Sharing of Civil Society Experiences in India and South Africa

Mirjam van Donk, Director of Isandla Institute (http://isandla.org.za/) in Cape Town hosted a dialogue with six senior South African civil society leaders. Martha Farrell and Rajesh Tandon from PRIA shared their own experiences of leadership challenges faced in PRIA and Indian civil society organizations. The changing nature of political economy in India and South Africa is creating a situation of ambiguity and confusion for civil society organizations. There is a growing tension between civil society and political society in both countries; the political space for civil society demanding democratic accountability of state institutions is getting squeezed out.

Two aspects of leadership challenges were discussed at some length during the interaction. One related to the dimension of age – founders were aging; youth were active but not able to take on leadership roles. The second dimension related to gender – women were very active, but not able to take on leadership positions. The trends are similar in both countries. The conversation suggested that there is need for greater sharing of these types of experiences between our two countries.

PRIA has been working with Isandla Institute for the past six years on programmes of strengthening civil society voices in ensuring democratic accountability of local governments.