The 7^{th –} 11^th February 2022, marked the 21^st Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) week and the 31st Annual General Meeting of the Lesotho Council of Non-Governmental Organisations (LCN) themed ‘COVID-19 - A Clarion Call for Citizen Activism: Protecting Citizens’ Voice in the Reforms Process’. The objective of the NGO week was aimed at reviewing lessons learned from the past year with regards to realigning LCN and its members with the mandate of representing the voiceless even during the plight of the COVID19 pandemic, equipping civil society organisations (CSO’s) with renewed strength, common vision and skills, while also addressing many societal woes Lesotho is grappling with such as poverty, post-COVID19 recovery, weak economic growth, ill-performing justice and security sectors and inequalities. UNDP Lesotho has been supporting NGOs with funding, skills development and equipment in their quest for good governance institutions, environmental sustainability initiatives, and sustainable and inclusive economic growth programmes for the citizens of Lesotho. 

UNDP Lesotho in collaboration with LCN made use of the NGO week platform to amplify some of the concerns coming from the CSO’s, advocating and lobbying for strategic policy and regulatory changes to enhance protection of rights, broaden governance space for civic actors and reduction of inequality and poverty including a key primary concern of the parliamentary enactment of legislative bill on the establishment of a National Human Rights Commission. To this point Advocate Lebohang Leeu from LCN added:

“We are journeying with the Government of Lesotho and UNDP to see that our country meets the Paris Principles on Human Rights as we noticed the draft Bill of our Human Rights Commission did not meet them in its initial draft. A Human Rights Commission must be inclusive, represent all sectors and be broad. We’re involved in the fast tracking of the adoption into law of revised bill inclusive of all the Paris Principles.”

The LCN with a grant from UNDP Lesotho, utilizing funds from the UN Tripartite Partnership (TPP) Support to Human Rights Institutions, used the occasion of the National NGO week to garner support from Members of Parliament by having a dedicated session with parliamentarians to highlight the anticipated benefits from the passage of the bill into law. The chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Law of the National Assembly provided feedback on progress made to date in reviewing the Omnibus Bill which included provision for the establishment of the National Human Rights Commission and committed to working with CSO’s to ensure passage of the Omnibus Bill and the Human Rights sections in particular, as well as the ongoing Security Sector and the Justice Sector Reforms Processes. This platform was also an opportunity for the Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Defence to present on their progress as well as their roadmap towards ensuring the integration of human rights matrices into the justice and sector reforms process.

Other issues of concern were the impending general elections, where the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), provided feedback on their readiness to host and support this democratic exercise, in addition to provision of a report on their capacity and funding challenges. Another matter of concern was poverty and food insecurity in Lesotho, which is being addressed through UNDP Lesotho support to local farmers through the Small Grants Programme (SGP). This was evident through a session at the NGO Week geared towards establishing a forum for narrative labelling of some organic produce through the Rural Self-Help Development Association in collaboration with Slow Food Lesotho with the aim to broaden market access for Lesotho’s farm produce.

UNDP Lesotho continues to urge CSO’s to take a gender-focus in their interventions, especially with rising femicides, homicides and gender-based violence. This was reiterated by the UNDP Lesotho Resident Representative, Ms. Betty Wabunoha, during her closing remarks at the official conclusion of the NGO week. She congratulated the organisers for hosting a session with a gender perspective, “Amplifying Women’s Voices, Leadership and Participation: A unique opportunity to implement the National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security in Line with UNSCR 1325 and an African Women Leadership Chapter in Lesotho”, encouraging hope that women’s leadership participation will be woven into many fabrics of social and political formations has truly been ignited.

 There is a clear range of roles civil society plays in Lesotho with a human-centric focus on development, from involvement in human rights protections, broad governance processes and economic growth. UNDP Lesotho continues to support civil society, as part of its regional strategy of “Reimagining Governance”, in which civil society’s dominance as one of the central pillars to democratic governance is recognised. Using this approach of ‘public-civic-private sector partnership, will go a long way in reaching the Sustainable Development Goals.