Politics and Governance have always been a focus area that I have found interesting. Now that I am in the nonprofit sector, having the government on one’s side becomes even more important. I am of the opinion that though governments cannot meet all human needs, yet some issues would not fall in the purview of nonprofit intervention if governments would deliver their core mandate of welfare and security to citizenry.
I am currently on a 4-week Masterclass to add high power to my high interest courtesy of Novartis Africa. One core lesson that would not leave me was shared yesterday when after I asked ‘how do we ensure that in this pursuit of government’s support, the nonprofit sector does not end up becoming a willing political tool especially due to the non-political stance conferred by regulations?
‘The response was mind-blowing. Paraphrased, though the nonprofit sector (NGOs, CSOs, CBOs, etc) is structured to be non-political, it wasn’t created to be an enemy of government. We are not supposed to be out there shouting or known only when something is going wrong. When something is going right too, we should be there. There are some times that we didn’t advocate for a need within our advocacy agenda, yet government meets it, we should not look away, we should be there too. We could publish a press release, we could send in a letter of appreciation, even governments need a pat on the back. It cannot always be ‘a luta’.
#YeahMomentsWithYO!