The Country Director at JHPIEGO-Uganda, Emily Katarirawe, says civil society organisation’s overreliance on donor funding has affected their capacity to implement various projects in the country.

Katarirawe made the remarks during a dialogue on sustainability of CSOs in the age of Covid-19.

The event, Development Diaries learnt, was organised by Communication for Development Foundation Uganda (CDFU).

‘Due to Covid-19, some CSOs have shut down, while others have laid off their staff. As CSOs, it is vital to do risk assessment and raise resources internally in order to survive within such high-risk environments’, Katarirawe said.

‘We need to team up and form a strong CSO consortium since our development partners have been heavily shaken by Covid-19’.

Katarirawe advised CSOs to consolidate, build internal capacity and resilience in order to survive during these hard times.

Executive Director of CDFU, Nankunda Babihuga, urged non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to tweak their business model to ensure sustainability.

Also speaking, the Executive Director of Africa Youth Organisation, Evatt Mugarura, said, ‘We need to manage the remaining resources properly.

We should tap into the private sector since they are willing to support us as long as the purpose of our work relates to their business’.

Source: New Vision

Photo source: The EITI