|
|
|
Press
Release 13/03/06 |
Lesotho Council of NGOs
has organised a series of meetings with the District Development
Committees to build rapport between the Government and the Civil
Society Organisations. The meetings would be held in all the ten
districts beginning with Mohale’s Hoek on the 15th March, 2006.
The purpose of the meeting is to update the Government on the work
of NGOs in the districts and the current plans on monitoring the PRS
implementation through the budget tracking and to share pertinent
issues regarding how best could we strengthen the collaboration on
national issues. Finally to understand the role of district
structures in the budget process and how we could build sustainable
partnerships to assist in attainment of the end goal that is to
improve the quality of life of Basotho.
The District development committees are the vital structure in
Government since they are closer to the communities in terms of
addressing the community needs through service delivery. They inform
the national level on the issues on the ground. It is important to
influence them to think in terms of what people view as priorities
that would up lift the standard of living. They are entrusted with
planning and implementation of the budget at the district level
hence it is very fundamental to engage them in the process of
Poverty Monitoring.
Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) engages all agents of the Society
in their operations from the national level to the district level
and the community level because they are the crucial agents for
promoting more effective democratic governance through advocacy and
policy analysis, and in monitoring the state performance in order to
build strong, efficient and accountable nation. They are the voice
of the marginalised in society and play an important part in
activating citizens to participate in socio-economic development.
The LCN is implementing the programme called the Civil Society
Support Programme (CSSP). The programme is aiming at monitoring the
implementation of the Lesotho Poverty Reduction Strategy through
budget tracking on the nine priorities of the PRS on how the
national budget respond to the needs of Basotho as stipulated during
the community consultations. |
|
