The Institute for Public Policy and Research (IPPR) has urged civil society organisations in Namibia to contribute strongly to the fight against corruption.
IPPR made the call in the report, From Outrage to Action: Namibian Civil Society and the Struggle Against Corruption, under the IPPR’s anti-corruption research programme.
‘This is where Namibian civil society has been lacking, there seems to be no broad-based inclination to organise towards creating such a platform, presence and approach, while basically two organisations, the Namibian Institute for Democracy and the IPPR, have been doing important but limited work in the anti-corruption space’, the reported noted.
CSOs, according to the report, do not know much about Namibia’s numerous and significant obligations under regional and international instruments.
‘Aside from that, civil society actors face their own internal capacity challenges and funding constraints, as well as mandate limitations, all of which could play a restricting role in CSOs’ ability to organise and participate in sectoral or national anti-corruption efforts’, the report added.
‘Namibian CSOs can look to international and regional examples to learn how anti-corruption coalitions can be built and effective organisations set up.
‘One such example would be the Corruption Watch organisation in South Africa, which raises awareness, carries out research, and also investigates cases’.
The Namibia Institute for Democracy Director, Naita Hishoono, said that a lack of an umbrella body that could bring society together could be the reason CSOs fail to tackle corruption issues.
Source: Namibian
Photo source: US Army Africa
