Civil Society

Hersie A. Bunda

The state players can only govern and handle the affairs of the state in a substantial
and adequately if they involved themselves in an in depth and constructive dialogue
with civil society present in the country. What is then a Civil Society? It is a relationship
then constitutes our lives, the activities we do as civilians; it may be freely or voluntary
in organization with others outside the state. Framing the space where the state, society
and business sector interact and make decisions is vital for effective development
cooperation. They are the ones that voice out the interest, the need and clamor of the
sector they represent. It can be construed that involving civil society as one of the main
role-players in formulations and implementation of public policy has been a practiced
especially those that uphold democracy. I will then be discussing the importance of Civil
Society and its role in changing and influencing policy making.
One of its importance as aforementioned above is advocacy role that plays in the
state. Its role in looking into unaddressed problems and bringing it to public attention
which practically creates pressure to the government in general to pursue policy that
caters nor answers to these predicament. These concerns, the protection of basic
human rights, environmental, social and community interests and concerns. Civil
Societies are hugely demanding in their involvement in policy formulation process. They
indeed play a major role in the implementation of policies especially those that deal with
poverty alleviation as majority of them represent such interest. The reality is, these civic
group feel that in order for the government to formulate policies that are appropriate for
authentic development their involvement is necessary since they make important inputs
to the policy making process.
Civil Society can provide information that is essential to the community the policy
is meant to serve. Civil Societies, can also be watchdogs but mostly they are pressure
groups that put pressure in the government to ensure that appropriate policies are
enacted and implemented.
After laying down the importance that Civil Society play in policy formulation
process; there still things that the government has to improve in order all these interests
are all carried out and put into proper implementation. Apart from the government itself,
Civil Society also has some things to work on in putting line to their role they play in the
process. The government should strengthen the role of civil society. How can they do
this? By, helping these civil society to inform the public about their rights and the
opportunities and by then they will have all the absolute knowledge of what is going on
in the government, the processes that take place and so by this they can demand from
state authorities. The government shall help the civic society to formulate their interest
and make their interest matter by funding researches made by the academe or by them,
it is high time for the government to acknowledge them for they are given to be best in
what they do. The government should open more doors for these civic societies to enjoy
equal chance to be heard. By this then these civil societies will feel empowered by the
government to even dig down to the vital needs and interest the state needs to answer.
And most importantly the government should make a annual assessment for
each civil society whether those that are politically affiliated or not to fully ensure if they
have indeed accomplished something. On the civil societys part they also have to act
more homogeneous. Civil Society in general represents various interests and so does
doing some of them no longer homogeneous instead they tend to be heterogeneous
this is one of the main reason why some of them are not highly recognized because
they represent diverse interests instead of focusing into one.
Given a civic society that wants a policy to address the protection of the
environment, this given civic society should just focus on that role and interest alone,
leave the interest of the protection of human rights to other one, the interest of the youth
to the one and so on. There pressure groups however that hinders the realization of
laws that can be proven beneficial like that of the RH LAW. The church to be specific
and other organizations that see this law as rather negative than positive.
Bottom line is, if the government and civil society work hand and hand it will then
create a development and a relationship that leads to policies that caters every needs of
every sector.