The Council of Voluntary Social Services (CVSS) in collaboration with the European Union, rolled out a series of advocacy training workshops for civil society organisations (CSOs).
The workshop commenced on March 4, is being funded by the EU through a grant under the 13th European Development Fund to enable the CVSS to fulfill its original mandate to create a local culture of volunteering and ensure that it is recognised, as a vital tool for creating a more sustainable, fair and peaceful Jamaica.
The CVSS will host these workshops under the initiative Advocate, Innovate and Mobilise (AIM), a 30-month project to build the capacity of more than 135 Jamaican Civil Society Organisations.
Carol Narcisse, an advocate, accomplished educator, researcher, and trainer, will facilitate the training. Miss Narcisse said she was happy to partner with the CVSS to conduct the training, and noted that the training was timely, and said that it is important that civil societies have a voice in the decisionmaking of any country.
“Civil society has a unique position, parparticularly organisations that tend to work at the community level, the grassroots level, and on very key development issues. So, whether those issues are in the environment, child welfare, child development, or health, civil society organisations work on those issues,” she said, noting that CSOs will have unique perspectives that can be brought to policy making decisions and process.
She explained that the value is in the information that civil society has and brings to decision-making. She also observed that democracy tend to thrive when civil society has a say and has a voice and acts as advocates, raising awareness about groups in society that might be vulnerable. All workshops are free for civil society organisations. Persons can register by visiting the CVSS website at https://cvssja.org and on the CVSS’ social media platforms.