04 THE PLAYING FIELD AND THE PLAYERS ICCO Cooperation works worldwide together with civil society, governments and companies (and to some extent academic institutions) that share our values and commit themselves to a world where people can live in well-being and dignity and justice is done to every man. Crises, both the financial and economic crises, as the crisis in the area of food, water, climate and energy underline the necessity of organized social involvement in establishing and developing a society as well as the urgency to jointly find solutions for systemic change.
governments and the market, both on national and local level. Human rights, accountability and budget monitoring are examples of important watchdog themes. Photo: PCS
The worldwide changes as described in the previous paragraphs have impacted on the role civil society organizations can play, as well as on the responsibility other players can assume. The different roles the diversity of actors can play in our view, is described in this section.
I. Civil society organizations in the South
Southern social organizations are extremely capable of determining their own role and priorities. They know what is needed for the development of the environment and for themselves. Civil organizations in the South play a major role in constructing and strengthening just and resilient societies. Firstly, they fulfill an important whistleblower function with respect to their own
ROLES OF CIVIL SOCIETY IN THE SOUTH • Being a whistleblower or watchdog on human rights. • Providing public services. and mobilizing governments, citizens and companies. • Creating and repairing trust and social cohesion between actors in society. • Enhancing democratic processes at grass root level. • Creating and up scaling innovative models for social and economic development.
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CRITICALLY AND CONSTRUCTIVELY WORKING ON HUMAN RIGHTS An independent and professional watchdog function on human rights has led to confidence in supporters and opponents. The voice of human rights organizations counts. ICCO Cooperation’s partner organization ‘Association for the Human rights’ (APRODEH) is one of the most important NGOs in this field in Peru. APRODEH is a member of the ‘National Human Rights Coordination’ (CNDDHH) and has good international contacts, for example with the ‘Inter-American Commission on Human Rights’, APRODEH and CNDDHH played a key role in the Truth