Civil Society and Institutional Foundation - CSIF

The birth of Civil Society and Institutional Foundation
Mission
Approach
Services provided by CSIF are generally demand driven and need based. Training needs assessment of member organisation is conducted periodically and findings incorporated into training programmes. The capacity within the CSOs is sought shared productively through meetings, seminars and round table discussions. As much as pos

sible, CSIF uses internal resources and duly employing the expertise of external resource persons within Ghana and internationally. CSIF is working towards identifying a pool of resource persons, and resourceful organisations and institutions within and outside Ghana, who can be used for knowledge sharing and training purposes. CSIF works for idea exchange and peer reviews amongst members and jointly seek high level advocacy activities that address common challenges facing CSOs. The establishment of CSIF seeks also to legitimize the role of CSOs in general and member organisations in particular through enhanced capacity, good governance, and public awareness regarding the role of CSOs in Northern Ghana. This will potentially create some stronger CSOs and pressure groups in Northern Ghana and subsequently also present a common platform for external actors (donors, state and market forces) for mutual engagement. By implication CSIF will take active part in national and international advocacy and development agenda setting and duly give policy advice on best practices with regards to aid effectiveness and impact. Description
The birth of Civil Society and Institutional Foundation

The NGOs present in Northern Ghana have contributed significantly in terms of social amenities such as water and sanitation, health care, education as well as towards the empowerment of vulnerable groups such as women and children. There are also multitudes of NGOs and CBOs in Ghana. These organisations play vital role in expanding the institutional and civil society activities. Ghana Association of Private Voluntary Organisations in Development (GAPVOD) is the national umbrella organization for voluntary organizations in Ghana. The Northern Network for Development (NNED) is a regional network for NGOs. They all seek to create a platform for NGOs to liaise their activities and present common fronts. Even though these bodies exist, it is difficult for smaller NGOs and CBOs, due to cost involved, taking active their activities. It is in the light of this that small NGOs in Northern Ghana have established Civil Society and Institutional Foundation (CSIF) for all such category of NGOs in Ghana.