About Us
PEN was founded for the specific purpose of strengthening not-for-profit groups and organisations across the complete spectrum of civil society throughout East Africa. PEN’s founders recognized that a high percentage of grassroots development initiatives and locally driven civil society organisations died a natural death after the initial motivation and energy behind their formation had subsided.
 
While the people who started many of these initiatives often began again, the attrition rate of so many well meaning locally driven endeavours continued to grow. On the other hand many CSOs that survive, have become dependent upon and owned by a small group of individuals who, acting without public accountability, tend to use public assets for private agendas.

The high incidence of failing civil society institutions reflects: huge wastage of scarce developmental resources, personal disappointment and disillusionment of founders and volunteers working in such initiatives, a continuing focus on short-term development projects, limited accountability and a lack of sustainable development.

The predominance of ‘white elephant’ projects and the high vulnerability of civil society organizations is one major cause of the lack of confidence so many people have in the not-for-profit sector.

Yet the strength of any nation reflects the strength of its people, and the contribution the people make to their own development. A strong, people driven, value driven sector (civil society) is fundamental to the long term sustainable development of all nations.

Strong and sustainable civil society groups require not only highly motivated, committed and competent leadership, but also: good governance, strong management, clear strategy, successful fundraising, demonstrated results, public profile, and effective policies, procedures and organisational systems.

CSOs therefore need affordable, appropriate, competent and effective capacity building inputs and support, if they are to build upon their innate capacity and strong commitment to their causes.

While international NGOs and well established national CSOs are able to access donor support to engage private sector services, this is not so for the majority of CSOs.