The Development Network of indigenous Voluntary Associations (DENIVA) based in Kampala, Uganda and formed in 1988 celebrates its 20th anniversary. Its major approaches are good governance, poverty reduction and livelihood improvement and civil society self understanding.Together with SODNET,
DENIVA was instrumental in establishing SWEAR, the East African Social Watch network, affiliated to the Montevideo based international body advocating for the implementation of the 1995 World Summit on Social Development (WSSD) which was held in Copenhagen, Denmark.
SODNET, in view of DENIVA’s achievement sent the network organization an honorary message as published in The East African Standard (Dec 28 2009-Jan 3rd 2010).
Message from SODNET
The enormous growth and increased involvement of CSOs in social development scene and Governance agenda, apart from having been the subject of much discussion, has also raised expectations on the sector. Over the last two decades this involvement has grown both in actual volume of activities and potential economic and political significance. Moreover, apart from the remarkable increase in numbers, there has been a phenomenal increase in funds being channeled through the sector;significantly the donor community.
The quantitative as well as qualitative growth of the sector in East Africa has not been an orderly process. In fact, it would have been extremely unrealistic to expect this to be the case, particularly given the social policy environment within which it is sinking its institutional roots. Its, somewhat, chaotic growth is a function of the locative ineffiency and distributional inequity characteristic of the colonial and post-colonial political-economic dispensations. This may, to a large extent, explain why some areas of the CSO activities have had more than their equitable share of capacities, whereas others have lacked the in resources and strategic competence. Moreover some of their mandates and activities, have, to say the least, been disarculated from the host social policy environment either through obscurity obtaining in the policy environment itself or through lack of appropriate response capacities on the part of the sector itself. Increasing unclarity, currently attending most aspects of public policy dispensation and its implications for the work of CSOs is equally responsible for the lack of in-depth understanding of the social forces driving the NGO movement leave alone conditioning its institutional growth patterns and operational engagement with other key sectors of the society.
DENIVA’s mandate as a networking platform for indigenous civil society formations was prescribed by some elements of the circumstances described above long before it was born. In order to secure an appropriate operational space and normative framework for the indigenous civil society formations, then cutting their milk teeth in the shark infested waters of NGOism particularly in regard to powerful Northern NGOs following Northern donor resources for purposes of both ideological manipulation and reverse capital flows. It was a great idea whose time had come.
Faithful to the mandate DENIVA has,against many odds-both domestic and external-stubbornly pursued its objectives with missionary zeal. It has protected its network members from unnecessary state interference just as it has promoted the institutional as well as operational interests of its members from unnecessary state interference just as it has promoted the institutional as well as operational interests of its membership against the strong headwinds from the manipulation hand of the Washington consensus. Outside Uganda it stretched a helping hand to many regional platforms, which could not have seen light of without the peer mentoring from Deniva.It played a pioneer role in establishing a regional coordinating platform in the name of NGOSEA, which unfortunately experienced a still birth in the hand of the unscrupulous founding office bearer. Together with Social Development Network (SODNET), a Kenyan networking NGO, DENIVA was instrumental in establishing SWEAR, the East African Social Watch Network affiliated to the Montevideo based international body advocating for the implementation of the WSSD accord research in Copenhagen in 1995.
We are honored to celebrate great achievement of DENIVA for providing a platform for collective action and a voice to voluntary local associations in Uganda and proud to be a partner in East Africa.