Strengthening Civil Society Organizations in Good Governance Processes - Advantages and Limitations

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  • Strengthen the confidence of local CSOs regarding their own abilities;
  • Provides a wider vision of good governance and not an isolated view only;
  • Clarifies CSOs’ understanding of their role and responsibilities in relation to the population they serve;
  • Increases CSOs’ understanding of the roles and functions of local government in development;
  • Strengthens CSOs’ abilities to monitor the allocation of internal and external resources for efficient and effective investments;
  • Improves their ability to mobilize human, financial, and other resources for community development;
  • CSOs will serve a stronger watchdog function in community development programs;
  • CSOs will become more pro-active in local affairs;
  • CSOs will establish networks for lobbying and cooperation;
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  • Long-term lethargy or inactivity may be difficult to overcome;
  • Requires the existence of basic good governance structures;
  • Perpetually underfunded CSOs may have lost sight of their own mission and objectives as they were forced to focus on raising capital and material support to the exclusion of other activities;
  • State actors may be perceived as acting in an arbitrary and unpredictable manner, which creates a sense of futility or hopelessness in the civil society community;
  • Passive local media may hinder out-reach activities;
  • Low levels of civil activity and awareness and a general negative attitude toward community leaders may limit community support of CSO activities;
  • Insufficient knowledge of one’s own civic rights, such as the right to participate in a village or community groups and meetings may restrict CSOs’ impact and participation may be low;
  • CSOs’ practical impact may be stymied by political corruption beyond their control;
  • CSOs’ access to information through channels such as the internet may be limited, thus restricting their ability to build capacity.  For example, prohibitively expensive or nonexistent internet access will impact a CSO’s ability to obtain information regarding available grant sources.