By Prince Elom NOUTEPE, Executive Director of FONGTO

From governance to financial management to networking, the Federation of Non-Governmental Organisations in Togo (FONGTO) has great ambitions. As required by its prerogatives, the platform for consultation and exchange between NGOs and various development partners is making civil society organisations professional through a training session opened on 19 January in Lomé, in connection with the project Strengthening Governance and Accountability of FONGTO members (PGRM). 

Thus, from 19 to 21 January 2023, the training of CSOs on administrative and financial management, the theme of the three-day meeting, enabled ten civil society organisations to have a good vision and better plan the missions assigned to them by financial partners, notably the French Development Agency (AFD). The training also included additional elements on governance, human resources, financial management, procurement and logistics, external relations, project sustainability, networking and public awareness. 

"This training consists of strengthening the capacities of the 10 organisations present today in terms of accounting, administrative and financial management, as well as governance and accountability. The idea behind it is to help these organisations to be stronger in the field and transparent in the resources they use. Good organisation and management of funds contribute to the effectiveness of organisations," said Komi Abitor, director of the NGO Entreprises Territoire et Développement (ETD), chairman of the FONGTO board. 

The privileged partners of this training remain convinced of the impact of civil society organisations on the Togolese population. Hence the need to provide them with adequate tools to demonstrate their accountability, especially to the donors who finance them, whose requirements are quite important. 

"This capacity building will enable the CSOs present to potentially apply for new funding from new donors that they were not previously eligible for before the training. At AFD, we believe a lot in Togolese civil society, we finance about forty projects on the Togolese territory via our CSO window managed in Paris", said Tatiana Maniez, Project Officer at the French Development Agency in Lomé, AFD's CSO Focal Point. 

Since 2022, the CSO window, which was previously open only to international NGOs, has been open to local CSOs which can now claim, under certain conditions, funding from the French Development Agency (AFD). FONGTO has more than 210 members and has a significant weight in social development.