LESOTHO

Mr. Seabata Motsomai, Acting Executive Director
Lesotho Council of NGOs (LECONGO), Lesotho
December 19, 2000

E-mail: lecongo@lecongo.co.ls
Web: http://www.lecongo.co.ls

Since the Regional meeting of the African NGO Working Group on the World Bank (October 2000), there has been little progress as far as the PRS process is concerned. The civil society in Lesotho has launched a structure that will assist participation in the preparation of the full PRSP. The structure that has been launched is the Civil Society Poverty Reduction Forum (CSPRF) which consists of NGOs, Trade Unions, Chamber of Commerce and Christian Council of Lesotho. The present Interim Committee has representatives from Trade Unions, Chamber of Commerce, Women Groups, Farmers and Youth Groups. Out of this Committee three of them will represent the CSPRF in the Technical Working Group that has been charged with the responsibility of preparing the PRSP.

During the preparation of IPRSP, CSPRF successfully managed to prepare the last chapter, chapter 5 which indicates a way forward for consultation during the preparation of the full PRSP.

The CSPRF includes organizations that will focus on the monitoring programme of the poverty initiatives in Lesotho. Other organizations will participate in the poverty reduction initiatives in Lesotho. There is also a mention that the new ACP-EU Partnership Agreement opportunities for civil society organizations will be engaged by this structure. The Memorandum of Understanding between the members of the CSPRF is being developed.

The Consultation process for the full PRSP will be led by civil society in other areas where they are strong and where they are not strong, the efforts will be merged between government and civil society organizations. The point that was made clear was that the government is poor in consultation therefore the NGOs will lead the process because they are good in community mobilization.

The final I-PRSP has been submitted to the World Bank and IMF last Friday, 15th December 2000.