There has been increasing recognition of the role of decentralised local governance for (a) deepening the roots of democracy, (b) ensuring effective service delivery and (c) making the development processes more inclusive. However, a quick scan of the Asian countries revealed that all three contributions have not been made simultaneously with same effectiveness by local governance institutions in a given country. This situation clearly established the need for supporting multi-stakeholder learning processes and coalition building between countries and regions to exchange and transfer of knowledge and experiences. In light of this it was important to stitch together a coalition of civil society organisations as complementary and countervailing force to bring forth the issues related to governance, democracy and citizenship.
Objectives
The main objectives of the project were to foster and strengthen coalitions and partnership in the Asian region between institutions working towards the promotion of democratic local governance and to promote knowledge, learning and advocacy on democracy, accountability and participation.
Geographical spread
South Asia with special focus on Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka
Key areas/components
Conducting comparative research and analysis on Capacity Building of Local Governance and Democratic Accountability and Citizen Participation in Local Governance involving five South Asian countries
Organising an international conference on Participation, Accountability and Social Inclusion
Publishing an electronic newsletter called Global Partnership for constituency building and knowledge dissemination
Developing training modules with learning materials and providing pilot training for the elected representatives of local governance in Sri Lanka (with special focus on Northern and Eastern provinces)
Organising a write-shop on Civil Society Engagement in Local Governance Elections in South Asia
Providing scholarship to students for distance learning courses offered by PRIA
Developing an online knowledge portal called www.practiceinparticipation.org to facilitate knowledge exchanges among practitioners on contemporary issues related to local democratic governance
Key outputs
One regional research and synthesis report on Capacity Building of Local Governance
One regional research and synthesis report on Democratic Accountability and Citizen Participation in Local Governance
Five country profiles focusing on the status of democratic governance (Bangladesh, Nepal, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan)
Systematised data base (contact list) of 250 Asian civil society organisations working on democratic governance
Organisation profiles of 25 South Asian civil society organisations working on democratic governance
Published four issues of Global Partnership e-newsletter
Organised one international conference on Participation, Accountability and Social Inclusion involving 125 participants from 24 countries and published a conference proceeding
Conducted Capacity Need Assessment (CNA) of elected representatives of local governance institutions (Pradeshiya Sabhas and Municipalities) in Sri Lanka covering five districts of Northern Province (Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Vavuniya, Mannar and Mullativu) and two districts of Eastern Province (Trincomalee and Batticaloa). A total of 14 Pradeshiya Sabhas and 6 Municipalities were covered under CNA and 115 persons (elected representatives, government officials, and CSOs etc.) were interviewed to assess the capacity needs of local authorities.
Prepared two training modules (one each for Pradeshiya Sabha and Muncipality)
Three pilot training programmes were organised (two for Pradeshiya Sabha and one for Municipalities in which 43 representatives of Pradeshiya Sabhas and 15 representatives of Municipalities participated in these programmes.
A workshop on Civil Society Engagement in Local Governance Elections: Capturing Lessons from South Asian Countries was organised with 27 participants.
A write-shop was organised to synthesise experiences on Civil Society Engagement in Local Governance Elections. A document has been developed as an outcome of this write-shop.
A knowledge portal on www.practiceinparticipation.org has been developed which is up and running
40 students were supported with scholarships to complete their distance learning courses
Year/period
Phase I: August 2010 to July 2011
Phase II: April to December 2012
Client
Local Governance Initiative (LoGIn) South Asia, Swiss International Development Cooperation