New partnership for grassroots prioritization sealed and ready to deliver

A three day workshop has resulted in a new partnership to ensure that grassroots communities take center stage in development programmes. African Monitor (AM) and Inter Faith Action for Peace in Africa (IFAPA) hosted a workshop at Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg, South Africa, from Tuesday the 6th to Thursday the 8th of May 2008. Participants to the conference were drawn from various faith groups namely; Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, the Bahai  and the African traditional religion as well as from Civil Society Organizations from most of the African countries in Eastern, Western, Northern and Southern Africa.

The workshop agreed on a partnership that will work to ensure that grassroots take center stage in development programmes. A niche is the obvious enlistment of faith based communities who have a wide contacts base and who are in touch with their constituencies on a much more regular basis than their counterparts in other sectors. Nearly 50 participants from the various groups drawn from various regions of Africa attended.

The workshop was part of African Monitor and IFAPA’s initiative of building the capacity of the grassroots in the different communities in the African continent to monitor aid and development commitments at their level. Hence the starting point in this capacity building endeavor is to create a network of CSOs and FBOs aimed at engaging the grassroots communities in aid and development monitoring. The ultimate objective of the initiative is to enable grassroots communities to be able to monitor and determine the level at which their development needs are being met. It is also to empower these communities to be able to advocate for better results oriented and beneficial development.

Speaking at a media briefing after the workshop, Archbishop Njongo Ndungane, Founder and President of African monitor assured the media that the gathering had not just been a talk show and neither was it just one that will only exist in the books of history. He urged the media to follow up on the initiative and hold the partnership accountable for the principles and work plan that it had committed to adhere to during the workshop.