Civil society groups commit to strengthen governance for resilience

The Commonwealth People’s Forum 2015 (CPF 2015), held from 23-26 November 2015, in Malta committed to working together to boost communities’ governance for resilience. Participants emphasized the role of culture in building resilience, the importance of intergenerational connectedness, the supremacy of collective benefit rather than individual benefit, and the need to sustain a close affinity to earth, its gifts and resources.

Issues discussed during the three days forum were; What makes societies resilient, Lesbians, Gays, Bi-Sexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) perspectives and policies in Commonwealth countries, women, agency and responsive governance and building resilient health systems for an ageing population.

Sandra Ochola, the Acting Executive Director, attended the Forum on behalf of KELIN.

The declaration made at the end of the forum underlined the need for new approaches and new systems of governance to make societies resilient. Governance systems that promote participatory, inclusive, responsive, transparent, accountable and gender sensitive efforts to build resilient societies were encouraged.

The LGBTI community asserted that,

“Criminalization, violence, discrimination and exclusion faced by LGBTI people hinders the resilience of societies. Inclusive societies are stronger, more innovative and therefore more resilient.”