Influnece of civil society organizations in promoting democratic governance :A Case of select civil society organizatins in Juba, South Sudan
Abstract
Civil society organizations play an important role in promoting democratic governance
of a country and this can only be achieved if all governance organs operate in a
transparent manner. The aim of this study was to assess the contribution of Civil Society
Organizations (CSOs) in promoting democratic governance in the Republic of South
Sudan by focusing on two CSOs and their operating environment. The study was guided
by the following specific objectives: to investigate the strategies used by CSOs in
promoting democratic governance Juba, South Sudan, an examination of the
effectiveness of the strategies used by CSOs in promoting democratic governance in
South Sudan and the efficacy of the existing laws and policies in promoting CSOs work
of supporting democratic governance in Juba, South Sudan. The theories used in the
study were the Network Theory of Governance and the Social Capital Theory. In terms
of methodology, a descriptive survey design was adopted to help the researcher
determine the extent to which the independent variable was related to the dependent
variable. Target population comprised of people drawn from two CSOs, the Ministry
of Justice and local residents from Juba, South Sudan. From this target population, a
sample size of 384 was obtained to participate in the study. Key informants were
purposively selected from among the CSOs leaders, Ministry of Justice officials and
opinion leaders from the payams comprising Juba city. Simple random sampling and
stratified sampling procedures ensured an appropriate sample was obtained. After data
was collected using questionnaires and interviews, it was analyzed using descriptive
statistics and content analysis for quantitative and qualitative data respectively. From
the findings, the study established that CSOs were involved in promoting democratic
governance in South Sudan through various strategies such as training of state officials
to improve their efficiency in service delivery, presenting petitions to parliament on
behalf of citizens, supporting public participation in decision making and
implementation and bridging provision of goods and service delivery gaps. The study
further established that these strategies had been effective as reported by majority of
the respondents who noted that there was improved cooperation and collaboration
between government agencies, CSOs and the general public in deciding and
implementing projects and programs. Though the strategies had been fairly effective,
the findings indicated that more needed to be done in terms of developing and
implementing policies and laws that specifically support the work of the CSOs
especially in the promotion of democratic governance in the country as there was only
one general law. The findings are very important to government officials in the ministry
of Justice and parliament as they will know the gaps they need to fill in especially on
law making and policy formulation as well as academicians who may want to conduct
further research in related areas.
Publisher
Africa Nazarene University