The African Civil Society Parliament calls for the creation of a fund to support its actions in favour of the continent

ALGER – The President of the African Civil Society Parliament, Jean Claude Kessé, called on Tuesday in Algiers for the creation of a €50 million fund to support African NGOs in the implementation of their actions to promote Africa’s development during the period 2019-2024.

In a statement to the APS, on the sidelines of the work of the 2nd International Edition of African Member Organisations of the United Nations Economic and Social Council “Ecosoc”, the President of the African Civil Society Parliament called on “the Algerian government to facilitate the establishment of an effective mechanism to raise this funding and set up a monitoring and control mechanism”.

Jean Claude Kessé affirmed that African civil society actors aspire to support the continent’s States in the context of various development projects envisaged.

Nevertheless, “the majority of African NGOs are still unable to finance themselves and have enormous difficulties in raising funding to support their actions in favour of African society”, said Mr. Kessé, adding that “African NGOs can help to find sustainable solutions, particularly to the migration crisis and the integration of young Africans suffering from the problem of unemployment”.

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This pan-African institution at the service of African civil society has, after 10 years of existence, 183 NGOs, elected from civil society representing all African Union (AU) member countries, he said, before specifying that a phase of identification of new organizations has recently been launched in order to broaden the scope of representation of parliament.

“We are an autonomous structure constituted outside the State and which is self-financing thanks to the annual contributions of its members. But, since our action aims to help the continent’s development in various fields, we should still raise funds to make them a reality,” noted Mr. Kessé, adding that the importance of African NGOs is “undeniable” and they can be of a “great contribution” for African States facing several challenges.

In this context, the President of the African Civil Society Parliament called for the financial support of major African women to help set up a fund to assist African NGOs working for the social progress of the continent’s countries.

source : APS.