Civil Society Support Program PASOC PASOC 4 aims to "consolidate democracy and good governance in Niger, by strengthening Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in their role as development actors in Niger". The aim is to support the efforts made under PASOC 1, 2 and 3, to capitalise on what has been achieved, to ensure the sustainability of the actions carried out and to optimise the involvement and contribution of CSOs in the monitoring and implementation of public policies.The CSO sector in Niger is characterised by a low level of voice, credibility and recognition of their role as a key player in development and as the voice of society in various socio-economic areas. Only a handful of CSOs achieve a certain level of performance in fulfilling their roles. The latter, even in small numbers,manage to give a strong signal of the primordial role of CSOs in improving the country's governance framework. Their actions deserve to be supported so that they can be emulated by their peers.
The vast majority of CSOs in Niger are penalised by their weak technical and institutional capacity, as well as by a lack of financial resources to carry out their roles properly. A critical mass of well-capacitated CSOs working in a coordinated manner is, however, necessary to carry out the advocacy and influence activities needed to improve the living conditions of the rights-holders who are the population. The intervention proposal from the Oxfam and ROTAB consortium constitutes the implementation of part of PASOC 4, which aims to provide : - Local support andaccompaniment to CSOs through training, consultation andexperience-sharing meetings, production workshops, communication to promote their role and capitalise on their achievements, etc;- Support-accompaniment for the financing of CSO initiatives aimed at promoting their specific role in the development, implementationand monitoring of public policies. This support will take the form of cascading grants to CSOs (third-party financial support). In line with the general and specific objectives of PASOC 4,it proposes interventions aimed at strengthening the institutional, organisational and operational capacities of CSOs in rural and urban areas of Niger so that they can fully play their role as development actors.
The project will have national coverageand will work to accompany and support the selected organisations in the effective andprofessional implementation of their action plans for the benefit of the final beneficiaries.In its implementation, the REAGIR project will take into account and help consolidate the lessons learned and good practice from the 3 previous phases of PASOC (1,2,3).For the implementation of this Project, Oxfam and ROTAB will build their interventions on the experiences of their current and past projects in terms of support to CSOs. These include the Democratic Governance and Human Rights (GDDH) programme funded by DANIDA, the VOICE programme, SP2 funded by DANIDA, JESAC funded by the EU, JEEN funded by the EU, and the current project to promote transparency and increase funding for basic social services, implemented by Alternative Espace Citoyen and ROTAB. Details of these projects canbe found in Section 2.2 of this full proposal. The REAGIR project will also coordinate its actions with initiatives led by other stakeholders supporting initiatives to strengthen the role of CSOs in the development and good governance landscape in Niger.