On November 07th 2014, the ACTION Support Centre participated in the fourth Making All Voices Count Community of Practice, which was hosted in partnership with the South African Local Government Association (SALGA).
The meeting brought together some of the Making All Voices Count grantees as well as government representatives and bodies such as: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the City of Johannesburg, The Commission for Gender Equality and of course SALGA.
The Community of Practice meeting was aimed at discussing the mainstreaming of citizen participation within public services and looking at how government bodies or donors can support tangible citizen participation in shaping policies & priorities. Through this engagement, participants were able explore areas of co-creation or potential synergies as well as network with governance actors within civil society and government. Some of the thoughts and opinions shared within the session emphasized the importance of government bodies creating platforms that will promote constant engagement between government and grassroots organisations, to help bridge the gap between the two.