Ceps’ main priority in 2023 was to revive the civil society |04 January 2024

Fishermen and students graduate after completing training under the project ‘Peser an Mouvman’

Civil society in Seychelles, as in anywhere in the world, comprises non-governmental organisations, advocacy groups, community-based organisations, and citizens at large. It plays a pivotal role in the development of a country.  It also acts as a guardian of human rights and social justice and work to ensure that policies and practices are inclusive, equitable, and respect the fundamental rights of all citizens.

During the year 2023, the Citizens Engagement Platform Seychelles (Ceps) organised many activities. Its chief executive, Alvin Laurence, shared that “as part of the post-Covid 19 pandemic, Ceps had to adopt and adapt to the new political administration of the country in 2021 as part of its strategy to revive the civil society sector in Seychelles. Building on that, 2023 saw the revival going beyond our borders as we got our partnership with international partners flourishing once again”.

By January 2023, Ceps was accredited to the African Union ECOSOC paving the way for several overseas mission.

“Broadening our perspective and partnership with other partners such as Comesa, the African Development Bank, SADC CNGO, ARASA and COI were of crucial importance as we embark of the revitalisation of the NGO sector in the region. Commonwealth who has been pivotal for the NGO sector in Seychelles also embraced new height with Ceps in 2022 through funding that has permitted the empowerment of 30 other civil society movements in project writing and implementation,” explained Mr Laurence.

With two major projects in 2023, namely the ‘Peser an Mouvman’ funded by SEYCATT and the ‘Project writing’ funded by the Commonwealth Foundation, Ceps has been able to reach out and work with both newly created associations, emerging individuals in the fisheries and agricultural sector. This has been sustained by the COMESA Federation of Women in Business (COMFWB) Seychelles Chapter;  one of the most progressive partnership between the COMESA, Government of Seychelles and the civil society. Altogether over 50 individuals have been empowered in socio-economic programmes and trainings (community, value added, standardisation, bio-feeds, bio-fertilisers, etc.).

With two major celebrations in the year, the NGO week in February and the Ceps anniversary in November, a new engagement to revive volunteerism in Seychelles has started and the first focus was laid on blood donors. The new ways people are volunteering and engaging in society calls for better understanding in our modern world.

The focus on the international scene for Ceps has also been in parallelism to several other associations going abroad for exchange in India, South Africa and Mauritius as the country have also welcome delegations to our shores.

Amid the challenges of 2023 especially the incidents of December 7, this year the civil society sector has lost some iconic individuals who have made tremendous contributions to the sector. 2024 is expected to be a year focusing on volunteerism and the Ceps House Project is set to be the crucial step to ensure adequate and affordable space for citizens’ movements in the country to thrive without leaving any organisation behind. It will be the initial step to revitalise volunteerism in Seychelles, broaden leadership capacity and ensure the continuous engagement in the nation building process.

Compiled by Vidya Gappy