The New Civil Society Law and its Impact on the Movement of the Sector: with Particular Reference to Advocacy-Based Organizations
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Date
2011-03
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Ethiopia’s new charities and societies legislation has been affecting the growth
and effectiveness of civil society organizations, particularly advocacy-based
organizations, since its implementation. Though a lot has been said and written
concerning the effect of the law on civil society organizations, particularly
advocacy-based organizations, yet there is no empirical evidence that can
explain the effect of the law. Since rhetoric alone is not sufficient to judge the
impact of the law, this study seeks to assess on the impact of the law on the
operation of CSOs.
To show the impact of the law the researcher has collected primary data from
nine individual civil society organizations and five consortium organizations
through two different types of questionnaires, and has interviewed the
implementing Agency using semi-structured interview.
The analysis indicates the following results: the total number of civil society
organizations has substantially dwindled as compared to pre-reform period; the
majority of Ethiopian civil society organizations has changed their areas of
engagement that they were primarily established for; Ethiopian civil society
organizations that opted not to change their former areas of involvement, are not
as active as pre-reform period mainly due to lack of funding; and more than
ninety percent of civil society organizations currently operating in the country
terminated governance component of their intervention-implying reduction in
effectiveness in their development intervention.
From the aforementioned findings one can infer that the law is affecting the
growth, engagement and effectiveness of the civil society organizations,
particularly advocacy-based organizations. Hence, the new law for charities and
societies is restrictive. This has far-reaching implication for democratization and development process of the country. Among many, one is less citizen
participation and hence less pluralism, democracy and respect for human rights
in the country. To minimize the adverse effect of the law, those most restrictive
provisions of the law, that is, article 2(3) and 14(5) must be repealed
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Advocacy-Based