The Crop­per Foun­da­tion and Veni Ap­wann have launched a se­ries of pub­lic con­sul­ta­tions on the Draft Na­tion­al Ac­count­abil­i­ty Frame­work for civ­il so­ci­ety or­gan­i­sa­tions.

NGOs, com­mu­ni­ty and faith-based or­gan­i­sa­tions, sport­ing and cul­tur­al en­ti­ties, and oth­er civ­il so­ci­ety or­gan­i­sa­tions have been in­vit­ed to par­tic­i­pate in con­sul­ta­tive process on the Draft Na­tion­al Ac­count­abil­i­ty Frame­work.

The Na­tion­al Ac­count­abil­i­ty Frame­work (NAF) is a pro­posed stan­dard for ac­count­abil­i­ty co-cre­at­ed by and for civ­il so­ci­ety or­gan­i­sa­tions (CSOs), high­light­ing the prin­ci­ples, key prac­tices and ben­e­fits of op­er­at­ing in more trans­par­ent, pro­fes­sion­al ways, and achiev­ing greater im­pact.

The 25-year-old non-prof­it Veni Ap­wann has steered the de­vel­op­ment of the NAF un­der the 2024-2026 Eu­ro­pean Union-fund­ed project, Im­prov­ing Gov­er­nance, Net­work­ing and In­clu­siv­i­ty To­wards Em­pow­ered Civ­il So­ci­ety Or­gan­i­sa­tions (IG­NITE CSOs).

Led by The Crop­per Foun­da­tion in part­ner­ship Veni Ap­wann, the 30-month project aims to en­hance the ca­pac­i­ties, pol­i­cy en­gage­ment op­por­tu­ni­ties and the leg­isla­tive en­vi­ron­ment for CSOs, to­wards a more in­clu­sive, par­tic­i­pa­to­ry, em­pow­ered, and in­de­pen­dent civ­il so­ci­ety in Trinidad and To­ba­go.

The con­sul­ta­tion se­ries was launched at the in­au­gur­al ‘Bet­ter To­geth­er’ NGO Fair host­ed by the Min­istry of So­cial De­vel­op­ment and Fam­i­ly Ser­vices on March 19 at NA­PA, where the NAF was first pre­sent­ed to a pub­lic au­di­ence com­pris­ing main­ly NGO rep­re­sen­ta­tives.

The next on­line ses­sion is booked for April 8, while in-per­son ses­sions are set for To­ba­go (Scar­bor­ough Li­brary) on April 4; Port of Spain (UNDP) on April 9; East (ARC) on April 11; and South (NCPD) on April 14.