Background to NGO Week
Since its inception in (1997)NGO Week has been the highlight of the civil society development calendar. NGO Week provides a bi-annual platform which offers a unique opportunity for civil society organisations to come together, learn from one another, dialogue and debate, make input into government policies and programmes and ensure we continue to play a significant role in the fight against poverty and inequality. This year, NGO Week assisted in building on existing campaigns but also created the space and opportunity for individual organisations to promote their own learning programmes under a common banner of the aims and objectives of NGO Week 2010.
NGO Week 2010 Aims and Objectives
NGO Week 2010 activities took the form of seminars, workshops, laboratories, interactive exhibitions and cultural activities. These activities offered opportunities for sharing of skills, knowledge work and insights in order to:
· promote and strengthen civil society’s role by providing a platform for linking civil society locally, nationally and regionally;
· launch a popular education ‘school’ as a vehicle to re-claim education and for „learning our way out‟, collectively;
· create learning spaces to share our collective experiences, knowledge’s, works and views locally, nationally and regionally;
and devise strategic, practical ways to address poverty and inequality; and
· foster on-going working relationships between and amongst different civil society actors.
NGO Week 2010 Theme
NGO Week 2010 was informed by the activities and the experiences of CSOs located in East and Southern Africa. A central theme which was explored during NGO Week 2010 was the roles of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in „building solidarity to fight poverty and inequality’. Whilst identifying some of the obstacles to fight poverty and inequality at the local, national and regional level NGO Week 2010 participating organisations:
· put forward practical recommendations on how CSOs in partnership with their respective communities and key stakeholders can challenge and overcome obstacles to fight poverty; and
· focused on the role of CSOs in facilitating citizen participation in order to fight poverty and inequality.
The Structure
NGO Week took place over five days, from Monday 20th to Friday 24th September 2010,
The first day, Monday, 20th September, in the morning, Launch of the Popular Education School, Series of dialogues - in the afternoon, self-organised workshops and activities which formed part of the interactive marketplace of learning (exhibitions) which ran across the weeklong programme.
Since its inception in (1997)NGO Week has been the highlight of the civil society development calendar. NGO Week provides a bi-annual platform which offers a unique opportunity for civil society organisations to come together, learn from one another, dialogue and debate, make input into government policies and programmes and ensure we continue to play a significant role in the fight against poverty and inequality. This year, NGO Week assisted in building on existing campaigns but also created the space and opportunity for individual organisations to promote their own learning programmes under a common banner of the aims and objectives of NGO Week 2010.
NGO Week 2010 Aims and Objectives
NGO Week 2010 activities took the form of seminars, workshops, laboratories, interactive exhibitions and cultural activities. These activities offered opportunities for sharing of skills, knowledge work and insights in order to:
· promote and strengthen civil society’s role by providing a platform for linking civil society locally, nationally and regionally;
· launch a popular education ‘school’ as a vehicle to re-claim education and for „learning our way out‟, collectively;
· create learning spaces to share our collective experiences, knowledge’s, works and views locally, nationally and regionally;
and devise strategic, practical ways to address poverty and inequality; and
· foster on-going working relationships between and amongst different civil society actors.
NGO Week 2010 Theme
NGO Week 2010 was informed by the activities and the experiences of CSOs located in East and Southern Africa. A central theme which was explored during NGO Week 2010 was the roles of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in „building solidarity to fight poverty and inequality’. Whilst identifying some of the obstacles to fight poverty and inequality at the local, national and regional level NGO Week 2010 participating organisations:
· put forward practical recommendations on how CSOs in partnership with their respective communities and key stakeholders can challenge and overcome obstacles to fight poverty; and
· focused on the role of CSOs in facilitating citizen participation in order to fight poverty and inequality.
The Structure
NGO Week took place over five days, from Monday 20th to Friday 24th September 2010,
The first day, Monday, 20th September, in the morning, Launch of the Popular Education School, Series of dialogues - in the afternoon, self-organised workshops and activities which formed part of the interactive marketplace of learning (exhibitions) which ran across the weeklong programme.
Funding was contributed by (a) DVV international and (b) the Foundation for Human Rights which is funded by the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development and the European Union under the sector budget support programme – Access to Justice and Constitutional Rights.
