STAR-Ghana Foundation, partners to hold CSO Forum

STAR-Ghana Foundation and its partners will hold the Civil Society Forum 2024 on the 25th and 26th of June 2024 in Accra.

The forum, under the theme “Civil Society at an Inflection Point: Strategizing for Increased Legitimacy, Effectiveness, and Sustainability,” marks the 2nd edition and will enable participants to deliberate on three sub-themes: ensuring legitimacy with constituents and stakeholders, achieving effectiveness as organizations, and ensuring sustainable operations, revenues, and impacts.

The forum serves as a common platform for civil society organizations (CSOs) in Ghana to deliberate and reflect on their work as facilitators of good governance and inclusive development. It was birthed after several rounds of inclusive consultations involving a diverse array of CSOs operating in Ghana and provides a space and mechanism to facilitate collective and inclusive actions towards the effectiveness, legitimacy, and sustainability of the civic sector and its organizations.

The maiden edition was hosted by STAR-Ghana Foundation in March 2022 under the theme: “Reflections on the Conceptual and Developmental Issues of CSOs in Ghana and the Sustainability Challenge,” where participants recommended the institutionalization of the Forum and engagements with the Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) Secretariat on the way forward around CSO regulatory frameworks.

This year’s forum will address key issues confronting CSOs in Ghana, such as the need to diversify funding sources amidst dwindling external funding and building the capacities of CSOs to effectively leverage emerging forms of citizen mobilization and civic activism, among others.

Specific Objectives

The specific objectives of the 2nd Forum, which will inform its main theme, sub-themes, and program, are:

• Serve as a collective reflection process about the future of civil society in Ghana.
• Explore the challenges confronting civil society (as a sector and as organizations) during a time of unprecedented and widely underestimated global change.
• Contribute to the national debate by setting the scene, describing key changes, and strategizing ways in which civil society might respond to these changes.

Keynote Speakers

• Alhaji Ibrahim-Tanko Amidu, Executive Director, STAR-Ghana Foundation
• Charles Abugre, Development Economist
• Charles Abani, United Nations Resident Coordinator, Ghana
• Clara Osei-Boateng, Governance Advisor, Foreign Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)

Program Highlights

• Plenary Session: “Shift the Power and Localization: What are the Implications for CSOs – Donor Relationships?”
• Breakout Sessions: “How Might CSOs Become More Sustainable?”

STAR-Ghana Foundation is a registered national CSO that aims to increase the effectiveness of citizens and civil societies to achieve an equitable inclusive society through the promotion of active citizenship and local philanthropy

Publicagenda.news