Give Donation
Support Us
Become a Volunteer
ABOUT CSIF
The Civil Society and Institutional Foundation (CSIF) started in 2011 as an umbrella organization consisting of 21 small and medium-sized Ghanaian NGOs. CSIF was founded with the main goal being to serve as a mouthpiece for its member organizations and to support their resource mobilization and capacity building.
The social purpose of CSIF is to push development in the Northern regions of Ghana, by drawing on the individual and collective knowledge, experience, and achievements of the member organizations, many of which have worked in various fields of development for the last two decades. The fields where our member organizations engage in include but are not limited to Vocational and employable skills training, education and advocacy, micro-farming and credit, and women and youth empowerment.
Lets Change The World With Humanity
CSIF was established to unleash the potential of smaller NGO as engine for growth, innovation, and social change in marginalised communities in Northern Ghana. The founders realized the capacity gaps and lack of cooperation among these smaller NGOs. By working together, the NGOs have the propensity to increase individual capacity and results. The founders saw cooperation and co-learning as the alpha and omega of/for these organizations. The realization of the low capacity of small and medium-sized civil society organizations in the Northern Region necessitated the efforts by the founders to establish a network as a common platform to increase the economies of scale in terms of capacity enhancement, synergy, and knowledge exchange.
OUR PROJECTS
Together we make all the difference
- Social Behavioural Change Communication (SBCC) For Malaria Prevention In Nanumba South District, 2018 – 2020csifgh2021-04-23T06:56:26+00:00
- Student Union Empowerment (SUE) – Joint Finalization & Pilot 2016 – 2019csifgh2021-04-26T22:33:08+00:00
CHALLENGES
After 5years of learning, it has become imperative for us to re-strategize and refocuses as an organization, hence the current strategic document (2018-2022). The current 5year strategy is to transform CSIF into a catalyst for social change by strengthening capacities of CBOs, democratic and educational institutions by 2022 – departing from being a membership-based network organization into an implementing agency with three focus areas
The EduAfrica initiative will support needy students to acquire professional education in the area of nursing and teaching whilst the Student Union Empowerment Project (SUE) continues to make Student unions in Northern Ghana stronger to speak and represent students’ voices, rights, aspirations, and their needs for relevant quality education and employment. We will seek to expand on these and take new initiatives to ensure access to quality education in Northern Ghana become a right, driven by transformed and strengthened CSOs, democratic and educational institutions in Ghana.
Inclusion & State Funding of CSOs and Education Policy Influencing
Scarce resources, high criteria for donor funds, and donor fatigue are a reality with most of Ghana’s development partners already indicating timelines to exit the country. This means that the sustainability of the CSO (especially CBOs) is at stake and needs to be looked at critically. Despite the many contributions of CBOs towards the local development agenda, there is an absence of state support to them. CSIF seeks to advocate for a state budget allocation framework for funding CSOs and CBOs.
CSIF will take an active part in national and international advocacy and development agenda setting and duly give policy advice on best practices with regards to aid effectiveness and impact and education. It will be situational, one policy at a time, evidence-based advocacy.
CSIF will liaise with other CSOs and community members to raise awareness regarding issues of concern to community development.
The strategy is a result of two weeks (in December 2017) of introspection and retreat of senior management of the organization to reflect over our journey so far and chart a new path of broader framework that will govern the organisation and propel it into the future.
