Source: e-CIVICUS
Website: http://www.civicus.org [2]
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Looking Ahead: Civil Society Round the Globe

Africa and Middle East

Africa is sometimes viewed as an economic and political “basket case” with its widespread poverty, endemic corruption and poor governance, ongoing ethnic or religious conflicts, erratic human rights records, rampant HIV/AIDS crisis and environmental problems. It is true that 340 million Africans – half its population – live on less than US$1 per day, that infant mortality is about 140 per 1 000, and that life expectancy is only 54 years. And the longest civil war in the world is still being fought in Sudan, between the mainly Muslim north and Christian south, and has cost up to two million lives, displacing millions more.

It is also true that Africa often gets the short end of the stick in global trading systems – the fundamental inequality of Africa supplying northern countries with raw goods such as minerals and agricultural produce, and then having to buy back value-added products at marked up rates will remain a huge challenge for decades to come. Political instability, wars and HIV/AIDS all have an impact on social and industrial infrastructure, and skills development. This makes it even harder for African countries to compete in the global economy and creates disincentives for foreign companies to operate on the continent.

Civil society and NEPAD
The New Economic Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) is a programme of the African Union that focuses on economic growth linked with good governance. Pioneered by strong governments in South Africa and Nigeria, NEPAD seeks to redress some of the economic underdevelopment experienced by African countries and work through powerful economic trading blocs set up along the lines of the European Union. NEPAD is an influential discourse but civil society groups have not yet had much opportunity to become involved. For example, NEPAD espouses participation with “organised” civil society groups, although no civil society groups were included in its drafting process. There seems to be a clear intent from its founders that governments will attempt to hold onto the reins and hope to manage citizen participation on their own terms. The role of civil society seems to be seen as educating the public about NEPAD, acting as a watchdog for implementation and best practice, and facilitating economic integration. Because NEPAD is no more than a guiding macro-political strategy, civil society organisations could also provide independent, critical critique, help set the development agenda in partnership with governments and contribute towards implementation.

In addition, NEPAD contains principles holding governments and elected leaders to account through peer review mechanisms. This is one clear area where citizen groups can, and should, get involved – after all, citizens are most affected by poor governance at the national and local level. Civil society organisations can advocate for citizen participation in policy-making at national and regional level and partner with governments to ensure good governance really is more widely practised throughout the continent.

Middle East and North Africa
In the Middle East and North African region, the aftermaths of the wars in Iraq, the ongoing tensions in Israel and Palestine, and the occupation by Morocco of Western Sahara will remain pressing political issues in the next decade.

Already, there are grave economic and social implications: in Palestine, an estimated 75 percent of the population now lives below the poverty line of US$2 a day, while unemployment stands at 62 percent. Tunisia, on the other hand is displaying real economic growth, with an average of 5.4 percent in the past five years, and inflation is slowing. And women’s rights there are unmatched by any other Arab states. For example, two women, Tugan Alfaisal and Safa Zaki, from Jordan and Egypt respectively, were recently refused candidacy to take part in political structures.

The 2002 UNDP Arab Human Development report further states, however, that “Arab states have made substantial progress in human development in the past three decades”. This is unfortunately contrasted by the state of civil society. According to a Human Rights Watch report, “Independent civil society institutions were fragile or non-existent in most countries [in the region]. Political parties, human rights organisations, and other entities came under attack from the state or were hampered because laws did not permit them to exist legally.”

Egypt’s new law of associations for example aims at regulating the activities of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), thereby imposing stringent restrictions on NGO funding and management. There are criminal penalties for any NGO activity deemed “political”, effectively undermining the right of individual activists to freedom of expression.

Civil society actors in this region will have to find avenues to prosper in an often restrictive environment. Focus areas might be the reduction of poverty, unemployment and environmental degradation, as well as the urgency of political stability and influencing foreign policy.

Sources:
http://www.allafrica.com [4] http://www.frso.org [5] http://www.globalpolicy.org [6]
http://www.undp.org [7] http://www.hrw.org [8] http://www.aphra.org [9]