Civil Society Leadership Institute Opens In Accra

Over twenty people in the civil society sector are currently undergoing training in the civil society leadership institute in Accra, organized by the West African Civil Society Institute (WACSI) in partnership with Ford Foundation.

The trainees are people working in mid-management level of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), faith-based organizations (FBOs) and other CSOs organization in Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.

The training is lasting for two weeks. It started on March 9, and expected to end on March 20.

Stating the objectives of the training, the Executive Director of WACSI, Mrs. Asantewaa Afadzinu, said the training has the main aim of strengthening functional leadership within the civil society sector in West Africa.

According to her, the training also aims at equipping the next crop of leadership, and those who are committed to positive changes in their organizations and society with the needed skills and knowledge for them to be able to impact positively on the society.

She said the training is also to promote the kind of passion, love, and motivation that the civil society actors (trainees) have already exhibited in working in the civil society sector.

The purpose of the two-week leadership course, she pointed out, included:

• Facilitate a deeper understanding of leadership issues and challenges within civil society in the West African sub-region.

• Use exemplary and successfully standards to improve upon leadership thinking and practice in the region.

• Develop the capacity of skilled human resources who are duly equipped to affect strong oversight and governance of organized civil society institutions.

Nana Afadzinu was hopeful that at the end of the two-week course, a new and vibrant crop of leadership would be formed to affect the civil society sector positively for the betterment of the West African sub-region.

She urged the trainees to take the course seriously and share ideas to ensure that they learn more new things for their work and personal beings.

The Executive Director of the Third World Network, Dr. Yao Graham, spoke on leadership and governance at the opening session of the course.

He said that good governance is not only about the procedure involved in governing, but rather policies of governing which are beneficial to the population at large.

Dr. Graham added that good leadership should be about the implementation of policies that benefit not only a section of the society, but all and sundry.

He touched on some activities and practices of Members of Parliament which according to him were not helping in the democracy of the country, and also were not transparent enough for the people to hold authorities accountable.

Dr. Graham was optimistic that the training would breed a better crop of leadership which will see over the affairs of the society and the West African region in the coming years.