20 May 2010

The Role of Civil Society Organisations - A Community Perspective

Presentation by David Robinson at the Open Forum on Aid Effectiveness, 13 May 2010.

"Civil Society Organisations … have a key role to play in the identification of needs, the articulation of citizen's desires and the development of appropriate policies."

Although I am listed in the programme as presenting an ANGOA perspective I would like to start by setting out the linkages between the various community organisations that I am involved with, and to provide a link between our local and global concerns.

Our ANGOA perspective on aid and development effectiveness is largely to do with "connections".

Note that the following associations are "net-worked" organisations - there is considerable inter-linked membership; they are all connected, but no one controls the network - we are ourselves an expression of the independence, interdependence and diversity of the community sector. I am Director of the Social and Civic Policy Institute (known as SCPI) which is a small community-based research and policy development agency concerned with civil society issues. SCPI is a member of ANGOA - the Association of NGOs in Aotearoa, (which is the umbrella of voluntary sector umbrella bodies in New Zealand); CID is also a member of ANGOA and provides our link with PIANGO.

In the international arena all three of these NZ bodies, ANGOA, SCPI and CID are members of CIVICUS the Global Alliance for Citizens Participation and finally I am a member of the Advisory Council and Manager of the Pacific Programme for the International Center for Not-for Profit law which is also a member of CIVICUS and a partner in their CIVIL Society Watch programme.

Although the arenas in which these organisation vary - from SCPI's work on community governance with Auckland and Wellington Residents Associations and other local community groups to the CIVICUS and ICNL concern with international laws and treaties certain basic principles are held in common. These include:

1. Promoting and defending the essential independence of civil society and CSOs - their right to exist and act independently of Government, and,
2. Our right to connect with other citizens and community agencies locally and internationally and to access resources without undue restrictions.

That is, our freedom to form an association and our freedom to interact with other associations - locally and internationally.

Civil society, and the voluntary community associations within it, does not just provide the possibility of delivering services through agencies that are close to the people they serve, which often appears to be the view of Government including that in New Zealand.

This direct identification of CSOs with the community - including disadvantaged groups of all kinds - means that they also have a key role to play in the identification of needs, the articulation of citizen's desires and the development of appropriate policies.

CSOs have critical roles to play at all three levels - needs - policies - services.

Furthermore, ensuring the vibrant existence of civil society, as well as having a utilitarian value, should be, in and of itself, a key goal of development policy.

However, none of these functions are possible where civil society and its collective expression of community-based organisations does not have the right to exist freely or where its functions are unreasonably constrained.

This is a key concern of all these organisations.

SCPI and ANGOA have been involved in the establishment of the Charities Commission in NZ - and this has required what we call "eternal vigilance", that is, continuing to engage with and monitor its operations. We have taken up the case of Residents Associations that have had registration turned down by the Charities Commission on the grounds that they are involved in 'political" activities. We are involved in reviewing the community sector / Government relationship document and monitoring local and national government relations with the sector - including the implications of the new Auckland super city and the removal of many of its functions from citizen oversight. Council Controlled Organisations, CCOs, will be established to run the waterfront development, transport, water supplies, regional parks and other services. There will be no right to citizen or CSO engagement with these CCOs. However, while the government can legislate to control the activities of the new City Council and its Community Boards and restrict their involvement in CCO functions, they cannot legislate for or control community associations beyond what citizens can or cannot do. We determine our own actions within the boundaries of the law. CSOs have the same rights as citizens and they are, in effect, collective citizens and as such an essential part of the democratic process.

At CIVICUS we organise our work programme around what we have called the "3 E's" -

• Existence - our civil society watch programme is concerned with countering legal threats to civil society,
• Expression - including the civil society index which explores how CSOs act in society and what their functions and influence are, and,
• Engagement - the right to link with other citizens and to associate with other organisations both within the country and internationally. Our weekly e-newsletter and the World Assembly being held in Montreal in August this year are examples of this in practice.

Existence - expression and engagement; all three are areas in which ANGOA is involved in New Zealand.

While we are discussing issues of the right to existence and expression and engagement in the safety of this room in Wellington it is salutary to note an example of how many Governments actually behave in relation to enabling or even allowing the existence of civil society organisations, rather than what they agree to do in signing up to UN and other charters.¹

In the lead up to the 2010 Parliamentary elections, the government of Egypt has stepped up efforts to clamp down on dissent from political activists and civil society organisations. CIVICUS, through its Early Warning System, has noted continued repressive conditions for local civil society activists and organisations. In March a copy of a draft law to suppress independent civil society was leaked to the local press. Among the restrictions in the proposed law are provisions to grant the Minister of Social Solidarity unchecked authority to deny registration or de-register and liquidate any civil society organisation. This Ministerial prerogative - along with provisions that explicitly limit civil society activities to "social care, development, and community awareness-raising" and require the Minister's permission for all civil society partnerships with any international entity - would effectively repress the little remaining space for any freedom of expression, association and assembly in Egypt.

ICNL's work, including our Pacific programme, is concerned with building an enabling environment for civil society - this relates primarily to the first "E" - existence. Working with civil society and with governments to ensure that the boundaries of legal existence are not unduly constrained, that legislation enables the human rights of freedom of speech, of association and organisation and that legal structures are clear and transparent and in line with international best practice. They must also be relevant to the local community which means in the Pacific taking account of customary practices.

However, internationally, we are finding that civil society is becoming increasingly constrained and limited by Governments exerting control over their citizens and restricting their self-chosen activities. Key measures being used include directing all external funding to CSOs through a centralised government agency. This approach is being developed in the Pacific region in Samoa and was proposed by the Government in the Solomon Islands although not put into practice.

And,

Limiting or proscribing access to resources and support from outside the country. This does not just apply to financial funding but can also limit the right to exchange views and access advice and support. Note the Egyptian proposal to limit partnerships with international agencies.

So what we - from SCPI and ANGOA to CIVICUS and ICNL - see as being critical is to:

recognise the value and essential nature of civil society and the Freedom of Association, and the need, for it to be effective, for organizations to be able to seek and receive funding from any lawful (non-criminal) source to carry out their activities.

And to acknowledge the fact that civil society is not an arm of the government, or even a servant of the government, but genuinely an independent actor, which may or may not, through its organizations, be a partner to government in appropriate circumstances.

David Robinson, 13 May 2010
www.scpi.org.nz

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