Civil Society Strengthening Network

Civil Society Strengthening Network started in 2019 as trouble shooting platform among ICT professionals working with Civil Society. Their aspiration was to focus on how to use technology so that the CSO sector uses fewer resources to create more impact. In 2020, during the COVID-19 lockdown period, the scope of demand for technical support increased from ICT solutions to more general technical support from CSO, therefore organizational systems development, website development, proposal development, and financial systems management. This compelled CSSN to identify persons with expertise in Youth programming, get more subscribers to the network, and eventually register as an organization in 2020 that runs grant programs as well as a social enterprise to sustain interventions. CSSN Vision is a world where the Civil Society sector is sustainably transforming communities. Mission: Strengthen Civil society, local government, and private sector relations as key stakeholders in sustainable community development. Core Objectives: i) To develop tools, knowledge, and skills required for effective CSO, Government, and private sector engagement in local governance and service delivery. ii) Build the capacity of CSOs, local government, and the private sector in sustainable development. Iii) Establish Civil Society Strengthening facilities and programs as social enterprises. CSSN has a network membership of 30 Civil Society Organisations of which 5 are network CSOs with over 20 members. Some of the CSSN resource persons were among the key youths that were consulted by the Ministry of Gender in Uganda during the review of the National Youth Policy. Under the Ministry of Agriculture, they helped review the National Strategy for Youth Engagement in Agriculture and Climate Change Bill, and represented the CSO response to the process of the NGO act. Key activities include Civil Society Strengthening Academy, Capacity building consultancy services, Civil Society Strengthening Fund.