Regional Reports - the European External Action Service
Regional Reports - the European External Action Service
Regional Reports - the European External Action Service
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Apart from <strong>the</strong> misconception about policy dialogue, most of <strong>the</strong> NGO staff does not<br />
understand <strong>the</strong> necessity of engagement in policy dialogue with <strong>the</strong> Government. They also<br />
refrain to discuss policy issues since it is considered as sensitive area like political dialogue<br />
which involves <strong>the</strong> risk of conflict with government officials.<br />
8 Engagement in Political Dialogue<br />
As indicated above, engagement in nei<strong>the</strong>r policy nor political dialogue is not <strong>the</strong> task of<br />
NSA and it is not also <strong>the</strong> current agenda of GO-NGO task forces. The understanding is that<br />
political engagement is an avenue for <strong>the</strong> government and politicians and such an engagement<br />
is considered to be too risky for NSA particularly NGOs which have been labelled as<br />
supporters of <strong>the</strong> opposition parties.<br />
9 Capacity Building Needs of NSA<br />
Major areas capacity building needs are;<br />
• Training to improve <strong>the</strong> technical and management capacity staff<br />
• Provision of training in <strong>the</strong> concepts, strategy and methodology of policy and political<br />
dialogue<br />
• Logistics support including vehicles, office equipment (like computers and monitors)<br />
along with ICT capacity building especially for <strong>the</strong> local NGOs<br />
• Assistance (hardware and software) for regionally based NSA to help <strong>the</strong>m engage in<br />
collective actions through <strong>the</strong> formation of network and forums<br />
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