Over 75 local and international civil society organisations including professional associations, labour unions and charity organizations gathered at Ghion Hotel for a three-day exhibition and panel discussion last week. Ethiopian Civil Society Organisations Council (ECSOC) organised the event in light of the third civil society organisations week to create a networking platform and showcase new techniques in their respective fields. Roles of the domestic and international organisations during post-conflict recovery, awareness creation between the government and the organisation through awareness, breeding trust and credibility from the public were one of the foreseen landmarks of the exhibition. The panels, on consecutive days, discussed the role of CSOs in peacebuilding and post-conflict reconstruction, gender, localisation of aid, transitional justice, child and reproductive health services. Lack of information, poor networking platforms and inadequate capacity were cited as the impediments to CSOs' failure in their role of peacebuilding and post-conflict recovery. Under Jima Dilbo, the Authority for civil society Organizations (ACSO) oversees 4,400 CSOs, of which 570 are international organizations. CSOs have been constrained by financial challenges where most have been sourcing budgets from donors and membership fees that were limited or unreliable.
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