Regional workshops build the capacity of SW coalitions

After the good experience of the three 2009 regional capacity building workshops that took place in Brazil, Morocco and India, there are four new workshops on the agenda of Social Watch for the upcoming months. These meetings will be organized regionally in countries of Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Caribbean.

SODNET, in coordination with SW Secretariat, is in charge of the organization of a three-day meeting, which will take place in mid-August in Kenya, for the African region. The other three workshops are going to be held, from September to November 2010, in Bolivia, the Philippines and in some country of the Caribbean still to be nominated.

The workshops will include a presentation of history and objectives of Social Watch, and an introduction to its two main control tools on governance accountability, such as the Gender Equity Index and the Basic Capability Index.

These meetings look like a great opportunity to strengthen the work of the members at the national and regional levels as well as the network as a whole. This will be possible by learning from previous experiences, taking into account the Strategy documents approved in 2009 Ghana Assembly in the agenda building process and also inviting new possible members to join the network.

By improving its capabilities, Social Watch members will have better possibilities to raise public awareness on social development issues, to contribute to the national and international debates through the media, and to engage in meaningful dialogue that allows the cooperation between national authorities and civil society about anti-poverty and gender policies – including developing and oversight of budgets.

The Social Watch Secretariat encourages all members in these regions to actively participate in the workshops by getting in contact with its national focal points as well as with the Secretariat.