Non-State Actors committed to formation of civil society organisation umbrella body
A firm commitment to formalize a national umbrella body to represent the broad spectrum of civil society organisations in St. Vincent and the Grenadines was made at a meeting of representatives of over 20 of those organisations gathered at Frenches House, Kingstown, on Monday, February 27.{{more}}
The meeting was organised by the Non-State Actors (NSA) Panel, a body set up under the provisions of the Cotonou Agreement between the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states, with responsibility for facilitating the input of civil society organisations in projects under EU/Government cooperation and for monitoring the implementation of those projects.
Several initiatives for establishing an umbrella body for civil society organisations have been made in St. Vincent and the Grenadines but these have not been consistently maintained. In light of this, the SVG NSA Panel has undertaken to give support to the expressed will of such organisations, hence the holding of Mondayâs meeting.
The gathering was addressed by NSA Panel Chairman, Renwick Rose, and discussions facilitated by Panel member Cecil Ryan while NSA Coordinator Ideisha Jackson chaired the meeting.
There was unanimous support for advancing the move to set up the umbrella body. As a consequence a seven-person Interim Committee charged with responsibility to draw up guidelines for the functioning and operation of the umbrella body was agreed upon by the representatives. They are Oneka Morgan of the Youlou Pan Movement (Chair), Silma Mclean of the National Labour Congress, Frederick Forbes of the Scouts Association, Winfield Tannis of SVG Care/Calliaqua Fishing Cooperative, Kaskie Miguel of the National Youth Council, Rochelle Tannis of the National Association for Early Childhood Education and Andre Liverpool of the Rastafari Movement. They will be assisted by Rose and Jackson from the NSA.
The Committee is scheduled to begin its deliberations on Thursday of this week and is due to report to a full meeting of the general body on April 30, 2012.
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