Resources

IInfluencing government policy formation and monitoring together with influencing policy implementation has become a key goal for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in ensuring the success and sustainability of local programmes. This document brings together a collection of Institute for Development Research (IDR) reports which draws on a long-term program aiming to identify examples of successful development NGO participation in influencing policy. Three papers are included. The first is an analysis of alternative approaches by civil society organizations in influencing policy. The second paper compares a series of policy campaigns led by grassroots coalitions and groups situated in the Philippines. Five Filipino case studies are compared and the successes are described as well as some of the difficulties of policy work experienced by civil society. The final paper compares national and international campaigns to influence policies across a number of regions and countries. Lessons and implications for the transparency and the effectiveness of such campaigns are detailed.

This is the second volume of the series 'Learning to Shareà' in which development practitioners continue to share lessons learnt from the field in the area of community participation. The experiences described in this book are all based in India and cover such topics as participatory eco-restoration, women's food calendar, participatory livestock development, participatory forestry, participatory village profile, bio-diversity monitoring, participatory need assessment, children's perceptions of livelihood and participatory impact assessment. See also, Volume I, shelf location 3171

The aim of the document is to assist in improving the quality, responsiveness and efficiency of reproductive health programmes through the use of simple participatory tools, which systematically ascertain the needs of intended beneficiaries at all stages of the project cycle. The first section provides a brief guide to designing a participatory monitoring system, with the intended purpose being to provide accurate information on users and non-users views of reproductive health programmes to donors, programme managers and service providers. This section also gives the context in which the guidelines have been prepared. Lastly, it provides a case study example of a participatory monitoring design, which places the process of client monitoring within the overall logical framework of the project. The second section provides the resource material and is divided into four parts. These are; checklists for incorporating users' perspectives throughout the project cycle; methods to assess users' perspectives; overview of conventional indicators of family planning programmes and a brief review of the literature on sexual and reproductive health.

This article gives an overview of deliberative democracy and citizen empowerment. It describes the reasons for the recent interest in Deliberative and Inclusionary Processes (DIPs). These are given as; political changes; a lack of trust in professional expertise and science; high levels of uncertainty and complexity (e.g. in the realm of the environment and technology) that are an integral part of living in a modern world and the notions of human rights, social justice and empowerment. It then details the main issues emerging from DIPs that are discussed in the remaining articles within PLA notes No. 40 and ends with a brief description of some of the challenges DIPs might face.

This paper explores literature related to the dynamics and methods of strengthening community-based participation in the context of programmes for democratic decentralisation. It specifically examines the merging of two distinct traditions of participation, social/project and political, and looks at the linking of development with the state, and a concept of governance that is accountable to civil society. In so doing, the authors demonstrate the emergence of a new definition of participation as citizenship, and contend that such new forms of citizen participation can best be seen at the local level, where ægrassrootsÆ interact with those of governance and the state. Barriers to citizen participation in local governance are discussed, such as: power relations; no previous history of grassroots/citizen organisations; weak or non-existent participatory skills; lack of will at both central and local government level; the level of participation; and the paucity of financial resources at local level. Ways in which these obstacles can be overcome are subsequently suggested, including participatory planning, citizen education and awareness building, and training and sensitising of local officials. The paper concludes with an illustration of a successful experience of citizen participation (participatory budgeting in Latin America), and a brief discussion of issues for further research.

The paper starts with the observation that it is increasingly accepted that improving the quality of life in impoverished urban areas depends on the capacity of local residents to form social networks and civic organisations. While much of the literature calls for a retreat of the state to accomplish this, some recent studies have shown that state actors can actually promote empowerment of civic organisations. The article looks at an example of state-fostered civic organising: Porto Alegre's "participatory budget", which involves handing over municipal funding decisions on basic capital improvements to neighbourhood-based forums. The analysis looks closely at the Extremo Sul district in terms of mobilising neighbourhood residents, opening closed neighbourhood associations, building co-operative alliances, and transforming participants' perspectives. It is argued that in response to this policy innovation, innumerable neighbourhood organisations have formed, whilst at the same time clientelist forms of neighbourhood action have been discouraged and participation and inter-group collaboration promoted. It is concluded that the first step to state-sponsored civic organising is that the state must be genuinely open to participation and responsive, and that potential participants must become aware of that responsiveness. In Porto Alegre, this did not happen straight away, but there was a demonstration effect that helped mobilise groups, and the targeted issues were found to be meaningful to poor neighbourhood residents. Community organisers also acted as external agents helping unorganised neighbourhoods organise. Networks of reciprocity and trust were built and clientelism discouraged, as alliances built up from year to year and people changed the way they perceived their interests. Against the trend for promoting self-financing and cost recovery in infrastructure investments, top priority went to raising revenue through taxation and administrative streamlining. Further, government spending set off, rather than discouraged, a boom in civic action. It is argued that the policy prioritised a different kind of investment: building new relationships between government personnel and citizens. This new type of governing privileges accessibility, flexibility, and negotiation. It is argued that, overall, there has been a fundamental transformation of political life in Porto Alegre as neighbourhood residents have shifted from powerless cogs in clientelist machines to being active participants in public life.

By the end of the 1990s good governance (GG) was the new catch phrase in development and public policy circles. Good governance is increasingly viewed as a panacea to persisting problems of development and government. Donors, governments (central and local), academe, NGOs and other civil society groups are calling for GG as a requisite for making development programmes and interventions successful. This review examines indicators of local GG. It gives a historical background to GG and overviews the GG agenda. Emerging concepts of good governance are presented with specific references to different literature; and the way forwards towards a framework for defining GG is discussed, with focus on means toward good governance and decentralisation. Key measures of good governance are examined such as participation; new styles of leadership; accountability and transparency; capable public management in economic management, service delivery, sustainable natural resource management and fiscal administration; and respect for law and human rights. The author goes on to propose a manner of constructing a data base of indicators of GG: describing methodology and how to classify the indicators. This is followed by a discussion on who develops and who uses indicators of GG, and emerging issues in defining good local governance. The paper is concluded with some final remarks on the processes of measuring and defining GG.