Programs > By Location > Sub-Saharan Africa
Programs By Location: Sub-Saharan Africa
ICNL has conducted projects in the following African countries:
Current Project Highlights
During 2008- present, ICNL has provided assistance in several nations where laws affecting civil society have been in the process of change.
In Sierra Leone, ICNL has provided comments on new legislation (the “NGO Policy Regulations”) affecting development organizations, and has helped fund local partners seeking to render the law more supportive of CSOs.
In addition to providing extensive comments on Ethiopia's recently enacted and highly restrictive “Proclamation on Charities and Societies,” ICNL assisted CSOs and lawyers representing them seeking to cope with the law’s provisions limiting activities of organizations receiving more than 10% of their funding from abroad. ICNL also has participated in meetings sponsored by international donors to explore options for carrying out their development programs in Ethiopia.
In Uganda, ICNL has provided analysis of the current legislation governing civil society organizations, as well as on the proposed “NGO Registration Act,” and complementary regulations. In addition, ICNL has provided information to CSOs preparing a lawsuit on the constitutionality of the draft legislation.
ICNL has been providing assistance to both the Rwandan CSO sector and the government in the process of drafting new legislation for religious organizations, political organizations, national NGOs and international NGOs. Throughout the process, a large number of ICNL suggestions have been adopted, and the NGO legislation is currently before parliament in final hearings. ICNL anticipates supporting the adoption of effective and fair implementing regulations.
ICNL staff has participated in several significant international meetings on CSO law and emergent threats to African civil society. Sponsored by the World Movement for Democracy, CIVICUS, and Freedom House, these gatherings were held in Sierra Leone, Uganda, Zimbabwe, and South Africa.
Completed Project Highlights
From 2006 - 2008, ICNL served as the international consultant on a UNDP project in Mauritius, entitled Strengthening of the NGO Sector in Mauritius. The three-year project was funded and administered by UNDP and implemented in partnership with the Mauritius Council of Social Services (MACOSS) and the Ministry of Social Security, National Solidarity, Senior Citizens Welfare and Reform Institutions (Ministry of Social Security). Within the framework of this project, ICNL conducted a review of the legal and regulatory framework affecting civil society. In cooperation with a national consultant, ICNL examined the legal and regulatory framework affecting all aspectes of the NGO life-cycle - that is, the definition, existence, internal governance, external supervision, and termination of NGOs, and their funding and fiscal treament. A draft legal assessment report was prepared and disseminated to the project partners and broader civil society community. Based on the assessment, ICNL helped preapre a detailed report on a comprehensive range of civil society legal issues; the report included specific recommendations aimed at improving the legal and regulatory framework. Following a series of meetings and public discussions, the report was finalized in May 2008. The recommendations from the legal assessment have been drafted into a bill which, as of May 2009, was undergoing processing at the ministerial level.
South Africa: ICNL worked to build the capacity of a local non-profit organization, Non-Profit Consortium (NPC), and its partners with regards to international NGO law, best practices, and methodologies relating to participatory law reform initiatives. Consistent with NPC’s strategic objectives, we worked to ensure a participatory process leading to: (1) legislative reform through the drafting of principles and proposed revisions of laws affecting incorporation and resource mobilization of NGOs, such as the Income Tax Act, the VAT Act, the National Development Agency Act, the Lotteries Act, a new law adopting a new form of incorporation for non-profits, and the Non-Profit Organizations Act; 2) streamlining the administration of enabling laws through improved implementation by government officials of existing and new legislation affecting NGOs; and 3) encouraging Corporate Social Investment through assuring tax incentives for corporate donations.
Tanzania: ICNL provided assistance on the preparation of an NGO Law through a participatory process (involving government, civil society and the international experts). The involvement of ICNL, through a participatory process, in the drafting of the legislation enabled the Tanzanian NGOs to gain a better understanding of the relevant issues and preferred approaches in NGO law. ICNL also focused on training a core group of NGO Leaders on NGO Law.