CIVIC society organisations (CSOs) need enabling policies to thrive and effectively partner government for development and collaboration on initiatives that address Africa’s pressing needs, Arts, Sports and Culture ministry secretary Nicholas Moyo has said.
Moyo made these remarks while officially opening the African Philanthropy Network (APN) Assembly in Victoria Falls on Tuesday.
The APN Assembly, which brings together over two hundred African philanthropy and grant making organisations from over (20) countries is running from November 4 to 8 in the resort town.
“This assembly provides us with a platform to explore innovative ideas and solutions that work best for our people ‑ as Africans,” Moyo said.
“Our challenges, be they economic inequalities, social injustices, or environmental concerns, are interconnected. We must work together to confront these issues head-on, prioritising the most vulnerable among us.
“In achieving this, you require enabling policies and operating environments that the African governments are committed to provide through the implementation of the Agenda 263.”
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Moyo’s remarks come at a time when Zimbabwe’s Parliament has just passed amendments to the Private Voluntary Organisations (PVO) Act setting out a new regulatory framework for CSOs in the country, a concern raised by Tendai Murisa, the executive director of Sivio Institute, one of the assembly’s organisers.
“Some organisations working within the civic space are facing closure should the Bill become law. It is our hope that the new law will not affect philanthropy work in Zimbabwe as these organisations merely compliment the government’s development agenda,” he said.
Stigma Tenga, APN’s executive director, said the assembly’s objectives are to examine the relationship between philanthropy policy and practice.
“Our deliberations will reflect on African philanthropy's potential to drive systemic change, and examine how actors could work together to celebrate and own indigenous practices as distinctly African and thus relevant to reshaping future philanthropy, as well as reimagine practices for contemporary application,” she said.
The 2024 APN Assembly is running under the theme Collective Freedom from Collective Struggles.