Published: November 8, 2022

From managing cross-border Covid-19 travel restrictions to organising the most appropriate content: these were some of the challenges Regional Office – East Africa team faced in the preparation of the Policy Dialogue – East Africa 2022 biennial regional sharing event that brought together over 20 participants from Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. In the end, everyone had memories that make them smile.

“When we got the invitation, we were not sure what to expect from others but the sharing event was very informative. I was able to get lots of information from others that are more experienced and we shared our experience handling policy issues; this will help me to improve my Policy Dialogue work”, remarked Rose.

Policy Dialogue – East Africa and Policy Dialogue Consortia are projects uniquely implemented in the region. Building on the success of the latter, HORIZONT3000 and member organizations focused on CSOs (Civil Society Organizations) influencing local level policies. A blend of theoretical and practical actions ensured the capacities of CSOs in East Africa to engage effectively and to influence policy processes and strengthen reforms at different levels. This included: individual and group mentoring, coaching, training, sharing and exchange learning visits, supporting participation in the local, national and regional network events and small action funds.

As one of the activities, Policy Dialogue – East Africa organized a regional sharing event attended by 25 people (14 female and 11 male) composed of participants representing HAKIARDHI, Women’s Economy and Gender Support (WEGS), Justice & Peace Commission – Kigoma (JPC Kigoma), Human Life Defence Department-Rulenge-Ngara Diocese, Mbozi, Ileje and Isangati Consortium (MIICO), Mama’s Hope of Legal Assistance (MHOLA), Jesuit Hakimani Center (JHC), Diocese of Lodwar, Community Education & Empowerment Centre (CEEC), Mukuru Slums Development Project (MSDP), Diocese of Moroto, and Caritas Mityana (Kiyinda).

The event provided opportunity to share negative and positive experiences and strategies to strengthen engagements in the policy dialogue processes. We applied a combination of experience sharing, capitalization and expert inputs on CSOs engagements with Laws and Policy Makers, and Media. To learn from each other, an inclusion of each participant was very important. To stimulate learning there were sessional topic discussions, relevant quizzes/games and brainstorming, working groups, role-playing, question and answers and demonstration of insightful and relevant examples.

The three days’ event that started from 28^th to 30^th September 2022 in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania climaxed with a documentation of Policy Dialogue experiences by some of the organizations with future outlook for follow-up and support: e.g. completion of Policy Dialogue Strategy, review of organizational projects and programs to integrate Policy Dialogue, developing policies to guide operations, reorienting and briefing staff about policy dialogue and its importance to the respective organizations, re-evaluating different policy dialogue engagement activities undertaken, including context analysis for improvements.

Learning from the discussions, Joyce concluded, “As WEGS, we shall go back, identify and familiarize our team with relevant national and global policies and directives on girls’ education and, plan for a comprehensive situation analysis on long distance walking by school girls in Same, Meru, Arusha rural, Arusha City and Babati Town districts”.