Civil society organizations are a cornerstone of good governance.

Fiji Council of Social Services President, Sitiveni Turaganibure says it’s imperative that they’re able to work with government and enhance their partnership to ensure development reaches those most in need.

Turaganibure says another key aspect of the partnership with government is working together when it comes to reporting the progress Fiji is making on Sustainable Development Goals.

“The high-level political forum will be in the United States, in New York and the government will be reporting on the progress of SDGs within the country, so we have been asked if we can contribute, if we cannot achieve that to the government to be part of that reporting mechanism, then we are looking at how we as civil society organizations, we can formulate a report and do a shadow report for the government.”

In the fringes of last week’s high-level meeting in Nadi of the Asian Development Bank, the CSOs were able to hold deliberations with government representatives and international development partners on more effective progress.