Members of the Rwanda Civil Society Platform (RCSP) say they are now ready to speed up regional integration so that people in the community can enjoy advantages of the integration.
Thaddée Karekezi, the Executive Secretary of RCSP made the announcement yesterday during their general assembly meeting meant to adopt their action plan and constitute thematic groups through which the plan will be implemented.
In this regard, Karekezi noted, they would look at the best approaches that can be used to make their advocacy a success. This is in line with fostering the implementation of different signed protocols like customs union, common market and the remaining ones such as monetary union and political federation.
Although some countries have been at a fast pace when it comes to implement some signed protocols, others have remained reluctant; thus hindering the process of the integration. Non-tariff barriers, for instance still exist in some countries of the community while protocols removing them have been signed long ago. With response to this, the civil society members say their role will be to make their advocacy on such issues so that the integration might be ‘citizen-centered,’ rather than ‘state-centered.’
“We really want to make sure that our people are enjoying equal benefits across the region,” said Karekezi.
To fulfill their mission, Karekezi mentioned that they already established a three-year strategic plan. The plan tends to accelerate the regional integration based on research findings so that they can raise awareness about EAC to make the beneficiaries able to maximize advantages offered by the larger market.
“The integration cannot be reached unless people of the community are aware of different stages going on,” observed Karekezi, adding that raising awareness makes part of their current action plan.
The three-year strategic plan is supported by Trade Mark East Africa with US$ 935,000 budget, revealed the official, adding that they will also invest the money in capacity building of their members and carrying out researches that will be based on in their monitoring and evaluation assessments.
So far, civil society platforms from the whole bloc have already established a permanent secretariat that will be intervening in technical support.
Andrews Kananga, the permanent secretary of the East Africa Civil Society Organizations Forum (EACSOF) said that their aim is to unify their voices so that they may serve people’s interests.
“We should capitalize on commonality,” Kananga pointed out. “We should be united if we want to influence policies.”
The Rwanda Civil Society Platform is composed of 15 umbrellas of organizations engaged in different activities such as human rights, women emancipation, justice promotion, agricultural development among others in order to maximize synergy and have a stronger voice in their effort to influence policy-making and sustainable development processes in the country.
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