KAMPALA, Uganda–The vice president for Ford Foundation in charge Eastern Africa, Martin Abregu has asked the government of Uganda to create conducive working environment for Civil Society Organizations (CSO,s) in the country.
He noted that good working relationship between government and the civil societies can help government in the fight against corruption which is a big challenge to many African states.
“For government to realize value for money it allocates to the various government departments specially those offering social services, there’s need to intensifies supervision, but this cannot be done by government alone, working with the CSOs can supplement government by undertaking the supervision work on behalf of government” Abregu said over the weekend at CSBAG Head offices in Ntinda during his visit to Uganda.
He added that the ford foundation will continue to support Civil Society Organization with financial support to finance their capacity building training programs which are crucial in their work especially when it comes to analyzing budgets both for national and for local governments.
“Without building their capacity to analyze budget documents, the CSOs can’t do much. Ford Foundation in partnership with CSBAG shall continue working together for the good of the local people in the country who are the end beneficiaries of government money, “He said.
CSBAG Executive Director Julius Mukunda said the support from the foundation has helped them to build the capacity of their members.
“With the support from ford foundation, CSBAG has managed to train its member organizations in skills relating to analyzing government budgets both for local governments and national budgets. This has tremendously helped government to realize value for its money through strong supervision of the projects at grass root level where the government has allocated the funds, “He explained.
He added that if CSOs have adequate capacity to analyze debate and the budget independently, they can shape revenue management and spending policies meaningfully and effectively. But that for this to be achieved, more support is needed in form of finance to finance the capacity building program for the CSOs across the country which is now still big challenge to CSBAG.
It is said that through their supervisory work at grass root level many CSOs have enabled government to recover financial resources from contractors that do shoddy works especially those contracted to construct government infrastructures in the health and education sectors.
