Roles and responsibilities
Underpinning the aims of the preceeding sections is the need for clearly defined roles and responsibilities for the steering/executive committee or board, steering/executive committee chair, members, secretariat, host organization. These should be openly developed and shared with all members or interested organisations. And articulated in the Terms of Reference.
Infographic showing hosting arrangements for civil society alliances split by international and national non-governmental organisation.
Governance structure – Host Organisation
It will be important to reflect upon where the CSA will be physically located and where meetings will take place. In order to share responsibilities and roles, organisational hosting might be rotated between different organisations as has been considered in Kenya and Zambia on a regular basis or the CSA secretariat may take on the responsibility of arranging for neutral meeting venues not affiliated to CSA member.
The organisation which initiated meetings is not obliged to provide long-term hosting. It will be important to assess the capacity of any hosting organisation to offer office space, guidance and support, time and resources and visibility to the CSA without compromising the independence of the CSA group. The key foundation for these considerations is ensuring that decisions regarding hosting, roles and responsibilities are taken in a democratic, open and transparent manner. CSAs are encouraged to consider hosting by local organisations or establishment of an independent secretariat and registration as an independent entity if at all possible whilst recognising the additional challenges at times of doing this in the short-term.
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Suggested text to define independence of host organisation and CSA
The organisation hosting the secretariat provides an operational platform for the secretariat’s work as well as administration of the secretariat including budgetary and contractual obligations. The host / organisation hosting the secretariat should never influence the work plans of and the way in which the secretariat’s employees work. Employees work on behalf of and for the platform under the leadership of the steering committee / executive committee and/or decision-making structure. The hosting organisation is obliged to support secretariat staff in ensuring that basic information such as financial updates, reports on progress and other relevant documents demonstrating the impact of CSA work and process are shared in a transparent and timely manner.
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Governance structure – Steering Committee/Group
A steering group or committee can provide high level leadership and accountability for the civil society alliance. The mandates of those making up this body may also vary but it is important to consider the skills required for this role and the specific needs that will need to be addressed. The duration of their mandate may vary but a rotation model is often adopted in the interests of fairness and to ensure an equal distribution of power and shared leadership. The civil society alliance may consider developing criteria for participation in the steering group or committee in order to ensure a diverse and inclusive as possible composition of senior leadership. For example, ensuring that there is always at least one female member and one member of a grassroots community based organisation represented.
