| CIVICUS: Building and Strengthening Participatory Governance | | | The CIVICUS Participatory Governance programme aims to systematically and comprehensively build the capacity of civil society organisations (CSOs) to engage more effectively with national governments and intergovernmental organisations (IGOs) on issues of governance. The programme also intends to increase the receptiveness of governments and IGOs towards civil society engagement. | | | CIVICUS, together with many other CSOs concerned with social justice, recognises that participatory democracy, and the role of citizens in championing their own destinies, is now more critical than ever. In order to have a larger impact, civil society must interact with, and affect, large systems, policies and actors that influence citizen action. | The purpose of the Participatory Governance programme is to increase the quality and quantity of civil society’s engagement with governments, IGOs and other actors that influence citizen participation. The programme forms part of CIVICUS’ wider advocacy efforts in this regard. | CIVICUS approached PRIA, due to its rich work on participation and governance, to partner with it for the Asian Region. This project is intended to cater to the objective of promoting cross-learning and knowledge sharing on participatory governance within the Asian Continent, thereby building the capacity of CSOs to engage with governance at national levels. | During the CIVICUS Participatory Governance Conference and the World Assembly held in Glasgow, Scotland, in June 2008, PRIA presented the case of Local Self Governance Institutions in India and the political will to support such initiatives. The conference reiterated the need to promote opportunities for information sharing and building the skills of practitioners from civil society and government on participatory governance. During the World Assembly, many organisations from Asia and Europe expressed interest in having learning exchange programmes with PRIA on decentralisation and devolution. | | | | Phase I | | Training Materials | | Presentations | | Photogallery | | This project has been conducted in two phases. The main components of the first phase were the following: | | | Regional Skills Building Workshop for the Asian Region: PRIA in partnership with CIVICUS held the Regional Skills Building Workshop on Participatory Governance for participants from India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka from 20 to 26 August 2008 in New Delhi. The principal objective of the workshop was to help participants to enrich and expand their understanding and skills in participatory governance approaches and practices. The workshop was intended for both civil society and government actors who are interested and have some prior experience in promoting governance practices at the national or local level. The 24 participants at the workshop were largely civil society practitioners, media and government representatives from South Asian countries like Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India. The six-day training workshop had two days of classroom teaching, giving the background to the theory and practice of participatory governance and the tools to evaluate accountability of participatory governance, two days of field visit, where participants would be exposed to some hands-on experience of some of the tools, and a second round of two days classroom teaching, touching upon their experiences in the field, and thereby consolidating on the awareness of the tools on participatory governance. | | | Paper Submissions: PRIA also contributed two papers on ‘Democratising Elections in Local Governance’ and ‘Civil Society Support to Capacity Building of Elected Representatives’. | | | Mentoring: The online mentoring was facilitated through PRIA’s Bulletin Board Services, which was customised to the needs of the online forum. Fifteen participants were provided with a set of instructions along with a username and password for logging onto the mentoring forum. The mentoring process was in two phases. The forum has had 18 topics of discussion and 73 posts from all the participants. It has had 877 hits. | | | Exposure Visits: The knowledge and skills gained through the Regional Skills Building Workshop were sustained and supported through the exposure visit for those selected for the innovation grants. There were five participants in all; three of them from Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh, while two were from Kolkata and Kashmir. The six-day exposure visit saw the participants interacting with various stakeholders of the local self-governance bodies to know the bottom up planning process, about the constitutional mandates that provide space for citizen to participate in local governance, gather knowledge about the challenges and problems for ensuring participation in the local governance process. | | | Innovation Grants: ‘Innovation grants’ were provided by CIVICUS for direct operational support to strategically selected participatory governance initiatives. PRIA was instrumental in identifying and reviewing the grantees. The grantees are in different stages of completion of projects promoted through the innovation grants. | | | | Phase II | Workshop Report
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| | Presentations | | The second phase of the project saw the following components: | | | Regional Skills Building and Peer Learning Workshop on Participatory Governance, Phnom Penh, Cambodia: In partnership with Star Kampuchea, PECSA and PRIA, CIVICUS Participatory Governance Programme organised a skills-building and peer-learning event in Phnom Penn, Cambodia, from 23 to 26 June 2009. The event brought together a group of around 15--25 leading practitioners from South Asia and South East Asia along with a group of 40--50 Cambodian practitioners. The objective of the event was to share experiences and practical skills and techniques in participatory governance. It was also a platform to bring together government and civil society practitioners in Cambodia to initiate a dialogue among them to understand better the workings of each side of the governance equation. | | | | Current Activities | | | Networking: The scope for networking among various practitioners and institutions working on participatory governance is currently being explored to promote the theme at the Asia level. | | | |
| DRC/ IDS Project | The proposed activities under DRC are a continuation of activities pursued in the previous year. The core of DRC is research from which dissemination, policy influence, capacity building of practitioners and academics, and local action in the field follow. DRC research focuses on the themes of participation, citizenship including global citizenship, democracy and accountability. The research studies we carried out in the previous year were: social justice committee study in Gujarat, and global citizen engagement in Andhra Pradesh. This year we propose to finish writing the papers based on these studies, disseminate the findings of the studies, and initiate local action based on the findings of the study on social justice committees. Additionally we propose to conduct an exploratory study on market driven citizenship. | | | The studies link to our existing work in local governance; they provide direction to our proposed engagement with market institutions. | | | The goals of the project are research, dissemination, local action, and capacity building / orientation of practitioners and academicians on the themes of citizenship, participation and democracy. | | | To meet these goals, we have proposed research papers summarizing the findings of the studies, we have also proposed a new study on market citizenship. The dissemination workshops are planned to share the findings of the study. Reflection workshops are planned at the local level to further local action. Regional workshops are planned for orientation of practitioners and researchers. | | | | Our partner organisation Unnati will be involved in the disseminations and local action workshops that we have proposed as part of social justice study. | |
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Program to Enhance Capacity for Social Accountability (PECSA) for Cambodian Civil Society Organisations | | | Traditionally, the discourse and practice on accountability has focused on strengthening internal accountability mechanisms of the governance institutions, which often referred to as horizontal accountability or “supply side” focus of accountability in the literatures. However, in recent years, the limitations of such accountability mechanisms have become apparent, which has provided the scope for explorations in new forms of accountability, focusing on “demand side” accountability of governance institutions. Social Accountability is defined as an approach towards building accountability that relies on civic engagement, i.e., in which it is ordinary citizens and/or civil society organisations who participate directly or indirectly in exacting accountability from the public officials-elected and non-elected. | | | The World Bank has initiated a Program to Enhance Capacity for Social Accountability (PECSA) which aims to strengthen Cambodian Civil Society Organisations to use social accountability approaches and tools and to promote networking among social accountability practitioners nationally and internationally. The program is designed to enhance and strengthen the practice of social accountability in preparation for the Demand for Good Governance Project (DFGG) of the Royal Government of Cambodia supported by the World Bank. | | | PRIA as one of the International Capacity Building Institutions (ICBI), has undertaken Component 1 (training, mentoring and awareness building) of this program. PRIA’s experience on “demand side” accountability offers a comprehensive view of civic engagement in democratic governance and proposes to bring leading practices particularly in the context of local governance and practitioners of social accountability and their experience to the Cambodian civil society organisations. The other partners in the programme are SILAKA, Cambodia and Ateneo School of Goverment, Philippines. | | | | The Program to Enhance Capacity for Social Accountability has the following components: | •Training on Social Accountability Approaches, Tools and Techniques: Three Social Accountability Schools (SAS) are to be conducted in collaboration with the partners. It will be like a “Summer School” in which participants from different backgrounds will come together for a few days to three weeks for a series of concurrent training modules in a common venue. | •On the Job Training, Mentoring and Coaching: The knowledge and skills gained through various SAS will be sustained and supported through on the job training and mentoring to be conducted in between two SASs. This will offered through distance mode. | •Exposure Visits: PRIA will organise exposure visits and study tours for participants in batches to various Indian organisations and locations where Social Accountability practice of a particular tool or process in local governance is well developed. A scholarship program will also be developed for intensive training and skill building for selected CSO leaders who have the potential for long-term involvement in a particular area of Social Accountability practice and have the capacity to adapt and tailor fit the learning to Cambodian realities. A placement arrangement or short-term internship will also be provided for very few scholars with selected leading organisations on Social Accountability in India including PRIA’s own field locations under the supervision of senior staff of the organisations. A regular assessment session will be included to ensure that the learning objectives are met. | | | The First Social Accountability School (SAS 1) was held from the 24th of March to the 9th of April. There were 81 participants from Civil Society organisations, government and the media. In addition to the Basic Orientation module in Social Accountability, there were specific modules on Civic Engagement and Coalition Building, Participatory Planning and Local Governance, Role of Civil Society Organisations in Governance and Citizenship, Understanding Governance and Ethics of Governance, Dialogue with Government and Consensus Building, Procurement and Fund Tracking of National Ministries and Communication and Use of Media. During the course of these modules, practical experiences in India and Philippines were shared, keeping in mind, the methods in which these experiences can be internalised for the Cambodian situation. | | | After attending SAS 1, questions were posed to the candidates on the basis of which, they submitted an essay. Based on these essays, candidates are to be awarded Diplomas in Social Accountability. 45 participants submitted essays on which they were scored independently by PRIA and ASoG. The knowledge gained through the SAS would be further strengthened through the component of coaching and mentoring. Candidates from SAS 1 as well as non-SAS participants were asked to submit project proposals for further coaching, mentoring and exchange visits to either India or Philippines for on-the-job training and mentoring on social accountability experiences. The selection of candidates for the coaching and mentoring has been carried out independently by PRIA, ASoG and SILAKA to ensure that the selected candidates would be then act as change agents in disseminating the concept and practice of social accountability in Cambodia. The first round of exchange visits would have 12 candidates who would visit either India or Philippines where they would be exposed to practical situations of social accountability. The exchange visit for these selected candidates in slated to be held in the month of September 2008. | |
| Logolink | LogoLink is a global learning initiative aimed at strengthening citizen participation in local governance. Through a network of partners, LogoLink provides spaces for exchange, reflection and research on diverse experiences around the world, and encourages learning and action for participatory local governance. | | | PRIA is the regional focal point for LogoLink – South Asian region. In the recent past, PRIA has coordinated several works to build and strengthen the activities of LogoLink both regionally and globally. | | | South Asia traditionally has had a system of local governance which has gradually been institutionalised through the South Asian Constitutions and Acts of Parliament. Governments across the region have initiated significant legislative and policy measures to decentralise power through structures of local governance. Consequently, there has been an efflorescence of local governance structures, electoral systems in place and an opportunity for citizen’s participation in the process of decision making. | | | | Democracies function well, provided laws and policies ensure people’s rights and democratic institutions uphold these functions in a democratic and accountable manner. South Asia has a long way to go to fulfill the aspirations of its people for good governance based on rights and equity. | | | The states of South Asia however, are at different levels of political development. India and Sri Lanka are old democracies. Bangladesh has had democracy interrupted by periods of military rule. Pakistan has faced military rule for long periods, however, a new democratic government has just assumed power. Nepal’s short-lived democracy was interrupted by monarchical intervention with the help of the army. A new democratic government has just come in power. Bhutan was also largely controlled by a monarchy, however, a new democratic government has been introduced very recently. | | | PRIA proposes to initiate a series of dialogue with civil society organisations working on local governance in the region. The basic purpose of organising these dialogues is to deepen assessment of lessons learned, promote exchange of experiences and good practices, and identify new areas of work. The learning from these dialogues will be documented into country specific and regional synthesis reports. | | | The project goal is to build a regional network of civil society organisations which will work as a learning network, anchored by PRIA- LogoLink and key regional partners (South Asia), for the purpose of sharing, catalysing and synthesising practitioner knowledge in the field of participatory local governance for poverty alleviation and social justice. | | | The project purpose is to explore the opportunities for networking with the civil society organisations working on issues of local governance in the South Asian countries of Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan and India. | | | | The project will enable to: | | •Share and learn from each others' experiences; | | •Identify issues of concern around the theme of Citizens Participation and Local Governance; | •Define learning agendas, that could help inform the theory and practice, which seeks to promote citizens participation in local governance, within the region and in other regions, as part of the LogoLink partnership | | •Evolving a network of civil society organisations of South Asian countries on Local Governance | | | | Proposed Outputs are: | | •National dialogues on Role of Civil Society Organisations in Strengthening Local Governance | | •Database of CSOs working on local governance in South Asia | | •Country specific reports on “Civil Society Organisation and Local Governance" | •Synthesis report covering issues of citizen participation and local governance in South Asian countries | |
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