Pacific Centre

Building Blocks for Pacific Regional CSO Project

Regional and national civil society representatives from around the Pacific have reached an agreement on a set of building blocks for the Regional CSO - Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Capacity building project which is being implemented in partnership with the UNDP Pacific Centre.

This was agreed at the Civil Society Organisations (CSO) Consultation on the Regional CSO-MDG Capacity Building Project which was held in Suva from July 23 to 24. The two day consultation brought together thirty representatives of Pacific regional and national civil society organisations (CSOs) from Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Fiji , Samoa , Solomon Islands , Tonga , Tuvalu and Vanuatu , and regional CSO networks, mainly members of the PRINGO Alliance.

Discussions at the consultation among national and regional CSOs identified that certain building blocks were necessary to ensure ownership of the project. It also revealed the need to identify concrete initiatives that will enhance Pacific NGO/CSOs capacity so they can contribute more effectively to promoting and practicing good governance principles to advance the achievement of MDGs in the Pacific.

The building blocks identified include a stock take of CSOs in relation to the work they do in the area of MDGs and a capacity assessment to identify how to build on existing capacity as well as identify other potential bottlenecks to CSO involvement.

“Many of the activities that we do as PRINGOs and as national NGOs involve MDGs but they are not reflected in our work as MDGs,” said Fei Tevi, of the Pacific Conference of Churches.

There are eight MDGs which range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015. The MDGs form a blueprint agreed to by all the world's countries, including Pacific Island countries and the world's leading development institutions. It must always be remembered that the MDGs set minimum targets only and as a consequence all countries in the Pacific still had improvements to make.

The national CSOs that were present at the meeting also emphasised the need to meaningfully participate in all the processes involved in the project.

There will be more consultations on this project preceding the MDGs stock take exercise of CSOs and the completion of the capacity assessment. The regional CSOs will play an important role in these exercises.

The original idea for this project came about in 2005 during a stakeholder workshop which reviewed a UNDP/United Nations Volunteers (UNV) project that had been implemented with Pacific Islands Association of Non Government Organisations (PIANGO) between 2002 and 2005. Recommendations from that workshop included that a new project be designed focusing on strengthening the role of CSOs implementing activities to promote the achievement of the MDGs. more

 

UNDP is the UN's global development network, advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. The Pacific Centre, UNDP’s knowledge and regional programme centre in Suva, Fiji is focused on Small Islands Developing States in the Pacific and serves 15 Pacific Island countries. The Centre aims to boost aid efficiency in the Pacific by providing policy advice and technical back stopping in the areas of Crisis Prevention and Recovery, Democratic Governance and Poverty Alleviation and Millennium Development Goals Achievement. Pacific Centre is complemented by two additional centres, one in Colombo focusing on trade, human development, and HIV/AIDS prevention, and a centre in Bangkok focusing on knowledge development.