Social problems harm civil society stakeholders directly, but citizens need tools to solve them.
Farmers in one African country had no roads they could use to take their crops to markets. They wanted their government to work for them, not just for urban citizens-but they needed to understand how to make their needs known. ICLAD partners with local civil society organizations to help citizens learn how they can participate in their governments. ICLAD also trains civil society participants in effective advocacy strategies so they can help to bring about good governance.

Civil society organizations often work on related issues but lack ways to coordinate their efforts.
Civil society organizations provided nearly all social services in one Middle Eastern country. Although they had limited resources, they often duplicated the activities of other organizations. ICLAD helped them devise networking mechanisms and a forum that organizations could use to coordinate with each other-and with the lawmakers and international NGOs working on the same issues.

Civil society participants have the most detailed, ground-level information about social problems.

When rural people in an Asian country contracted water-borne illnesses, officials felt sure that the contaminants came from sewer runoff entering irrigation ditches, or from improper water treatment procedures. But civil society participants knew better: individuals who lived far from water supplies had to store their water in large jars. They used the water in the jars for hand washing and dishwashing, as well as for drinking-and the dirty water often made them ill. ICLAD equips civil society participants to gather and organize the evidence officials need in order to devise fact-based solutions that will work.