NEWS AND EVENTS
A Message from Mohammad Zakir Stanikzai, Executive Director
The National Civil Society Week (NCSW) 2019 was a significant success, thanks to the dynamism and commitment of our growing regional CSOs and colleagues from the organizing committee. Let me express a heartfelt thank you to our partner GIZ for their support and to the civil society organizations for their active participation and sharing their vital perspectives.
NCSW helped the civil society organizations assess their progress and challenges as well as served as a platform for discovering new avenues for collaboration and partnership. The event enabled cross-learning among CSOs and their stakeholders and served as a catalyst for networking and alliance building. For the AICS, it helped us identify new opportunities for collaboration in our four thematic focused areas i.e. certification, policy engagement, knowledge management and learning, and philanthropy.
We at AICS are committed to follow up on the recommendations of the NCSW and look forward to continue working with you towards building a vibrant civil society in Afghanistan.
National Civil Society Week 2019
The Afghanistan Institute for Civil Society (AICS) celebrated the National Civil Society Week 2019 on 29 Oct – 1 Nov 2019 in Herat province. This event, which is unprecedented in its kind in Afghanistan, was participated by around 150 Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), government officials, media, academia and private sector representatives from across the country. The objective was to bring together CSOs and their partners, from different regions, provinces, and backgrounds and provide them with an open space for reflection, learning and networking on issues related to the enabling environment for CSOs and CSOs development in Afghanistan. This event was designed to:
- Connect the different sources and forces of citizen action and encourage both formal and informal networks;
- Share tools and experiences for enhancing civic engagement and civil society development;
- Celebrate inspiring examples of social change by CSOs, local heroes or change agents and by sharing success stories.
The State of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Afghanistan
Civil society organizations are non-profit making entities requiring financial contribution of citizen, government and private sector to conduct their businesses. In Afghanistan, while CSOs have been supported through institutional donors (i.e. foreign governments and donors such as USAID, EU, etc.),
no effort has gone into exploring funding for CSOs from the private sector or directly from the citizens.-
On the private sector side, many firms have gradually recognized their social responsibility towards their employees, the community they work within, and the country they operate in. Many firms have been engaged in ad-hoc charity and humanitarian work; few are engaged in strategic development work using corporate social responsibility (CSR).
As institutional donor’s funding gradually decreases, CSOs are in desperate need of identifying alternative sources of funding. This combined with the private sectors’ gradual recognition to shift from charity- based donations toward a more strategic approach i.e. through CSR, provides ample opportunity for creating synergy between CSOs and the private sector.
Partnership and joint venture between CSOs and the private sector firms through their CSR program is extensive and widespread around the world. However, in Afghanistan, no substantial effort has gone into exploring CSO-private sector cooperation, to pave the way for civil society and private sector long term collaboration.
In the light of this context, AICS realized this critical gap and undertook a first-ever study on the state of CSR in Afghanistan. The report was launched in a full-blown ceremony attended by 200 senior government officials, private sector, institutional donors, and CSO representatives. The research report explores the present status and future of CSR in Afghanistan, discussing its religious and cultural contexts and offers recommendation for civil society, private sector, government and institutional donors.
The research report will serve as a roadmap for civil society – private sector engagements in the years to come. Based on the research report recommendations, AICS will form several working groups, host various follow-on roundtables, and engage in policy advocacy to fulfil the recommendations of the research report.