Otiko Afisa Djaba
Non-governmental organisations (NGOs), civil society organisations (CSOs) and other non-profit organisations have been urged to desist from focusing more on workshops and seminars at the expense of making real impact in their communities.
According to the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Otiko Afisa Djaba, the situation where NGOs and CSOs are excited about workshops and seminars in the confines of air-conditioned conference halls should be a thing of the past.
Such organisations should instead step up their work by concentrating more on ways to make real and meaningful impact in communities where they are needed the most.
The minister who was speaking in Ho, Volta Region, recently to NGOs and CSOs, stressed, “Stop the tea-drinking workshops and thinking that someone has to solve your problems. The problems are in the communities. We do a lot of things in the nice conference rooms and we are talking about beneficiaries who are far away from the conference rooms,” she said.
Ms Otiko Djaba was convinced that the country has had enough capacity building in the area of social protection and that the time is now right for more action and not tea-drinking workshops and seminars in plush hotels.
She noted that putting the many capacity building programmes to use means NGOs and CSOs must go beyond all odds to ensure that they cause the necessary societal changes to better the lives of the vulnerable and the marginalized in society.
“Be focused and have priorities. Have a map of all the areas. Know the baseline of the issues. Depending on your area of specialization, you go to that area and we know that these are the targets and these are the results” Madam Djaba urged.
The minister, who was on a familiarization tour of the region, expressed government’s appreciation to the NGOs and CSOs for their contributions to the country over the years, adding that “there is more room for improvement.
From Fred Duodu, Ho (freduoo@gmail.com)