The Southern Sudan Indigenous and Civil Society Organisations’ Forum (SSICSOF) was established in March 2008 in response to a number of issues including:
- Poor representation of Southern Sudanese Indigenous Civil Society organisations (CSO) in various forums
- Recognising that many CSO activists have joined the government and international NGOs, the Forum seeks to reinvigorate umbrella and representative organisations
- Provide a mechanism to coordinate CSO activities
- Act as a focal/contact point for counterparts seeking to engage with CSOs
The need for a CSO response to upcoming events and key issues including:
i. Dissemination of the CPA, Interim National Constitution and Interim Constitution of Southern Sudan
ii. Census, Elections & Referendum
iii. Civil education and awareness raising
iv. Women and vulnerable groups’ involvement, participation and empowerment
v. Involvement of CSOs in development aspects
vi. Anti-corruption
The Southern Sudan Indigenous and Civil Society Organisations’ Forum aims to:
1. Operate a network for indigenous and civil society organisations
2. Act as a focal point for liaison with other CSOs, GoSS, UN, international NGOs and donor community to allow CSOs to play active role and participate in decision making processes
3. Advocate on key issues and lobby for the needs of civil society
4. Be a voice for the Southern Sudanese community at grassroots level
5. Strengthen civil society institutions and improve their effectiveness to promote peace and stability to support the implementation of the CPA
6. Facilitate coordination and networking at state level in order to coordinate CSO activities and avoid duplication
7. Information sharing including managing a contact database and mapping CSOs/CBOs in Southern Sudan
8. Raise awareness of under-served areas and marginalised groups in Southern Sudan
Linkages to other Networks
- Members of SSICSOF are involved in the NGO Forum
- A representative of SSICSOF is a member of the NGO Forum Steering Committee
- Nesinet is a member of the SSICSOF Steering Committee
SSICSOF / June 2009
- Indigenous NGO Forum currently has 108 members in the mailing list.
- Indigenous NGO Forum has 11 Steering Committee members base in Juba and 10 state focal points base in respective states of south Sudan.
- Indigenous NGO Steering Committee meets twice a month and it falls on Wednesdays of the second & fourth week of each month at CRS meeting hall.
- Indigenous NGO Forum meeting is held on monthly basis which falls on Saturday of the first week of each month at CRS meeting hall.
- Indigenous NGO has NGO Google groups
For further information on the Indigenous NGO Forum, please contact the Assistant Secretariat Coordinator - ngosecretariat@gmail.com. A member list of the indigenous NGO Forum (April 2009) is available.
In 2008-9, UN-HABITAT, in coordination with UNDP, undertook a rapid assessment across 10 states of S.Sudan of non-state actors involved in community driven recovery/development (CDR-CDD) interventions in southern
- Sudan Capacity Building Forum website - www.sudancapacity.org
- IRC / Mercy Corps - ’Press Release - LINCS Program Civil Society Exchange Conference’, (2007)
