“We have four hundred CBO/NGOs in Kabarole
District, but not all are compliant to the law and functional” remarked Mr.
Tadeo Balisanga the Community Development Officer (CDO) Kabarole District.
Mr.
Balisanga said this at the NGO evaluation meeting held on 22.02.12 at Mucwa.
Opening the meeting Balisanga noted that his office is mandated to register,
coordinate and monitor the operations of all CBO/NGOs in the District. He
however apologized for the continued inconsistence in conducting NGO
coordination meetings which he attributed to inadequate resources.
Mr.
Balisanga informed the meeting that he had received a communication from NGO
Board warning him of the increased NGO operations in the country which need to
be closely monitored because some of these organizations are allegedly involved
in criminal campaigns/work. Accordingly NGO Board had requested his office for
an update of all the registered organizations in the District and what they do;
and to this he had called for this evaluation meeting.
Explaining
the purpose of the meeting, Mr. Balisanga said it is to get all the
organizations in Kabarole together to share their work with the District
because many NGOs are doing work that the Government is not aware of. The
meeting was to also remind the different organizations to regularly
update/renew their registration with the District every two years.
He
added that all organizations are expected to share their reports, budgets, and
work plans with the District, asserting that “if Government can display their work plans and budgets why not Civil
Society, I challenge you to walk the talk”
Responding
to the CDO’s communication, members raised a number of issues expressing their
dissatisfaction over the relationship between the District leadership and their
operations. Members noted that most times both District and sub county leaders
shun away from CBO/NGO meetings whenever called upon especially those that are
not financially or adequately facilitated. This they said has created a big gap
between the two parties and has left either suspicious of the other.
Lack
of routine monitoring of CBOs/NGOs by the District leadership was also raised
by the members saying this is the reason why Government has continuously
undermined the contribution of CSOs in society and also gets them framing CSOs
as anti-Government agents.
Commenting
on the unrecognized contribution CSOs were making in Society one Mr. Mihanji of
Parents Concern revealed that his Organization had built eight permanent houses
for widows in Fort portal Municipality alone costing over 180million but it is
unfortunate that the District/Municipality is not even aware and appreciative
of this. He appealed for a closer collaboration between Government and CSOs.
In
addition to this, the meeting also appreciated the fact that many organizations
are not familiar with the NGO policy and requirements and at this it was recommended
that the office of the CDO should get this policy distributed to the CBOs/NGOs
in the District.
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