Date
12-Oct-2011 to 15-Oct-2011

Location
New Delhi

Format
International

PRIA Global Partnership (PGP) organized a study visit of Bangladeshi and Cambodian delegates to India under the initiative called ‘Deepening Local Democratic Governance through Social Accountability in Asia’, which is supported by UNDEF. The purpose of the visit was to provide the participants with in-depth knowledge and understanding on Social Accountability Mechanisms practiced in some select Indian municipalities. The aim was to facilitate a meaningful interaction between the participants and the respective officials on the opportunities, challenges and dynamics of institutionalizing Social Accountability Mechanisms (SAMs). Some of the specific objectives of the visit were:

To enhance the understanding of the participants on Social Accountability Mechanisms (SAMs) particularly Grievance Redressal System, Citizens’ Charter and Pro-Active Disclosure and the way they are implemented in the particular municipality and/or public agency.
To provide a platform for mutual learning and sharing among the participants and the agency visited.
To build the capacities of the participants to effectively replicate and implement similar Social Accountability Mechanisms in their respective municipalities.

The ten member delegation from each country comprised of representatives from the implementing partner CSOs (PRIP Trust-Bangladesh and SILAKA-Cambodia), elected head/deputy head, chief/deputy chief municipal officer/other key officials of the respective municipalities (Rajshahi in Bangladesh and Takhmao in Cambodia), as well as women and youth citizen leaders/facilitators from the communities.
The delegation from Bangladesh visited the citiesofJaipur and Ajmer (Rajasthan), whereas the Cambodian delegation went to Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh). In the course of the visit apart from interacting with the municipal officials and elected representatives and heads, they also had discussions with citizens groups to understand their functioning, issues and challenges. This helped them to have a broad overview of how the local issues of the communities are identified, prioritized, raised and followed-up with the concerned authorities by the citizens themselves.

The study visit proved to bean effective platform to nurture and facilitate mutual learning and sharing.It was a three way learning process where the delegates from Bangladesh and Cambodia got an opportunity to not only learn from their host country (India) but also from each other.For the Indian counterparts (officials, elected representatives, citizens etc.) too, it was an occasion to share their experiences as well as gather from the delegateshow they function in their respective countries, what are the different institutions, frameworks and procedures of urban governance etc.?The visit also opened up new avenues for dialogue and collaboration among the three countries, which can also be seen a step towards strengthening south-south learning.

To read the list of participants, click here To view the photographs of the exposure visit, click here To learn about the project, click here

Study Visit of Bangladeshi and Cambodian Delegates to India