Zambian civil society fears the imminent introduction of legislation designed to regulate non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that may compromise their independence and even result in a clampdown on their operations. The new 2009 NGO Bill calls for ‘the registration and co-ordination of NGOs, to regulate the work, and the area of work, of NGOs operating in Zambia.’ If the bill becomes law, a 16-member board will be established by the community development minister to ‘receive, discuss and approve the code of conduct [of NGOs], and ... provide policy guidelines to NGOs for harmonising their activities to the national development plan of Zambia.’ NGOs will be compelled to re-register every five years and submit annual information on their activities, funders, accounts and the personal wealth of their officials – failure to comply could result in the suspension or cancellation of registration. However, civil society leaders and human rights activists fear the proposed new law could be used by government to silence critics and erode civil society.
Governance and participation in health
This guide examines the basic issues that a country or organisation should consider when developing and producing a governance assessment. It is by no means the ‘last word’, but should serve as a starting point and outline for those interested in conducting a country-led governance assessment. The paper explains the trade-offs of various approaches and methodologies in terms of quality and costs. At the same time, it provides some basic background on the technical aspects of conducting a governance assessment. The guide attempts to answer the rather complex question: how can country-led governance assessments be carried out with broad stakeholder participation at a reasonable cost, and at the same time produce meaningful results that can be used by civil society and governments alike?
The AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa (ARASA), a Namibia-based partnership of health and human rights groups from the Southern African region, today launched a YouTube video clip entitled ‘Lords of the Bling’, linked to a public petition that presents a ‘moral challenge’ to African leaders regarding their commitments to funding health. The clip highlights the cost of lavish expenditure and corruption among various African leaders and calculates how many people could, for equivalent sums of money, have received life-saving treatment for HIV and TB, which jointly claim almost two million African lives every year. The video clip and petition are intended to serve as an awareness-raising campaign and a platform for solidarity on holding African governments accountable for their commitments to health. ARASA is seeking sign-ons from organisations and individuals, which will be presented to leaders on International Human Rights Day in December 2009. ARASA intends to mobilise civil society around this critical issue and claim the right to health.
This 2009 edition of the Commonwealth Local Government Handbook is a complete reference book to local government in the Commonwealth. Updated and revised, it details the systems of local government in the 53 countries of the Commonwealth, looking at how local government is structured, how elections take place, what services local government is responsible for, how local government is financed and what reforms are envisaged. The profiles are in a format that allows easy country-to-country comparison. The 2009 Handbook includes a preface by CLGF Secretary-General Carl Wright, a foreword by CLGF Chairperson Basil Morrison, and an introduction by Hubert Ingraham, Prime Minister of the Bahamas.
In 2007 a group of HIV-positive people in Machaze founded Tchitenderano (‘accord’ in the Ndau language) to campaign against stigma and discrimination in their district, where HIV prevalence is 16.7%, slightly higher than the national average of 16%. So far the group has helped more than 3,000 people. Tchitenderano has 25 activists who hold lectures at various public institutions to educate people about HIV and other sexual and reproductive health issues. They also visit health facilities to encourage patients to adhere to their antiretroviral (ARV) treatment, and provide home-based care. Samuel Doris Campira, president of the organisation, said they were slowly helping to free Machaze district of discrimination and stigma. ‘There were people who would spit at us when they walked by where we were meeting, but today there are families with HIV-positive individuals at home who seek us out to become better informed,’ he said. ‘The stigma is still very strong, despite the legislation and the campaigns,’ he noted, but with time, information and patience, he believed communities would eventually change their attitudes.
Effective management of public health emergencies demands open and transparent public communication. The rationale for transparency has public health, strategic and ethical dimensions. Despite this, government authorities often fail to demonstrate transparency. A key step in bridging the gap between the rhetoric and reality is to define and codify transparency to put in place practical mechanisms to encourage open public health communication for emergencies. The authors demonstrate this approach using the example of the development and implementation process of a public health emergency information policy.
At their meeting in Sirte, Libya, held from 1–3 July, nearly half of the 53 African Union (AU) heads of state and government reached consensus to establish the African Union Authority to replace the African Union Commission. Libyan Leader Mouamar Kadhafi, supported by Senegal’s President Abdoulaye Wade, argued to speed up continental integration but others, notably Nigeria and Tanzania, argued against it. Commenting on the consensus reached, Jean-Marie Ehouzou, the Benin Foreign Minister noted, ‘African leaders are in agreement with ceding a little of their sovereignty to the AU Authority’. To enter into force, the AU Authority must be approved by the Parliaments of all AU countries. African leaders also discussed the integration of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) into the organs of the AU and adopted a resolution ending cooperation with the International Criminal Court in the Hague. They also decided to reinforce agriculture and food security and to enlarge the powers of the AU Commission into foreign, trade and defence areas.
EuropeAid organised a consultation meeting in June on the second Strategy Paper of the 2007–2013 European Union (EU) programme, the European Partnership for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR). Currently in draft form, this paper will provide the basis for European Community (EC) multi-annual programming and annual action programmes for the period 2011–2013. The European Commission (EC) identified specific changes in the new strategy as including: a stronger emphasis on difficult countries as apposed to difficult situations; a higher number of countries eligible for increased support; greater decentralisation of decision-making to EC delegations; a greater focus on links between thematic and geographical instruments; and more clarity on EC human rights priorities and their link to political dialogue. The Commission noted, however, that it does not plan to provide details on the draft EIDHR strategy ahead of its publication and, while written civil society submissions are welcome, only minor changes would be made at this stage since the EC considered it premature to undertake an evaluation of the programme.
The author, on behalf of CIVICUS, expresses deep concerned about certain restrictive aspects of the Non-governmental Organisation (NGO) Bill of 2009, which the Zambian government is planning to introduce in Parliament. Some of the concerns raised by civil society in the 2007 version of the Bill have been addressed, but key provisions of the Bill restrict the independence of NGOs and subject them to excessive and unwarranted controls which serve to impede rather than enable the freedom of association guaranteed by the Constitution of Zambia, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, to which Zambia is a party. If passed in its present form, the Bill will seriously restrict the activities of NGOs. Key areas of concern include problematic registration procedures, excessive government control and unnecessary curbs on independence through forced self-regulation and peer monitoring.
This study attempts to distil lessons learned by a handful of African civil society coalitions on the dynamics of demanding improved governance of governments that are often averse to governance reform. The project admittedly tackles an ambitiously formidable subject, largely due to the dearth of compelling, contemporary African examples of civil society leading noteworthy policy or social change. Governance and policy reform in several African countries continues to be driven by African governments, through initiatives such as the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), as the South African Institute of International Affairs’ (SAIIA) six years of research into the APRM suggests. As such, the study broaches a subject starved of compelling material. However, it creates an accessible set of lessons from civil society activists, academics, diplomats, representatives of donor agencies and civil society experts that have played leading roles in a few – but notable – episodes of civil society-led policy reform.