CSOs empowered to improve service delivery and development through localization

Lira | Under the Local Leadership LABS (LLL) Project, CAPAIDS Uganda has empowered a number of Community Based Organisations (CBOs) in the Lango and Acholi sub-regions.

The LLL project aims to empower community-based organisations (CBOs) to resist, survive, and overcome challenges in their respective contexts.

Another goal is to strengthen the voices of local actors in order to influence development in various social and economic sectors.

Furthermore, CAPAIDS Uganda collaborates with grassroots community-based organisations to help communities resist, survive, and overcome socioeconomic disparities.

Constituency building, multi-stakeholder engagement, solutions labs, and collective learning are among the activities planned for the LLL project.

In an event held on June 27, 2024, at the Komar Hotel in Lira City, James Acar, Programmes Manager at Lango Civil Society Network (LACSON), stated that the LLL project came at the right time because it is part of the Civil Society Organisations’ efforts to help humanity, particularly in the Humanitarian Aid Support and Community Development initiative.

According to him, it is part of the local localization process that should be taking place in Uganda because the donor community has learned that local actors are better acquainted with community problems and preferred solutions.

“With the coming of such initiatives, it is important that Civil Society Organisations come together to embrace the aspect and also work in partnership to solve the local problems using the local resources that they have in terms of leadership, skills, knowledge among others that can support CBOs to withstand the challenges especially in the field of humanitarian issues and development related challenges there by appealing to the donor community to take up the issue of localization seriously,” he said.

“I tend to think that the way the donor community is defining the humanitarian field is becoming challenging. When people look at humanitarian support, people tend to focus more on refugees while ignoring other aspects that are evident in the communities especially where the poor population is.

“A case in point is where there is famine, war, drought, floods among others noting that all these humanitarian challenges there by calling for the redefinition issues,” he added.

In the field of localization, Acar, who is also the Regional Coordinator of CAPAID Uganda, anticipates the practical implementation of the localization agenda, which will eventually lead to a situation in which grants are distributed directly to local actors who oversee the implementation of such programmes, allowing the community to benefit directly from people who understand them better.

“So, CAPAIDS Uganda comes with local leadership Labs with focus of streamlining how humanitarian and development support can be managed in society and in a more resilient manner. On behalf of the Civil Society Organisations operating in Lango and Acholi sub-regions pledged to support and work with CAPAIDS Uganda to scale up the localization process and agenda to ensure great outcome,” said Acar.

He did, however, note that grassroot CBOs continue to face a number of challenges, including capacity, as most of them are formed to address specific issues but ultimately fail to do so due to a lack of structures.

“If you follow their structures, you will find the chairperson, secretary, treasurer but the technical aspect is missing. So this creates a technical vacuum in the community-led initiative and in the long run makes them miss out on the real purpose of forming the organisation in their community.”

He also raised the issue of legal compliance, citing the Non-Governmental Act of 2016, which specifies how CBOs are managed, noting that some CBOs are established in a community but operate in multiple sub-counties, which he claims violates the law.

“Noncompliance with the law has severely affected the activities and management systems of CBOs over time and even the whole process and if legal actions are taken on them, almost all CBOs will be closed yet they do compliment the government,” he noted.

Acar also mentioned the district and sub-county government’s failure to take the initiative to sensitise local actors because CBOs fall under the office of the Commercial Development Officer (CDO), but it is the least funded department, which affects the CBOs because the NGO monitoring unit cannot actively support the CBO due to a limited budget, despite the fact that they complement government work.

Christine Anono, the Community Development Officer for Lira district, thanked CAPAIDS for the empowerment by acknowledging the various challenges and concerns raised by the actors, noting that the district has yet to address the challenges that were tabled before the district leaders to ensure good service delivery.

“We see CBOs and CSOs as partners in development, so we should have a levelled ground for us to operate normally so that development and good service delivery is realised,” she said.

According to Daniel Okello, Executive Director and Technical Lead of Passion Aid Foundation Africa, the engagement is a positive step forward, particularly for NGOs, CBOs, and CSOs operating in northern Uganda.

He noted that the engagement is a platform for hope about change in numerous aspects ranging from funding, streamlining activities and channelling grants directly to the local implementers.

Okello also stated that over the years, grassroot CBOs in the North have faced challenges such as illegality, compliance issues, and limited opportunities to engage with partners in the Central and other regions of Uganda.

The above he said contributes to misrepresentation of views, which affects donors.

“There is a need to clean the house and comply with the government regulations so that we become fully equipped in order to tap funding and implement accordingly,” said Okello.

Simon Okello, Programmes Manager at Culture for Development in Gulu, stated that the engagement has forced them as actors to assess themselves in depth and recognise their own strengths and challenges.

“The whole engagement was totally an experience and it works for us who are at the grassroot and has also given us the idea of localising everything so that the power is given to the community and to ensure that the voice of the people we associate with is heard,” he added.

CAPAIDS has so far focused on Acholi, Eastern, Central, Karamoja, Western, Northern, and Kasese.

The project will be implemented in three stages: discovery, which includes stakeholder identification and demand articulation.

The ideation stage includes local co-design exercises and policy dialogue, while the action stage includes solution implementation and sharing key insights.

Local leaders have knowledge, networks, linkages, expertise, resources, and proximity that can be useful when engaging with the community because the process must be transparent and balanced, particularly when selecting those who will benefit from the project.

Beneficiaries frequently lack access to funds, despite the fact that they are supposed to benefit from these programmes.

This project is funded by the CIVICUS Global Alliance, a global civil society network dedicated to improving the support ecosystem for local actors.