Strengthening local governance and community development
Aawaaj has been implementing LGCDP program in 15 VDCs and Birendranagar municipality since last 4 years in Surkhet district. The Program has brought all local actors, institutions, and local donors within a framework of network, collaboration, coordination mechanisms. The Programme envisaged to improve systems, procedures, structures, tools and capacities to improve local governance for effective service delivery and citizen empowerment. The program focuses on social mobilization, service delivery and resource mobilization, local economic development and livelihood improvement aspects. The core development principles of LGCDP II are sector-wide approach, equity, subsidiary, harmonization and alignment, participation and collaboration, sustainability and value for money.
Goal:
The overall goal of the LGCDP II is to contribute towards poverty reduction through better local governance and community development. To achieve the goal, the Program has identified local governance as an essential element which is directly linked to people in their day-to-day life. Accountable governance, quality infrastructure and efficient service delivery, public financial management, economic development and community development are major areas of the Program.
Purpose:
The purpose of the program is to improve local governance for effective service delivery and citizen empowerment. The program has adopted a framework to strengthen decentralization, devolution and accountable local governance system which makes basic service delivery effective and efficient and empowers citizens mainly women, children and disadvantaged groups.
Program Components: LGCDP II comprises of four key components of intervention that include:
- Citizen’s empowerment (demand side improvements);
- Service delivery and capacity development (supply side improvements);
- Socio-economic and infrastructure development (local development)
- Governance reform (policy).
Outcomes and Outputs:
LGCDP II has aimed to achieve four outcomes in the areas of downward accountability, ( Local body ) LB responsiveness, effective local services and policy strengthening. In total, there are nine outputs within the four outcome areas.
Outcome 1: Citizens and Communities hold their local governance actors accountable: In this outcome, LGCDP aims to achieve results in the areas of citizens empowerment including women, children, disadvantaged groups and their institutions through social mobilization processes. The outcome also intends to achieve results in the areas of local governance particularly holding LB accountable toward disadvantaged groups including women and children by engaging people in planning process, monitoring and oversights activities. This outcome contains two outputs
Output 1: Citizens and community organizations are empowered to participate actively and assert their rights in local governance
Output 2: Accountability mechanisms for local governance are in place
Outcome 2: Local Bodies are more responsible for citizen’s demand:
On this outcome, expected result areas include: LBs become more resourceful to provide local services to the citizens, LBs increase their own resources, capacity development, formula-based fund transfer to LBs by the adoption of equitable principles on their performance measured by MCPM. Supply-driven capacity development initiatives are also emphasized aiming of improved local Public Financial Management (PFM) and reduced fiduciary risks. There are three outputs (outputs 3, 4 &5) under this outcome in the program result framework.
Output 3: LB’s access to resources increased
Output 4: Public financial management system improved
Output 5: Institutional and human resource capacities of LBs and central level agencies involved in local governance strengthened
Outcome 3:
All citizens are provided with efficient and effective local services: This outcome mainly aims to achieve results in the areas of improvement of services delivery of LBs for core services and improvement of development activities operating at the local level. The local services including social and infrastructure development are expected to deliver effectively and efficiently in a harmonious and integrated manner as per citizens’ needs and preferences.
There are two defined outputs (outputs 6&7) contributing to this outcome.
Output 6: Access to and quality of local infrastructure and other socio-economic services administered by LBs are improved
Output 7: Strengthening integrated planning, budgeting, monitoring and evaluation and coordination amongst local governance actors
Outcome 4:
Strengthened policy and institutional framework for devolution, sub-national governance, and local service delivery: Policy and institutional frameworks for devolution, sub-national governance, and local service delivery are expected key areas of expected results of this outcome that need to be updated and improved in the context of state restructuring process. The policy outcome mainly focuses on the political rights, administrative arrangement and devolution of responsibilities for improved local services including sectoral services. The institutional arrangements as per the constitutional provisions are other institutional framework areas that cover mainly local and sub- national (provincial) arrangements. This outcome result is dependent on following two outputs (output 8 & 9).
Output 8: Refined policy on local governance and improved inter-agency cooperation
Output 9: Policies developed for devolution and federalism
So far in local level Aawaaj has done followings inputs and its achievements:
- Advocacy and training with community level health service provider
- Community level interaction between health service provider and clients
- Ward level social resources and access mapping, well being ranking
- Citizen awareness center (CAC) established and facilitate to access government services easily, and participated in the planning meeting at local level
- Increase capacity of social mobiliser, VDC secretary & GESI committee of DDC.
- Training on GESI Policy implementation with 50 VDC secretary
- Capacity building training to district Gender Equity watch group , GESI Budget planning and Audit facilitation
- Community based monitoring of projects; make it more accountable and transparent.
- Public hearing and capacity building training, orientations and community awareness
