BY LORETTA BRIGIDIA MANELE
A Civil Society Organisation (CSO) information sharing session carried out by Development Service Exchange (DSE) has brought about reconciliation among tribal leaders.
According to DSE’s annual report, under its Strategic Priority 4 which is Collaboration; Facilitating Partnerships and Networking, the session was held early this year at KiraKira, Makira province for Makira Conservation Association members.
The session had three aims which were; to share information about sustainable harvest of Makira’s forest and marine life and established protected areas, to establish an environmental conservation network and thirdly, to raise awareness for the Integrated Forestry Management project which will be implemented by the Ministry of Environment (MECDM) Ministry of Agriculture (MAL) and Ministry of Forestry.
DSE expressed that this platform empowered Makira Conservation Association members and gave them the opportunity to interact with the government and other NGOs on issues of importance regarding their organisation and members of the community.
Additionally, the outcome of this workshop as DSE states was the review of the organisation’s constitution, reconciliation between leaders of different tribal groups that formed the association and member’s readiness for the consultation to review the forest resources utilisation Act.
As a national umbrella body for Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in the country, DSE is a mouthpiece for these CSOs embodied with the mission to strengthen effective CSO coordination through advocacy, information sharing, capacity building and collaboration to ensure a credible, accountable and transparent civil society sector working toward equal and sustainable development in Solomon Islands.
