Civil Society Platform for Inclusiveness

Civil Society Platform for Social Inclusiveness’ recognises that while the Kingdom of Eswatini has ratified all international human rights conventions, including ICCP and MESKP, as well as recognized several of these rights in the Constitution, the actual implementation of the provisions contained in the documents is lagging behind. This has been recognized by several international human Rights (HR) monitoring systems, such as UPR, CEDAW and ICRC.
The project recognized the need for coordinated and joint action of concerned CSOs to demand necessary reforms, and builds on the position of CANGO as NGO umbrella organisation, with existing active structures especially the Governance & Human Rights Consortium under CANGO. The project also recognises the technical competency of punto.sud in strengthening CSOs in Eswatini. The proposed project proposal stems from the contacts and the joint effort of the lead applicant, CANGO, and the co-applicant Fondazione punto.sud. Even if this is the first time the two organisations collaborate in the submission of a project proposal, its rationale is however consistently based on the previous collaboration in the frame of the EU funded project ‘Fostering Collaboration and Communication for the benefit of Swazi civil society’ ended in April 2017. The design of learning programmes for civil society organisations in Eswatini, together with CANGO, allowed punto.sud to better understand the civil society in the country as well as the difficulties they face in promoting and defending human rights and in consolidating the democratic governance and accountable principles. This also facilitated the organisation of a tailored learning programme based on their interests and needs with the aim to enhance their capacities to access and manage funding, as well as their strategic planning skills. On the other hand, the focus on accountability and transparency in the learning programme led to highlight other areas where the two organisations could collaborate.

Fully in line with the EU-EIDHR objectives, the main change the proposed project aims at achieving is the consolidation of a culture of inclusivity and tolerance in the country, which is able to facilitate the discussions and the exchanges among various stakeholders, including civil society organisations, government institutions, traditional leaders and others. This is meant to engage on the key relevant issues related to the enforcement of the democratic governance in the country, and in particular of the freedom of expression and of assembly, bridging the existing gaps in the communication among the stakeholders and reducing the differences among the interests at stake. This is believed to contribute concretely to set the basis for a more conducive environment, where human rights are protected, promoted and enjoyed, as well as gender equality and empowerment of women is fostered.