BANGO Council Of Civil Society Advisors (BCCSA)

An Assembly of Civil Society Organisations was envisioned since 1994 but the question to be resolved was how it would work and whether or not membership would be selective or restrictive.

An Assembly conjures up thoughts of a large unwieldy body and a meeting that would never end. BANGO's shift to a Focal Point has now opened the doors for that Assembly with the Focal Point as the Secretariat to service the Assembly.

For the time being we shall refer to this body as a Council of Civil Society Advisors attached to BANGO. In time it is hoped that the importance of this body will emerge as a national forum where CSOs can get their concerns onto the public agenda.

It is envisaged that the Council will become a public forum and politically non partisan. Making it a public forum will allow for coverage by the media. However, in the beginning, the media will be fed releases by our Press Secretary.

The Council is scheduled to be convened in April 2005. Its task will be to set the national Civil Society agenda and feed into the public agenda. It shall also develop a national plan for Civil Society action. As the issues unfold the relevant advocates should be scheduled to make statements and be interviewed in the media as part of the mechanism to feed into the public agenda.

Representation on Boards & Committees of Government

NHAC
CCB
MST - HIV/AIDS Core Group
MST - Senior Citizens Games
CERO Welfare Committee

Ad Hoc Committees
Ministry of Commerce - Liquor Licenses Committee, Control of Standards
Ministry of Labour - Child Labour sensitisation and education Project

CARICOM

National Monitoring Committee - Charter of Civil Society
Civil Society Task Force

• Chair of Human & Social Development Committee
• Lead for ICT Affairs

Collaboration with International Agencies

UN Volunteer Programme - Measuring Volunteerism and making statistics part of the National Statistics.
UNDP - Governance Department - Programme of Action for 2005.
UNAIDS
IADB - CSAC

Departments to be Established by December 2005

• Poverty Alleviation Desk (already established)
• Consumer Desk (already established)
• Ricky Parris Literary Publishing Trust
• Marketing Department
• Secretariat Services
• Magazine
• Project Management Department

Training Programmes for 2005

• GEF Project Proposal writing
• Sales, Promotion, Advertising & Marketing - (SPAM).
• NGO Management - Accounts, Financial Reports, Project Management, monitoring and Evaluation