There has been an 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 Asian countries revealed that all three contributions have not been made simultaneously with the 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 knowledge and experiences. In light of this, it was important to stitch together a coalition of civil society organisations as a complementary and countervailing force to bring forth 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 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 exchange 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 (Bangladesh, Nepal, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan) focusing on the status of democratic governance
- 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 the e-newsletter Global Partnership
- Organised one international conference on Participation, Accountability and Social Inclusion involving 125 participants from 24 countries and published conference proceedings
- 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 the CNA and 115 persons (elected representatives, government officials, and CSOs) were interviewed to assess the capacity needs of local authorities.
- Prepared two training modules (one each for the pradeshiya sabha and muncipality)
- Three pilot training programmes organised (two for pradeshiya sabhas and one for municipalities) in which 43 representatives of pradeshiya sabhas and 15 representatives of municipalities participated.
- 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.
- 40 students were supported with scholarships to complete their distance learning courses.
Year/period
Phase I: August 2010 to July 2011 Phase II: April 2012 to December 2012
Client
Local Governance Initiative (LoGIn) South Asia, Swiss International Development Cooperation
