• Dec. 14 2023
  • Janice Scheckter

The Role of Civil Society in Promoting Good Governance in Africa: Challenges and Opportunities

Good governance is critical for the development and prosperity of any nation. In Africa, the role of civil society in promoting good governance has become increasingly important, given the challenges faced by many governments on the continent. 

Source: Abraham Ename Minko Istanbul University – Turkey DOI: https://doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2023.70575 Received: 04 May 2023; Revised: 10 May 2023; Accepted: 13 May 2023; Published: 10 June 2023

  • Jul. 5 2023
  • Janice Scheckter

Africa's civil society organisations essential to resilience to climate change.

President of the African Development Bank Group Dr Akinwumi Adesina says civil society organizations are essential partners in the Bank’s effort to build the continent’s resilience to climate change.
  • Oct. 18 2022
  • Janice Scheckter

What if Tolstoy and Gandhi were online?

Last week I did something, I can’t recall doing too often across 30 years of running businesses. I bunked work, but with good reason. I had the rare opportunity of a private tour of the Brenthurst Library[1].

 

 
  • Jul. 8 2022
  • Janice Scheckter

Achieving impact through the ‘everyone a change maker revolution’

 I love the headline and wish it were mine. It comes from an interview with Bill Drayton (Founder, Ashoka) by Dana S. Gulley

 

Drayton notes that for the last three centuries, the rate of change and the degree and extent of interconnection have both been increasing exponentially.

 

 

  • Mar. 30 2022
  • Janice Scheckter

A call to African youth to get involved

Africa is overflowing with potential. Our landscapes and people are beautiful, our land is rich and resourceful, our cultures are diverse.

  • Mar. 2 2022
  • Janice Scheckter

An award winning blog - youth and civic engagement

In response to: How can young people work with their governments and civil society organizations to respond to the impact of COVID-19 and build a stronger post-pandemic economic and social system? 

Photo by Asiama Junior from Pexels

  • Dec. 15 2021
  • Janice Scheckter

Who gets involved - insights into civic engagement in Africa

PUBLISHED BY AFRO-BAROMETER
https://afrobarometer.org/

2021
Policy papers no. 72
Carolyn Logan, Josephine Appiah-Nyamekye Sanny, and Kangwook Han
 

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set ambitious targets for countries and societies to improve lives and livelihoods around the world. While the expectations of meeting these goals largely fall on governments, it is widely recognized that joint efforts by citizens and their governments will be needed to achieve the best outcomes. Citizen action takes place in many forms and forums, including organizing and working together on shared goals, providing mutual support and assistance, campaigning or advocating for shared needs, and engaging with governments, making demands on them, and holding them to account. While some citizens may become involved in a formal capacity, such as through paid employment in nongovernmental advocacy or service organizations and through employment with governments or other service providers, large numbers will – and must – be engaged in a voluntary capacity. Understanding the nature of this voluntary engagement is a key goal of this analysis.

  • Oct. 18 2021
  • Janice Scheckter

A Guide to Regenerative Governance

Printed with permission from the author

Collective decision-making creates more opportunities to listen and deepen our connections, restoring our human fabric and the ecosystems we inhabit.

The term “regeneration” evokes images of gardens and wind energy, while “governance” sounds like boring decision trees and dusty board meetings. So what is “regenerative governance” supposed to be?

When I think of governance, I think of my colleagues and friends. The things we want to do together. Our ways of doing things that reflect who we are and how we want to show up.

And that’s when governance becomes something deeply familiar and connecting — rather than cold or theoretical. It’s about us. You, me, the people we choose to work with.

But let’s start a the beginning. What exactly is governance?

Governance is for everyone!

Governance is the set of processes that steer our organizations, and that includes:

  • Who decides what?
  • How do we decide?
  • Who has what information, and what do we do with that information?

Governance is like a language — the language we use when we do things as a collective. For example, if you and I go to the movies together, how will we decide what movie to see? Who decides? And how? We will make that decision somehow — and all of those ways are governance.

 

 
  • Aug. 31 2021
  • Janice Scheckter

25 years later, South African civil society still battling government in people’s interests

Published by Civicus 3 October 2018

Republished with permission from Civicus Media

By William Gumede

Let’s imagine for a moment that aliens had visited South Africa in late 1993, abducted an ordinary South African, then returned him or her home exactly 25 years later.

The abductee might very well be shocked at how our democracy project has turned out – at all the changes we’ve gone through and where the country is today, particularly politically. But among the things they would see as having largely maintained course in that time, would be the role and impact of civil society.

As we celebrate our diverse cultures on Heritage Day, worth celebrating also is a civil society culture that has not only promoted cultural diversity but that is itself diverse, with a hard-won heritage of tirelessly fighting for the rights of the people in this country.

William Gumede DWF2FSolomon Moremong

  • Jul. 28 2020
  • Janice Scheckter

COVID-19 pushes Civil Society’s watchdog role, a few notches up

This pandemic continues to highlight global inequality. For the privileged, isolation is possible. For the vast majority of workers, those fortunate to still have jobs, they risk their lives daily, travelling on public transport, sharing water sources, domestic work, factory work, store work and more.

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