Strengthening Accountability of Public Delivery Services in Nepal

Program for Accountability in Nepal (PRAN), a World Bank initiative, promotes enhancement of the knowledge of civil society organizations (CSOs), media and government agencies on social accountability. The aim is to develop a pool of professionals with skills to build the capacity of different actors to promote social accountability in identified priority themes: public financial management (PFM), municipal good governance and monitoring delivery of public services. Forum for Protection of Public Interest (Pro-Public) and members of its consortium – Nucleus for Empowerment through Skill Transfer (NEST) and Better Nepal – have been tasked with training, capacity development, mentoring and awareness raising in this initiative.

Pro-Public has been involved in training on social accountability approaches, training of trainers, on-the-job mentoring and coaching for recipients of action-learning grants, and orientation tours. Under the PRAN initiative, a training needs assessment (TNA) was conducted to identify appropriate CSO representatives, media and government officials, and individuals. The TNA also identified the gap in knowledge and skills of individual participants in training design, facilitation, evaluation and reporting, recommending a
Training of Trainers (ToT) programme using participatory training methodology to enhance the capacity of social accountability professionals. PRIA was invited by PRAN to facilitate these trainings.

The first ToT of the progamme based on Participatory Learning Training Methods was held from 29 February 2012 to 7 March 2012 in Chitwan, Bharatpur, Nepal. It was attended by 32 participants, including 11 women. The participants were from CSOs (24 participants), networks/federations (4 participants), and one participant was from the media. The participants came from varied social and organizational backgrounds – they included adivasis, dalits, Muslims, and from a Madhesi-led organization. The ToT provided inputs on the principles of participatory training, adult learning principles, group processes, skills in training design, selection of appropriate methodology, self-development of the trainer and how to evaluate a training programme. In addition, the participants were also engaged in practicing their learning during the session.

Subsequent to this training, PRIA facilitated a second capacity building programme on the theme of Performance Monitoring of Public Services Delivery. The programme was conducted at Bhiarawah in Nepal from 20 March 2012 to 24 March 2012. It was attended by 32 CSO representatives and municipal officials, including 7 women. The primary objective of this training was to enhance the participants’ understanding on the concepts and principles of social accountability and application of tools like citizen report card, social audit, and citizen charter. Participants were also engaged in practical exercises like group work, field visit to a nearby municipality for information gathering and then preparing a report and presenting the same for analysis in a plenary. The importance of good governance was also discussed in the context of social accountability. Experiences of social audit in India were shared.

PRIA also hosted a 10 member delegation from Pro-Public who visited Bihar from 25 March 2012 to 30 March 2012.The delegation comprised representatives from CSOs, Pro-Public and municipalities. They were introduced to PRIA’s interventions with regard to social accountability in the state of Bihar. The delegation visited municipal committees in the towns of Chhapra and Bihar Sharif to gather first-hand information about their functioning and related issues. Meetings with elected representatives and the deputy mayor of Patna Municipal Corporation were arranged to discuss social accountability in the context of delivery of public services.