Keisha Taylor (GuideStar International) Interview with Jalal Abdel Latif, Chief of the Civil Society Section, Governance and Public Administration Division, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa

October 2008

KT: Why did UN-ECA decide to start working on a GuideStar system for Africa?

JAL: I think you have to contextualise and understand the UN-ECA. UN-ECA is the original arm of the UN.

It has a dual role as a pan African institution and a continental institution. So it has a mandate to develop policies, knowledge and also to advise member states, NGOs and other stakeholders in areas of development. Within this big mandate, I sit in the civil society centre.

“The voices of African civil society, which includes its images, knowledge, values and concerns, are not equally available on the web.”

Basically, for the last 10-20 years it has been accepted and appreciated that African civil society is clearly a major stakeholder in advancing the African development agenda, as well as acting as an advocate for change and the practice of excellence. However, we have found that during the same period, Northern NGOs have dominated the national civic space of Africa, very much like the debt and aid system have dominated the political economy of the continent. Part of this domination takes place through the asymmetrical architecture of the global internet, which skews the flow of information in favour of Northern NGOs. The voices of African civil society, which includes its images, knowledge, values and concerns, are not equally available on the web.  We believe that the GuideStar system offers a new opportunity to make internet technology accessible to African civil society and to give it a better web presence.

“Who is who? Who does what? What are the outcomes? What are the impacts? It would be great if all these questions could be answered. No one has really attempted to do so.  There is not one place that you can go and find such information.  We believe that GuideStar will facilitate this.”

Why GuideStar? GuideStar is a specialised architecture. It is a portal that allows you to capture data and organise it in a way that is easily presentable, with a better appearance. More importantly, GuideStar operates as a basic directory that enables us to populate the portal with profile data on the African civil society, from the smallest informal societies to the largest formal networks, in a manner that reflects the vastness and dynamism of the sector. This is achieved partly by cooperating with, and stimulating the public registration of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) at the national and decentralised levels. At the same time, it makes it easy and affordable for individual CSOs to tell their stories as elaborately as they wish.

Also, the data collection, compilation and analysis of African CSOs are not coherently and systematically captured. Yet there is a range of issues that can be tackled through registration: Who is who? Who does what? What are the outcomes? What are the impacts? It would be great if all these questions could be answered. No one has really attempted to do so.  There is no one place that you can go and find such information. We believe that GuideStar will facilitate this.

Secondly, the ethics, the code of practice of GuideStar, is another reason why I like it. I am fully aware of the history of GuideStar in the USA and the UK. Today GuideStar US has over a million registered nonprofits. Once the concerned communities find out that the tool is useful, it will drive others to join. I have personally used it and I think it is the perfect tool to help the UN-ECA to effectively collect information that can showcase the impact of African civil society, and, through this information, to also mobilise civil society into public action. It will allow for networking, knowledge sharing and solidarity among civil society. It has been tried elsewhere and it is a good one to test within Africa. 

KT: It is clear from the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness and the subsequent Accra Agenda for Action, that maximisation of aid effectiveness has become a priority for CSOs, government and donors. How do you think the Agenda will help CSOs become more effective in Africa?

“If NGOs had an easy way to disclose information about the amount of resources used, their objectives their outputs, and their achievement, this will contribute to the measurement of aid effectiveness.”

JAL: The Paris Declaration and the Accra Agenda are in principle aimed at creating consensus on aid effectiveness. There is an attempt to influence the flow of aid to African civil society. However, data is again not available. If you were to ask today how much money went through NGOs to eradicate malaria in 'country x' in Africa, you could not easily find the answer. If NGOs had an easy way to disclose information about the amount of resources used, their objectives, their outputs and their achievements, this would contribute to the measurement of aid effectiveness. Also, as the years go by, we will be able to look at the flow of aid, perform correlations and analyse whether it is going down or up in specific sectors and locations. A GuideStar system can give key evidence about what the NGO sector is doing through the aid system.

KT: How will increased CSO transparency and information help the goals of the Accra Agenda to become a reality?

JAL: Transparency, I take, as voluntarily displaying your information. Civil society money is, in a way, the tax payer’s money. The public has the right to know who paid, who got what, how much and what was done with it. The other side of the coin is that this also allows CSOs to display their achievements. GuideStar will make this transparency come through. Every CSO that believes in disclosure can now do basic disclosure; everyone that wants to tell their story has a means to do so. This then becomes the first resource for media, and the public will be able to know who does what.

KT: What do you think are the opportunities and constraints you will face in developing a GuideStar for Africa?

“We must mobilise more community organisations and community organisers to have more access to computers and the internet.”

JAL: I believe the opportunities are many. Particularly for grant makers, donors, researchers and the media. This would give them one point where they can go and find a wealth of information. It also offers opportunities for grant seekers and grant givers to find each other.

The constraint is basically that many CSOs do not have access to PCs and to the internet. ICT penetration is low in Africa. On average the connectivity is very expensive, a lot of organisations, especially community based organisations, are also not IT literate. We must mobilise more community organisations and community organisers to have more access to computers and the internet. That is everyone’s concern.

KT: In your view, who are the major stakeholders for this project?

JAL: I think the primary stakeholder is the African civil society. This is their website, a place where they can tell their story.  They are the primary stakeholders. Then, I think the other stakeholders are governments, grant givers, donors and the media.  The GuideStar can improve efficiency and effectiveness by helping to organise records for the public sector. There are a lot of donors who have no clue who they should give to, despite their willingness to give in Africa.

KT: How does the implementation of a GuideStar for Africa tie in with national and regional government initiatives for technology infrastructure?

JAL: The UNECA has a mandate to advocate for connectivity and provide policy advice for parliamentarians, governments, and civil society. Therefore, this will complement the existing initiatives being pursued by other multilaterals, bilaterals and the private sector.

KT: Access to the internet is a challenge for many CSOs throughout Africa. How might the GuideStar Africa initiative seek to overcome these challenges?

JAL: Launching the technology is a joint effort. We have not yet discussed how the platform will manifest itself. I think it will be fundamental to customise the portal itself and make it simpler to use. Broadband is not affordable in Africa now; for example, you cannot have a lot of graphics. The IT connectivity and the bandwidth will limit you in terms of the design. That is one of the major challenges on the technology side. And then, the other one is the content management application. For instance, whether it is text based, or voice, or email enabled. These types of issues will emerge. So GuideStar must be a simple architecture which is accessible and friendly.

KT: What will be the primary source of the data?

JAL: The primary source of the data will be the government registrar agencies that have the largest volume of records; CSO networks; regional organisations and donors as well. A lot of institutions are collecting data on NGOs from simple directories to much more sophisticated databases. GuideStar has to find these.

KT: In what way do you think African civil society will be strengthened by this initiative?

JAL: Well, I think this is a capacity building tool. My vision is for the portal to help enhance networking by African civil society for mutual learning and knowledge exchange.

I also assume that we will attract donors who are looking for new but reliable ways of channelling resources into Africa. So it is one place to go to shop for ideas, for funding, for grants and for contracts.