Civil Society Organizations’ Advocacy Strategies and Performance of Local Governments: A Case Study of Kabale District.

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Date

2020

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Kabale University

Abstract

The study was about the effect of civil society organizations advocacy strategies and the performance of local governments in Kabale District. The study was guided by three objectives namely: to identify the CSO advocacy strategies on the performance of Kabale District Local Government; to find out the challenges affecting CSOs in advocacy strategies on the performance of Kabale District Local Government; and, to establish ways to be adopted by CSOs in executing advocacy strategies on the performance of Kabale District Local Government. A descriptive research design was used and this helped in collecting data from a wide section of the study respondents. The researcher used both primary and secondary data. Secondary data was collected from the local government statements and policies while Primary data was collected directly from respondents. The study also found that the majority of the respondents responded that CSOs have participated in transformational advocacy; some agreed that CSOs provide development advocacy which helps to improve performance of local governments. The findings also show that low civic competence was the major challenge affecting the CSOs in provision of quality service delivery among rural people in Kabale district. The findings also show that public awareness programmes should be employed by CSOs so that they can easily execute their advocacy strategies so as to help in good performance of local governments, especially Kabale district. The study concludes that CSO activity within the state-governmental frameworks are the dependence of CSOs on donor support, coupled with their proliferation sometimes based on the drive for donor funding; lack of coordination among them; their pursuit of short-term rather than long-term perspectives; and significant questions relating to their internal democracy, accountability and transparency. CSOs’ advocacy on social policies is particularly limited. Moreover, limited advocacy around social justice issues is coupled with a widespread conviction among citizens that only public authorities have the responsibilities to address social injustices. The study recommends that a stronger role in advocacy would benefit the long-term sustainability of CSOs by complementing the service-delivery profile of many organizations operating in these countries. Possibly, a more significant advocacy role would also contribute towards reshaping the public image of many CSOs that, due their service delivery profile, are often perceived as state agents rather than autonomous civic actors. In this context, international donors could play a significant role by investing in programmes aimed at building the capacity of CSOs in advocacy and campaigning.

Description

A Dissertation Submitted to the Directorate of Postgraduate Training in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of Master of Arts in Public Administration and Management of Kabale University

Keywords

Civil Society Organizations, Advocacy Strategies , Performance of Local Governments.

Citation