Civil society organizations and the private sector have set the stage for bolstering local philanthropy and the need to work together to solve community needs and accelerate regional development through partnerships, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and defined sponsorships.
In a round table dialogue organized by CivLegacy Foundation and FABIO Uganda at the Mansion Hotel in Jinja City which was attended by different sector players including the media, Private sector and Non-Governmental Organizations drawn from across the region, they all agreed in unison that there’s need to keep tabs on developing local giving together as partners.
This conversation comes at the heels of a research report focusing on local giving and philanthropy which was released by the CivLegacy Foundation highlighting key findings which among others investigated the philanthropic activities of local businesses within four districts in Eastern and Northern Uganda: Gulu, Arua, Jinja, and Mbale between April and June 2024 and exploring philanthropic practices within the private sector.
According to CivLegacy Foundation, the main goal of the study was to identify and profile local businesses, understand their philanthropic structures and mechanisms, and determine the underlying factors that drive their engagement focusing on giving by companies and businesses to local causes in the study area.
At the Mansion Hotel, stake holders dissected all key findings which highlighted several challenges hampering local giving by local businesses to local causes. Local business owners say they’re sometimes overwhelmed by multitude of requests from different organizations which end up addressing the same causes in the same areas of operation, economic hardships which make their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) sometimes impossible. These also say many organizations often times fail to provide proper accountability.
Civil Society Organizations on their side revealed that some of the hinderances to local giving by local businesses to their causes include communication gaps, tough conditions pegged to the support given, mismatch in the visions among others. It’s upon such discussions that local businesses and Civil Society Organizations hatched a plan to keep the conversation on local giving [philanthropy] a priority to reduce the funding gaps since donor funding has shrank over the years.
The Research Report unveiled at the Mansion Hotel also laid down several recommendations to foster effective and impactful local philanthropic activities which include; strengthening oversight and guidance, establishing regional philanthropy hubs, developing a national online philanthropy portal, creating a national networking and Learning platform and also facilitating continuous stakeholder dialogue.
It further calls upon the media to proactively promote local philanthropy, amplify the visibility of grassroots initiatives and champion a narrative of local agency and change.
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