governance.careinternationalwikis.org

Since 2006, CARE International in Egypt has been taking the lead in working on Governance and Social Accountability projects and interventions on local, sub-national, national levels in addition to the MENA region.

CARE Egypt's Inclusive Governance model

Egypt vertical integration beyond local level presentation:

care_egypt_vertical_integration_beyond_local_level.pdf

Projects

Mainstreaming Social Accountability in the Social Fund for development (SFD) Emergency Labor Intensive Investment Project (SAELIIP) with the Ford Foundation and the UK Embassy (2013-2016) The purpose of SA-ELIIP is to promote, through social accountability, better governmental responses to the needs of local communities. To achieve this, CARE has created groups of young people—called ‘enhancement groups’ (EG)— in each location; it has trained them, while at the same time organizing awareness raising events on social accountability for the benefit of local stakeholders, such as SFD regional offices, local non-governmental organizations (NGOs), community development associations (CDAs) and media representatives; it has then coached EGs as they applied a series of social accountability tools—including input tracking, field monitoring visits and public hearings—to projects funded through ELIIP. In sum, the SFD and local CSOs (Community Development Associations - CDAs) are expected to disclose information on projects; youth groups are trained as “monitors” and supported to process and analyze this data (e.g. contracts, plans, and budgets). Youth groups and other key stakeholders such as SFD local staff, CSOs and local media then carry out site visits and make reports on their findings (with observations on issues such as staffing, procedures for hiring workers, social security arrangements and audit mechanisms). This information is presented in public hearings where citizens advocate for improvements, and these are negotiated and agreed with service providers, public authorities and other local stakeholders through joint action plans. Findings from local level are then shared with SFD headquarters through coordination meetings in which higher-level changes are proposed, negotiated and agreed. For commitments that are not delivered upon, specific advocacy campaigns will be developed with citizen groups and the media. This is an iterative process, and the aim is for the cycle to be repeated six times. The project’s mid-term review affirms that Social Accountability is very relevant to Egypt’s current context, and in particular the situation of young people, who generally have little if any space for civic engagement. Trainings for EG members were particularly effective, increasing participants’ skills and confidence, and allowing them to feel more empowered. There are also indications that CARE’s social accountability model is having its desired effects, as SFD is currently reviewing the adoption of corrective measures suggested by EGs. CARE was very successful in establishing and maintaining good working relations with all key stakeholders, and in particular with SFD regional offices, whose initial attitudes toward the project were quite negative.

sa-ellip_factsheet_3.docxaston_2015_social_accountability_in_egypts_social_development_fund.docx

CARE Egypt has its own experience in developing social accountability tools, in particular the use of community score cards. Please see below for a two-page fact sheet on the use of CSC in an education project:

lsdi_egypt_factsheet.pdf

And please see the following brief for further information on CARE Egypt's experience:

care_egypt_experience_with_csc_-_education.pdf

Local Partnership for Accountability Initiative (LPA) with the UK Embassy (2013-2015) (The Arab Partnership Fund). This two year project aimed at improving service delivery by increasing front line service providers’ accountability and responsiveness to community needs, focusing on women and youth; through the application of social accountability tools (community score cards and citizens charters) and the promotion of evidence based advocacy. The project worked towards contributing to the improvement of the access and quality of service delivery in 3 governorates in the upper Egypt by empowering citizens to voice their demands and hold service providers to account, and by opening up spaces for dialogue. The project’s final evaluation found that most of the Social Accountability (SA) initiatives that have been implemented in various service sectors, despite the short duration of the initiative, contributed in proportion to the improvement of services. On the other hand, public officials have discovered that there is much more they can do to improve services without waiting for changing regulations or laws.

lpa_-_report_-_eng-_final.docx

Partnership Program for Democracy and Governance (PPDG/Hewar) (2006-2012) with USAID: PPDG aimed at increasing the capacity of local government officials and politicians, civil society actors and community members in selected governorates in Upper Egypt to participate in the development, implementation and monitoring of government policies and processes to promote transparent, accountable and participatory local governance. The project’s final evaluation found that PPDG Hewar has had a special role in the targeted communities of promoting the rights of citizens and strengthening practices of local governance. The project's interventions have been essential in areas that have been governed by bureaucracy, centralization and weak leadership, in which the voices of citizens have had limited or no place. The evaluation has identified changes on key stakeholders in the form of heightened political awareness, increased communication and cooperation between stakeholders, and structural changes in political and social institutions that reflect increased involvement of youth and women. Ultimately, Hewar has succeeded in bringing Local Popular Councils (LPCs) and Local Executive Councils (LECs) out of isolation and has encouraged the involvement of their constituency. Hewar has managed to revitalize and expand the various roles of Community Development Associations (CDAs) in the target communities. Lessons on accountability have led to institutionalized practices of evaluating CDA performance and holding members responsible for their activities. Many CDAs have indicated that their leadership and administration has shifted to further incorporate youth and women. Participatory planning mechanisms have facilitated their cooperation with LPCs and LECs. Hewar's initiatives have been influential in encouraging women to leave their homes and become active members in CDAs and local government. Women have spoken proudly of defying traditional norms by becoming elected members of LPCs and board members of CDAs. Opening the doors for women's involvement has been a key contribution. Engagement of youth has also been an important feature of Hewar's program and notably its most successful component, as indicated by youth involvement and community leadership. By targeting youth as trainers for various initiatives, Hewar has effectively equipped them with the knowledge and power to become society's new leadership. Finally, Hewar's media component sought to highlight the role of media as a watchdog for local government. By strengthening the technical capacity of local media and linking them with CDAs and local government, Hewar began the process of raising awareness of each of their roles. This initiative was greatly impeded by the lack of resources, lack of technical knowledge on journalism, and the financial situation of local newspapers. While technical capacity of many journalists increased, their willingness to cooperate with local government, CDAs, and citizens often needed to be financially incentivized in ways that exceeded Hewar's and its beneficiaries' financial capacity.

How To Access Quality Initiative (HAQI) with Ford Foundation (2012- 2014). This two year project addressed the needs of all stakeholders to ultimately promote a culture of rights and responsibilities based on participation and good governance. The approach proposed by “Haqi” involves the enhancement of citizens’ awareness of rights and of their access to information. Citizens in their turn will not only put pressure on local government to provide services with quality timeliness and accountability, but will also put increasing demand on CSOs to support citizen rights. Each of these three stakeholders will receive awareness, training, capacity building and technical assistance as required. In the meantime, social accountability groups, the media and LPCs support and oversee the process. The project’s final evaluation found that the project has impacted the attitudes of public to claim their rights within legal frameworks and apply all the necessary steps of redress mechanisms. As reported by the governmental officials from education and water holding company, this is their first time to attend trainings with CSOs and be convinced with the CSOs capacity to play effective roles in improving the service delivery and supporting individuals to claim their rights within a legal context. Community members, particularly women and youth, reported a shift in their understanding of themselves as citizens and a new willingness to question local officials, review budgets, and conduct community research to document their key concerns. This is an impressive, empowering transformation of the of community participation dynamics at village levels.

Get Youth on Board (GYOB) with Ford Foundation (2012-2014). This two-year project focused on youth led actions that call for increased transparency and accountability on the part of the local authorities. The project is also targeting the local administration as a key player. The approach proposed by “GYOB” seeks to build the capacity of youth groups in the area of “local resources monitoring” by introducing Budget Works in addition to evaluating public services by introducing Community Score Cards (CSC) as one of the tools to do so. At the same time, the project will conduct and release a study finding on enabling and disabling factors on youth engagement in local communities, which would open the door for further debates and investigation by local actors on that subject matter. The project’s final evaluation found that social accountability models have been adopted at the local level in different ways; the Education Administration unit of Quos as an example adopted and applied the CSC tool on the examination system to identify gaps of the grading process and apply better approaches for testing and grading students. On the other hand, working with the government bodies such as the Education Directorate, Health Directorate, Youth Centers, Local Administrative Units and the Water Holding Company provided a wide chance of sustainability and replication of the initiatives in different ways.

Local Partnership for Accountability Initiative (LPA) with the UK Embassy (2013-2015) (The Arab Partnership Fund). This two year project aimed at improving service delivery by increasing front line service providers’ accountability and responsiveness to community needs, focusing on women and youth; through the application of social accountability tools (community score cards and citizens charters) and the promotion of evidence based advocacy. The project worked towards contributing to the improvement of the access and quality of service delivery in 3 governorates in the upper Egypt by empowering citizens to voice their demands and hold service providers to account, and by opening up spaces for dialogue. The project’s final evaluation found that most of the Social Accountability (SA) initiatives that have been implemented in various service sectors, despite the short duration of the initiative, contributed in proportion to the improvement of services. On the other hand, public officials have discovered that there is much more they can do to improve services without waiting for changing regulations or laws.

lpa_-_report_-_eng-_final.docx