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Commonwealth Association of Non-Governmental Organisations, CANGO |
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a better world |
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| Inauguration of CANGO | Founding Motivation | Our Purposes | Home | |||||
The Commonwealth Association of Non-Governmental Organisations, CANGO is a strictly civil society initiative geared at uniting NGOs in the Commonwealth for the purpose of promoting peace, development, human rights, diversity and commonwealth principles and sanitising civil society of pseudo-civil society values whose practice in the last decades of the 20th century called to question the integrity, credibility and independence of the third sector..
CANGO is a voluntary association of NGOs in various commonwealth countries and is completely civil society oriented and initiated; and independent of any government or intergovernmental body as it seeks to promote, protect and assert true civil society principles. Although it shall seek accreditation with the Commonwealth Organisation, it is not an arm of the Commonwealth Secretariat or the Commonwealth Foundation as it operates on purely civil society principles which asserts the right of civil society to organise themselves in line with basic human rights principles.
CANGO Abuja 2003 Inaugural Conference held December 6, 2003 at Protea Hotel, Hall A, Abuja Nigeria as an independent civil society event alongside the CHOGM was attended by over one hundred non-governmental organisations from 12 countries of the Commonwealth; at which Conference an International Steering Committee was constituted.
CANGO’s headquarter, proposed to be in Abuja Nigeria, has its International Secretariat currently at Kaduna Nigeria.
THE FOUNDING MOTIVATION of CANGO is that civil society MUST be STRONG; civil society MUST be RESPECTED; civil society MUST be ORGANISED; civil society MUST be INDEPENDENT; and civil society MUST ASSERT itself.
The formation of the Commonwealth Association of Non-Governmental Organisation, CANGO, was inspired by the leadership of Dele-Israel Ikeorha, Ambassador for Peace and President of Development Clinic International, DECI, an NGO based in Nigeria.
During a gathering that was the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, CHOGM and Commonwealth People’s Forum in Abuja, Nigeria, December 1-7, 2003, Ambassador Dele-Israel Ikeorha of Development Clinic International (DECI), convened a conference of non-governmental organisations in the Commonwealth and proposed the founding of a commonwealth wide association of non-governmental organisations for humanity’s well-being and subsequently initiated and mobilised support for the establishment of such a body;
Accordingly, representatives from Non–governmental associations throughout the commonwealth world and beyond, gathered at this International Conference 2003, to implement the vision of forming a commonwealth association of Non-governmental organisations; then
Representatives of non-governmental organisations from all regions of the commonwealth of nations, drawn from the broadest range of faiths, races and traditions, celebrating our diversity, with gratitude to the Creator for our many blessings and in the belief that it is proper and beneficial to establish such a union to consult, cooperate and work together in the common interest of our peoples, in promotion of international understanding and world peace and to perpetuate good in service to humanity for a better world agree that this body, known as “The Commonwealth Association of Non-Governmental Organisations,” be formed and governed by the Byelaws of the Association (download)
Our MISSION
The Commonwealth Association of Non-Governmental Organisations is an international organisation whose mission is to serve its member organisations, provide the infrastructure and support needed by non-governmental organisations to grow, expand and multiply their capacities, network, partner, share, connect, empower, enrich, enlighten, interconnect and multiply their contributions to solving humanity’s fundamental problems and create a better world to live in.
The Commonwealth Association of Non-Governmental Organisations adopts as its mandate the following purposes and objectives:
To unite Non-governmental organisations in the Commonwealth to cooperate and act for the attainment of global peace and advance humanity’s well being.
Assist member organisations and individuals to achieve their humanitarian objectives, build a more responsive and better society, expand and build the capacities of effective organisations for volunteerism and humanitarian service in the Commonwealth.
To enlighten its membership, providing them with a forum to further explore and exploit their capacities to solve pressing local, national, international and global problems.
To provide a forum to network and use effectively within the Commonwealth, the rising power and responsibility of NGOs in the modern world and harness it for the good of mankind.
To promote information sharing, secure working partnerships with the Commonwealth and other intergovernmental bodies to ensure access to rights, voice concerns and provide a forum for interaction and exchange among its membership.
To strengthen NGOs’ participation in the Commonwealth legislative processes, safeguard the right of NGOs to access the Commonwealth and to speak and have their voices heard at the Commonwealth.
Establish a platform to facilitate dialogue and linkage between Commonwealth NGOs and provide mechanisms that will help them build partnerships and networks to fulfill their humanitarian mission.
Empower its Commonwealth wide membership, enable them develop strength, gain respect/recognition, be self-assertive, more efficient and effective organisations.
Unite members in support and active promotion of the Commonwealth Declarations with particular emphasis on the Singapore Declaration of 1971 and Harare Declarations of 1991 which stress the need to foster international peace and security, liberty of the individual and equal rights for all, democracy and good governance, the importance of eradicating poverty, ignorance and disease and all forms of racial discrimination, and promote sustainable development.
To publish as a service to the membership and the world community in any form or by any means, electronic or manual, information including but not limited to conference proceedings, position papers, newsletters, journals, reports, monographs, etc which the Association deems relevant and consistent with the mission and objectives of the Association.
To act as spokesman on issues of mutual concern by working with other organisations such as the United Nations, the Commonwealth, and other international bodies to voice concerns and advance objectives of its membership while providing members, big and small NGOs alike including those in developing nations with an international voice and platform to express or assert themselves.
To provide conferences, local, national and international to build the capacities of members, to accomplish their mission of creating a better society and world, economically, environmentally, politically, socially and morally.
To engage in other activities for which non-profit Corporation may be organised under international, federal and state laws and which are considered consistent with the mission and purposes of the Association.
