| The Open Society Foundations work to build vibrant and tolerant democracies whose governments are accountable to their citizens. To achieve this mission, the Foundations seek to shape public policies that assure greater fairness in political, legal, and economic systems and safeguard fundamental rights. On a local level, the Open Society Foundations implement a range of initiatives to advance justice, education, public health, and independent media. At the same time, we build alliances across borders and continents on issues such as corruption and freedom of information. The Foundations place a high priority on protecting and improving the lives of people in marginalized communities.
Investor and philanthropist George Soros established the Open Society Foundations, starting in 1984, to help countries make the transition from communism. Our activities have grown to encompass the United States and more than 70 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America. Each Foundation relies on the expertise of boards composed of eminent citizens who determine individual agendas based on local priorities. The Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) was established in 2000 and forms part of the global Open Society Foundations Network of autonomous foundations founded and supported by George Soros. These non-profit-making foundations share a commitment to work for an “open society”. Based on the principle that no one has monopoly of the truth, an open society recognizes the different points of view and always remains open to improvement. In practice, open societies are characterized by the priority of law, democracy, respect of diversity and human rights, liberalization of markets, information to the people and the dynamism of civil society.
OSIWA is an advocacy and grant making foundation based in Dakar, Senegal and is dedicated to supporting and advocating for vibrant, tolerant and stable democracies in West Africa. It support the creation of open societies in West Africa marked by functioning democracy, good governance, rule of law, basic freedoms, and widespread civic participation. It has offices in Abuja, Monrovia, Freetown and Conakry. OSIWA is one of three regional African initiatives. The others are Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) and the Open Society Initiative for East Africa (OSIEA). In addition, there is the Open Society Foundation of South Africa (OSF-SA) which works exclusively on South Africa. Afrimap, the Africa Governance Monitoring and Advocacy Project is another Open Society institution that works with national civil society organizations to conduct systematic audits of government performance.
Initially, OSIWA’s work focused on providing grant support and implementing internally generated initiatives through partners, and after sufficiently seeding the field through this approach, it broadened its change strategy include proactive advocacy for policy reform. After a decade of extensive work throughout West Africa, OSIWA has garnered a track record as a leading regional foundation whose niche lies in its ability to straddle the “supply” and “demand” dimensions of open democratic governance through a unique combination of grant making, advocacy, partnership building and technical assistance. While most funders tend to focus exclusively on either civil society or governmental institutions, OSIWA has carved an exemplary niche for its strategic focus on strengthening both democratic institutions and structures and civic participation in decision making. OSIWA is also exemplary in its cross-national and regional approach to programming, which presents much-needed opportunities for cross-national learning and avoiding the narrow single-location focus of many funders.
There are several areas where OSIWA has produced strong results and learned valuable lessons over the years. For example, • OSIWA has supported the building of civil society capacity as well as partnerships for effective policy engagement. It has helped to create channels and opportunities for engagement on transparency and governance issues and facilitated dialogue between governments and civil society in order to reduce suspicions and mistrust that characterize their relationship. One of the major accomplishments of OSIWA in the civil society field is the creation of the West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI) as a pioneering capacity-building institution that will be eventually spun off. • OSIWA has supported awareness-raising on human rights, economic governance and public service delivery. Advocacy campaigns on free movement of goods and services and ‘publish what you pay’ have been undertaken in several countries with positive impact in terms of improved citizens’ awareness of their rights in these areas. • OSIWA has facilitated the formulation of important governance policies in the region. In partnership with UNDP, a draft decentralization policy was developed for Liberia; and the Liberian Law Reform Commission has revised several laws through the support of OSIWA. The foundation has also supported public institutions to foster transparency and accountability in public affairs through collaboration and networking with partners across the region. • OSIWA’s concerted advocacy efforts prevented several governments from amending constitutional provisions limiting the term of office to two terms. Similar advocacy has also spurred constitutional reform in several countries in the region. • OSIWA’s consistent support to the media has significantly improved the capacity of journalists to report on important issues and events, including electoral processes. Through this relationship with the media, OSIWA’s partners were able to play an important advocacy role in preventing Sudan’s president from visiting Nigeria. |
| Last Updated on Monday, 15 August 2011 06:59 |
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