Resources

Women the world over are being prevented from engaging in politics. Women’s political leadership of any sort is a rarity and a career in politics rarer still. We have, however, begun to understand what it takes to create an enabling environment for women’s political participation.

In this pioneering collection, writers from Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East are brought together for the first time to talk explicitly about women’s participation in the political scene across the global South. Answering such questions as how women can get political apprenticeship opportunities, how these opportunities translate into the pursuit of a political career, and how these pursuits then influence the kind of political platform women advocate once in power, Women in Politics is essential reading for anyone interested in what it means to engage politically.

This report presents the main findings arising from an evaluation of basic education in Indonesia carried out by GRM International.  It uses reality check methodology whose purpose is “listening to, trying to understand and convey poor people’s reality”.  It provides insights into how activities under the Australian Government funded Indonesia Basic Education Program (BEP) which ran from 2006-2010 has translated into the experienced reality of people living in poverty.

This handbook is for local level civil society practitioners who want to make services work better for the poor. It builds on current good practices which focus on strengthening local accountability in service provision and governance. Experience shows that accountability is a key issue in promoting more responsive and just service delivery. This handbook gives step-by-step guidance as to how civil society organisations and activists can help to improve local services by focusing on accountability.

This is the foundation text for the series and introduces key governance issues for promoting just and democratic governance at the local level.  The resource book presents a people centred, participatory and rights based approach to local democracy. It analyses democratic and decentralised local government and explores the challenges faced by civil society in championing this vision. It examines the crucial link between the political mandates that determine the scope for local democracy, and the fiscal and administrative requirements needed to support them.  Closely connected to this is the interaction between elected and administrative power holders on the one hand and citizens, their accountability work, and claims for voice and representation on the other.  Finally, the resource book also considers the interplay between formal democratic power versus hidden or parallel power.

Budgets are the starting point of this book, and it continues with different types of revenue and taxes at the local level. Tax Justice is introduced and finally the book explains decentralization and the dilemma local government has in terms of limited independent space for planning and implementing plans. The book is designed for field workers and civil society organisations at the local level. Whilst the political context is very different in each country, it is hoped the book can inspire engagement in budget work at the local level. The book includes tools for analysing budgets and understanding political economy at the local level.