Africa-Press – Tanzania. THE National Council of NGO’s (NACONGO) has reminded civil society organisations to operate as per the country’s regulations and laws and ensure they bring positive impacts in the communities.
Chairperson of the Council, Ms Lilian Badi stated that the NGOs have to make significant contributions to the societies they serve. She made the statement yesterday in Dar es Salaam when speaking at an event to officiate the preparations for this year’s ‘CSO Week’ scheduled for next October.
“We (NACONGO) will continue participating in improving the environment for CSOs operations in the country by effectively engaging in processes to improve policies and laws,” she pledged.
The event was jointly organized by various organisations, including the Foundation for Civil Society (FCS), Wajibu, NACONGO and others. Ms Badi hailed the FCS for its continued moral and material support to local civil society organisations.
FCS Executive Director Francis Kiwanga explained that the annual CSO Week, which started in 2018, has played an important role in bringing the NGOs together.
Mr Kiwanga highlighted three key achievements attained since the CSO Week started; including creating strategic partnership whereby the CSOs have been able to boost their partnership for development.
“We (CSOs) have been effectively participating in efforts to bring development. Bringing development isn’t a role of government alone, we should engage as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) stipulates,” he said.
He further argued that through the CSO Week, the issue of sustainability of the sector of the Civil Society Organisations was well considered. Registrar of Non-Governmental Organisations, Ms Vickness Mayao, said more participation of civil society organizations is needed in spearheading the country’s development agenda.
“Please avoid doing other things and instead focus on development matters,” she said.
Commenting, Ms Neema Lugangira, Special Seats MP, representing CSOs, called for more representation of the CSOs in the Parliament. Ms Lugangira also argued that the CSO Week was helpful in strengthening the relationship between the nongovernmental organization and the government and other organs such as Parliament, the private sector as well as citizens.
