Civil Society Development

More than three decades of war left behind its legacy of a wider spectrum of problems including insecurity, conflicts, widespread corruption, lack of access to information and justice system, ignorance and violation of basic human rights to name a few. The post 9/11 era also neither could provide democratic governance and growth of a vibrant, independent and vigilant civil society nor a favorable working environment for the people.

The CSOs capacity remained low and their role remained confined to service delivery. They could not establish themselves and their networks for collective voice and articulating the needs of excluded and marginalized. The government ministries also lacked the necessary capacity and were in dire need of capacity building. Therefore, ACTD identified the need for contribution to the development of a vibrant social society. ACTD's perception of a vibrant, independent and vigilant civil society is a civil society that is capable and willing to engage with the community and state to influence policy, decision making and promote dialogue regarding accountability, transparency, broadening government policy making scope and articulating the needs and voices of marginalized people. To address the problem, ACTD embarked upon extensive capacity building program for the civil society development and enhancing capacities at various levels. The activities undertaken by ACTD in this field are:

1. Adult Civic Education Program at Community level: The focus of this program is raising the awareness of the common man and women, in the targeted areas about the relevant issues of democratic principles, good governance, citizens' rights and responsibilities and other civil society related issues in order to become responsible citizens of the society.
2. Strengthening and institutional capacity building of civil society organizations CSOs through a series of interlinked activities like capacity assessment, need identification, preparing joint capacity building plan, provision of the training and technical assistance in order to become high-performing organizations. This capacity building will enable the CSOs to engage with state and communities, articulate the needs of marginalized and underrepresented, empower and organize people to hold the state accountable
3. School–based Civic Education Program: this program aims to instil an ethic of democracy and other civil society related issues in teachers, administrators, and students, and lay the groundwork for creating more effective and informed democratic citizens in the future.
4. Conducting Regional and district Civil Society Conferences and community dialogues on various civil society related issues at various levels
5. Conducting public opinion research and widely disseminating its results to various stakeholders