The Partnership for Transparency (PTF) Africa Committee hosts quarterly Civil Society Organization (CSO) Forum events that provide an interactive, participatory way for PTF’s CSO partners throughout Africa to share experiences, challenges, successes, and opportunities. On September 19, 2023, the PTF Africa Committee facilitated a CSO Forum event on the role of civil society in monitoring public procurement to improve service delivery and counter corruption.
Currently, PTF is collaborating with local CSOs in Malawi and Moldova on civil society public procurement monitoring projects and these initiatives were highlighted. Presentations were given by Jeff Kabondo, African Institute of Corporate Citizenship Governance Programmes Coordinator, who is part of the project team for the Strengthening the Capacity of CSOs to Promote Transparency and Accountability in Public Infrastructure Projects in Malawi, and Carolina Ungureanu, Institute for Development and Social Initiatives Viitorul Deputy Director and Manager of the Increasing the Integrity of Public Procurement in Moldova project. In addition, Max Levites, Global Integrity Program Manager, provided information on the Building Bridges for Stronger Systems project.
The participants represented CSOs in DRC, Ghana, Malawi, Moldova, Senegal, Uganda, the United States, and Zambia. The following topics, in which the CSO representatives expressed interest, were covered:
• increased accountability through public procurement monitoring,
• effectiveness of multi-stakeholder groups and coalitions for public procurement monitoring,
• capacity building of CSOs to engage in public procurement monitoring,
• importance of constructive engagement with public procurement authorities and the private sector, and
• lessons learned.
