Executive summary

This study was carried out in 2008 by Oxfam Novib Pan Africa Program (PAF) as an explorative mapping of civil society in Africa. It is effort to understand the landscape of civil society participation, particularly in the face of new continental and regional institutions (African Union, ECOSOCC, RECs and civil society fora). The mapping is presented by region, on two themes of Economic Justice and Gender Justice. The visual mappings of actors are presented in tables and collectively through Figure 2 (EJ) and 4 (GJ). Based on the observations made through this mapping, some hypotheses are formulated concerning the development of African Civil Society.

With the last 5 to 10 years, African civil society has grown exponentially. Some factors contributing to this grow include: growing global interest in Africa and increased global interconnectedness, surge of democratization and opportunity for civil society networking, AU growth and expansion which invites/ urges civil society to respond, increased political and social roles for the RECs in development (ex. EPAs) or as stepping stones to AU, and the advent of Social fora (ASF) that re-enforce CS actors’ alliances and widening networks.

The environment for civil society varies by region and different criteria emerge for successful regional and continental advocacy strategies. Briefly, the regions were characterized:

West Africa is progressive and strong in its civil society with ECOWAS facilitating engagement, although with traditional blockages with language and some institutional weaknesses remain.

Horn of Africa is limited in active civil society to informal associations (grassroots), although civil society may serve as an important actor with a role in peace-building processes; no existing formal space at national level, so informal space and adjusted strategies are utilized. There are potential increases for civil society space through UN and AU institutions.

East and Central Africa, although two widely differing regions in term of developmental stability, are regionally linked in the form of overlapping and splintered RECs (EAC, COMESA). The engagement of civil society within regional economic and political bodies is limited and not formalized, although the presence of CS in this area is strong and regional farmer networks are present.

Southern Africa is a region with a strong and polarized civil society presence. The regional institutions are so large and varied in membership as to have limited say in negotiating more civil society space at the regional level, even though there are mechanism and initiatives available within for example, SADC.

The linkages between cross-regional or continental actors/networks and regional or national level realities provide opportunities for effective advocacy. One example includes the interaction between regional farmer networks ROPPA, SACAU, EAFF, and PROPAC which link back to national constituencies and increase pressure for national implementation of international accords on food security. Trade issues, although causing divisions on a regional level, have increased the capacity and presence of civil society actors in debating national policy and successfully delaying signing of EPAs, for example.

GJ (the women’s movement) is growing but lost of its momentum in recent years. Alternatively, consolidating around the SOAWR coalition and mainstreaming gender themes through fellow CSOs with other agendas increases the visibility and acceptance of gender as a priority for development and recharges the women’s movement in Africa. The role of women has increased in national and regional level institutions, as well as leaders of CSOs themselves.

The continuing dependence of civil society on external funding remains a challenge. CS is growing more influential and experienced, are beginning to rejected northern agenda setting, and the role of northern donors is changing. Perhaps in the future, domestically or African generated resources will be secured to respond to this challenge. We see in general that political and governmental bodies have increased their openness and space for civil society participation; CS actors need to continue to use spaces (invited, created claimed, closed or partially closed) better, and assert themselves more. Overlapping, competition, lack of coherency and misinformation is common, there is a need for CS to be aware of each other and link ultimately to the grassroots levels. At the highest level for example, is the ECOSOCC of the AU, although this also retains its limitations including bureaucratic, capacity and experience. It remains complex and bureaucratically blocked for CS participation. None the less, CS is claiming their space at this level, and vocal actors such as FEMNET have taken up their role in these kinds of spaces, and urged on by engaged CS, and as a result these bodies are becoming more legitimate and permanent.

This mapping provides and overview of civil society in Africa for two themes; further research is necessary and there is a need to scale down level of analysis to really make sense of the observed relationships. Any further exercise needs to be well-defined and isolated for the scale of the subject being observed (for example, by issue, nation, region, or network). Also, it would be interesting to apply more focus on the power relationships within civil society within one region or as part of a network; or to observe the power relationships for a certain issue between different actors, institutions, policy frameworks, or individuals.