It accordingly played an active role in making arrangements for this Forum.

As CSOs seek to build stronger partnerships in order to strengthen and support the process of democratizing governance in Africa and at the global level, they should:

• continue to bring forth and give voice to issues concerning large segments of the population including those that affect women, children and other marginalized groups. Even with the best of intentions, policymakers often have competing demands for their attention and need to be continuously encouraged to mainstream these concerns into national and regional development strategies;

• always seek to make the best use of existing representative structures in democratic societies. In other words, CSOs should strive to work closely with parliamentarians and other representative groupings to influence the governance agenda;

• not spread themselves too thinly on the ground, if they are to make meaningful impact. CONGO is a good example of coming together to positively influence the development agenda. However, since capacity building is one area in which African countries and institutions need a lot of support, capacity deficits arising from the multiplicity of CSOs and duplication of efforts need to be overcome and

•  most importantly become actively engaged in the APRM process which anticipates the involvement of civil society. CSOs should lend support to countries that have acceded to the APRM process and also encourage those who have not yet subscribed to join the mechanism.

Published with kind permission from AfCSF 2007