Heads of Matabeleland CSOs attended the European Union (EU) Roadmap regional consultative meeting that was held at the Rainbow Hotel in Bulawayo on 7 March 2017.
The meeting gave CSOs the opportunity to interact, critique and give recommendations to the EU ambassador and others.
British Ambassador, Catriona Laing, asked if Bulawayo CSOs see a window of opportunity with the new political dispensation.
In response the Christian Alliance director, Reverend Useni Sibanda said, “Yes there is a window of opportunity mostly because the government is desperate to gain legitimacy and foreign investment and this gives CSOs room to test genuineness.
However, he added that he does not see the government’s current attitude going beyond elections and advised the ambassadors not to release any money before certain conditions are met”.
Liberty Bhebhe, National Youth Development Trust director, added that “The new dispensation does give opportunities for engagement but these rest with chapter 12 commissions. Part of the major challenge is that the environment is still restrictive like we’ve heard that youth officers are not operational yet on the ground they are. What happened in November 2017 and after is that we had an openly militarised space and this led to an increase in the shutting of other spaces. For instance, the parliamentary portfolio committee is open but the media remains shut. There’s still a challenge of pretences although this government is more open for engagement with the international community”.
Like Sibanda, Bhebhe also expressed scepticism saying, “We stay weary of what could happen post elections”.
EU Ambassador, Philippe Van Damme responded to concerns about why EU does not directly channel funding towards Community Based Organisations (CBOs) by saying despite that EU has no calls targeting CBOs it does not mean they are shut out, instead they can still receive funding through consortiums.
He gave an example of the National Indicative Program whose implementation NANGO will soon be resuming in all regions.
Van Damme also said CBOs should not compete among themselves instead they should increase their capacities and be productive local partners that will strengthen the region.
Funding of CBOs was a contentious issue in EU Roadmap meetings held in Masvingo, Mutare and Gweru.
In all the regions’ discussions with EU it was also brought out that there is need for capacity building that is tailor-made for organisations in order to enhance sustainability and relevance of programs.
Van Damme was joined by British, French, Romanian, Swedish, Netherlands, Portuguese, Spanish and German ambassadors to Zimbabwe.
