In partnership with Humanity United, TrustAfrica convened a forum where civil society organizations in Liberia could come together to take a hard look at themselves, develop a better understanding of the challenges they face, and discuss ways to collaborate with one another as well as with the national government. Nearly 100 people attended each day and jointly drafted a resolution outlining steps they could take to strengthen the civil society sector.

Read the Liberia CSO Resolution (also available as a pdf).

Read a detailed report about the CSO Forum (pdf).

Read the agenda for the CSO Forum (pdf).

In a democracy, citizens have the right to be heard, the right to form associations and the freedom of speech. These rights are effectively articulated through civil society organizations that operate around specific thematic areas that impacts socioeconomic and political transformation. In the last two decades, the importance of civil society organizations especially in fragile states emerging from violent conflict and enmeshed in misguided governance practices, have become a vital ingredient for the amplification of reforms. Liberia has a history replete with excesses that have hinged on a culture of violence promoted by misrule and bad governance. Civil society organizations in Liberia, started as a brainchild of politically conscious individuals facing barriers to gaining state power democratically, reverted to building the consciousness of citizens by alerting them of their rights under the constitution and other established laws. Obviously, governments have been suspicious of a sprouting civil society populated with their political opponents disguised as civil society activists and in many cases tainted by vested interests. Successive governments saw this as a threat to their grip on power and orchestrated various schemes to manipulate and weaken civil society.

Fortunately, many of the issues raised by pioneering civil society organizations resonated with citizens whose human and civil rights were hammered. Liberian civil society has evolved, and the main players are less linked to political organizations and the issues being tackled have expanded beyond human and civil rights to environmental concerns, corruption, media, health, education, agriculture, etc. The pursuit of an agenda that helps to maintain the rights and self-actualization of citizens has heightened the relevance of civil society organizations. However, many civil organizations are not convinced that they have taken full advantage of the leverage to impact and contribute to a sustained transformation of Liberian society.     

A functional and effective civil society is needed to contribute to setting national policy agenda, deriving sound and robust grassroots response to varying issues of governance and wielding the authority necessary to leverage the uneven power dynamics that characterize citizens and government relations. As a product of this uncoordinated response to policy and national issues, civil society has been perceived by the governing elites and sometimes by ordinary Liberians as clusters of NGOs lacking political legitimacy and holding no genuine allegiance to the constituency they claim to represent. There is an obvious lack of cohesion, but civil society organizations face challenges of their own, ranging from institutional to capacity problems. These have impacted on their advocacy strengths and effectiveness.

With Liberia’s transition to democracy, civil society organizations have been confronted with a new challenge: deciding how to organize their advocacy approach to issues emanating from a government peopled by products of civil society. There have been noticeable disagreements among strong and prominent civil society actors as to how to define and confront activism in the face of the new political order. It is this debate often heard in private that has further fueled the division in thinking, methodology, and action.

It is consistent with this understanding that several CSOs leaders have accepted an offer to collaborate with TrustAfrica to organize a discourse so as to understand and appreciate the differentiation in thinking. It is hoped that the convening will to tap on the vast experience of a cross-section of civil society organizations in delivering a clear and concrete illustration of the problems, challenges, and opportunities that exist to address them.

Representations are drawn from TrustAfrica’s partner groups; existing coalitions such as CSM-L, TJWG, NACCSOL, NARDA, LICONGO, LINK, WONGOSOL, WANEP, IRCL, and CODEL; the media sector; and a selected number of individual organizations. This is a high-level meeting so only senior staff and/or managers are invited.

More specifically the convening seeks to:    

• Build a shared understanding of policy, governance, interest, and relational issues affecting civil society performance as a driver of democratic governance;
• Facilitate exchange in defining strategies to improve governance in the NGO sector;
• Explore ways to improve collaboration between groups and define guiding principles for collaboration or engagement with the government; and
• Define strategies aimed at promoting the defending principles of Civil Society in Liberia.