Solidar Suisse and Labo Citoyennetés have organized training for the benefit of CSOs in the Central Plateau region. A first training took place from Thursday, September 14 to Saturday, September 16, 2017 in Zorgho and another from September 19 to 21 in Ziniaré. Representatives of CSOs and local radio stations benefited from this training, the theme of which is: Advocacy and developing an advocacy plan.
As part of its program entitled “Appui au renforcement de la démocratie locale et de la participation citoyenne dans le plateau central” (Support for strengthening local democracy and citizen participation in the Central Plateau), Solidar Suisse in partnership with Laboratoire Citoyennetés is organizing workshops to strengthen the knowledge of CSOs and local media in the Central Plateau. A total of eight communes are involved: Boudry, Méguet, Zorgho, Dapelogo, Loumbila, Ziniaré, Toéghin and Boussé.
Zorgho town hall hosted the first workshop. The workshop opened on Thursday June 14 in the presence of Ms. Béré Celestine, head of the democracy and participation division at Solidar Suisse, the program manager for “support for strengthening local democracy and citizen participation” at Laboratoire citoyenneté ;and the secretary general of Zorgho town hall, representing the mayor.
A total of eighteen participants took part in the training, divided into three associative networks. The invited structures included the Fédération Vénégré des Associations pour l’Action Citoyenne, Radio Communale and the mayor of Boudry. For Méguet there was the Coalition des OSC pour la promotion de la démocratie de Méguet and the mayor’s office; and for Zorgho there was the Comité d’Actions Citoyennes de Zorgho, Radio Laafi and the mayor’s office.
The main objective of this training is to strengthen the technical and political capacities of civil society players and local media to carry out advocacy and interpellation actions with a view to their active participation in the local decision-making process. To this end, they were given a 48-hour introduction to the concepts of advocacy and interpellation. In addition, the civil society players were introduced to the key elements and the framework for drawing up an advocacy action plan.
After Zorgho the course was set for Ziniaré for training. The second training session took place from Tuesday 19 to Thursday 21 September 2017 at the Ziniaré town hall. There were 29 participants including CSO members, radio representatives and mayor representatives. As for the structures invited we have, for the commune of Dapelogo: the Regroupement des OSC de Dapelogo pour la Promotion de la Citoyenneté and the town hall; for Loumbila: le Cadre d’Initiative Citoyenne and the mayor’s office; for Ziniaré, Radio Vénégré, Radio Bassy, the mayor’s office, the regional council and l’Action Communale Pour la Gouvernance Locale; for Toéghin, the Comité de Veille Citoyenne de Toeghin and the mayor’s office; and for Boussé, the Comité de Veille Citoyenne de Boussé, Radio Dounia and the mayor’s office.
Pascal Compaoré, mayor of Ziniaré, who attended the opening ceremony, welcomed the initiative. According to him, this training will enable CSOs to reinforce their knowledge, which will enable them to fully play their role as citizen watchdogs for the local authorities in order to develop the commune of Ziniaré.
Finally, each network drew up and presented an advocacy action plan. During the workshops, participants worked in groups on specific themes to put into practice the knowledge they had acquired. At the end of the workshops, learners from both Zorgho and Ziniaré were positive about the training. They said they had learned a lot from the training, and reassured the initiators, Solidar Suisse and Laboratoire Citoyennetés, that what they had learned would be put into practice. These are their words.
Tilado Yaméogo, President of the Comité d’Actions Citoyennes de Zorgho, explains: “With this training, we learned to master certain concepts such as advocacy, lobbying and interpellation. We also learned about the conditions for advocacy and the advocacy plan. In concrete terms, we worked in groups on case studies and drew up an advocacy plan.
FatimataGansoré/Guelbéogo, member of the Comité de Veille Citoyenne de la commune de Boussé: “This training is very useful for us because we are organizations that work in the field, so it will equip us to work well for the development of our communes. All the knowledge we will receive here will enable us to work together to better carry out our activities for the well-being of our populations”.
Awa Kaboré, member of the Coalition des OSC Pour la Promotion de la Démocratie de Méguet: “The training is very useful for us, because we have learned a lot, and when we get back to the base we will share this knowledge with the other members. This knowledge will enable us to draw up advocacy plans for our various structures”.
Pierre Sawadogo, President of the Regroupement des OSC de Dapelogo pour la Promotion de la Citoyenneté (Dapelogo CSO Group for the Promotion of Citizenship): “This training is very beneficial for us. We’re going to pass on what we’ve learned to other members. This will help improve the efficiency of our structures”.
In short, the beneficiaries of these training workshops are all satisfied with the training and would like to thank Solidar Suisse and Laboratoire Citoyenneté for this initiative.
