Poverty is a new face of
discrimination and remains one of the most critical human rights
challenges facing the world community today especially at the time
when governments are striving for the equal worth and dignity of
every individual.
Lesotho Council of NGOs (LCN) together with Mineworkers Development
Agency (MDA) held a one day policy dialogue in Semonkong Pitso
Ground on “Poverty Reduction Strategies: What is the gain for rural
communities on the 27th April 2006.
Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) play an increasingly active
role in today’s political and social arenas but their efforts to
influence development policies remains a subject of interest to the
public. Their involvement in the policy making issues and their work
for development can make important inputs to the policy making
process.
The NGOs have supported
traditionally marginalized communities in their efforts to improve
the economic, social, environmental, and political conditions under
which people live. Yet national and international policies
increasingly undermine their sustainable development efforts and
often limit the ability of low-income populations to participate
effectively in society. As institutions representing and serving
grassroots groups have gained experience and credibility in
development and environmental work, many are adding policy influence
to their agendas.
 MDA
helped to give voice to the people of Semonkong and provided them
with a crucial vehicle for exercising their rights and holding
government accountable. Most of their needs are in line with
infrastructural services that included courts of law, clinics,
police stations, clean water etc. The people were very much happy
that at least they were able to say what they wanted than for
somebody else in Maseru town to represent them on the needs.
The citizen
participation has two-fold benefits, one being to ensure that
official policy and programmes do reflect people’s needs and
aspirations while the second being the enhancement of checks and
balances in the process of developing programmes aiming at
realization of socio-economic and political rights.
Civil society organizations play important roles in societal
development hence why they mediate between ordinary citizens and the
state by empowering the citizens to be able to demand their space.
The desire for caring and developed society has been motivated by
the need to have a healthy nation that adheres to democratic
practices.
This forum came at the time when Civil Society Organisations in
Lesotho under the august leadership of LCN are focusing their
efforts towards policy transformation and implementation in Lesotho
with the following objectives;
• To Improve civil
society pro-poor policy engagement, formulation and influence
including budget formulation, monitoring and expenditure tracking;
• To enhance civil
society capacity in evidence-based advocacy, poverty monitoring and
evaluation, and strategy to tackle thematic issues;
• To develop civil
society linkages with national and regional networks on key PRS
issues such as food security, and promotion of lesson learning and
sharing.
• To develop a country
advocacy strategy on poverty issues.
The key findings on the
Assessment of the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) Priorities study
in relation to national budget commissioned by the LCN and its key
advocacy messages arose from the study would be presented.
Present were the
Pnricipal Chief of Matsieng, NGOs and government officials. The
dialogue is part of the Civil Society Support Programme (CSSP)
continuous community participation in the policy debate related to
poverty reduction strategies. |
