Gov’t Must Work With Private Sector and Civil Society to Achieve Good Governance

Organisation of American States (OAS) representative in Jamaica, Dr. Joan Neil, has said that the Government, private sector and civil society must work collectively towards achieving good governance.
“We don’t need a more relevant timeframe for the emergence of this concept that seeks to encourage good governance than the present,” Dr. Neil stated as she addressed a recent workshop at the Courtleigh Hotel and Suites in Kingston, to look at the participation of civil society organisations in the Summit of the Americas process.
According to Dr. Neil, the world community was being challenged by various crises relating to the economy, food security, the environment, energy, among other things, and these have major implications for the relationship between the state economy and the civil society group.
Citing the trade union movement as an important civil society organisation, she said the unions have significantly increased their bargaining strength with the Government and private sector agencies, and have lobbied for increased purchasing power for workers.
“I sincerely applaud them for their dignified roles and responsibilities relating to their representation of the rights of workers,” she stated.
In highlighting the importance of the workshop, Chairperson of the Association of Development Agencies (ADA), Amsale Maryam, said that it provided an avenue for engendering a more informed and empowered citizenry, and to foster an understanding of the OAS process.
The ADA is a grouping of non-governmental development agencies, working in Jamaica to promote sustainable development and social change, and create a framework for debate, advocacy, and analysis of global and macro issues. The organisation works with various Ministries and Government agencies and collaborates with several international non-government groups.
The workshop, sponsored by the OAS, was organised by PARTICIPA Corporation of Chile, in association with the Canadian Foundation for the Americas and the Venezuelan Institute of Social and Political Studies.