SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY LOCAL LEARNING EVENT: WESTERN UGANDA

Transcription

1 SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY LOCAL LEARNING EVENT: WESTERN UGANDA Creating linkages between Local National and National Accountability platforms for effective advocacy Catholic Social Centre, Mbarara District 9/21/2015

2 Introduction On 21st September 2015, Western Ankole Civil Society Organizations Forum (WACSOF) under the auspices of Uganda National NGO Forum (UNNGOF) held the Social Accountability Local Learning event under the theme creating linkages between Local National and National Accountability platforms for effective advocacy. Despite the great Civil Society contribution, majority of organizations still lack the capacity to: Comprehensively and sustainably engage the state in policy analysis, advance governance issues and monitor and evaluate policy processes and their implementation. This is due to the existing gaps in coordination, limited information sharing and duplication of engagements among others. It is against this background that UNNGOF in partnership with WACSOF organised the learning event which took place in Mbarara District at Catholic Social Centre and attracted over 50 representatives comprising of District Networks (DNs) in the region, Political leaders and Local Government officials. Background The regional local learning event intended stimulate a reflection on social accountability among participants; also to strengthen and enhance the capacity of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) engaged in social accountability work for improved monitoring, advocacy and ultimately better service delivery and good governance in Uganda. Uganda National NGO Forum in partnership with Western Ankole Civil Society Organizations Forum (WACSOF) held the regional meeting which was immensely attended by regional coordinating organizations, such as; Kisoro NGO Forum (KINGOF), Kamwenge District Indigenous Voluntary Development (KADIVDO) Network, Kanungu NGO/CBO Forum, Kabarole NGO Forum, Kyenjojo NGO Forum, Kasese District Development Network, Mbarara District Civil, Society Organizations Forum, Hoima NGO Forum Uganda National NGO Forum also carried out an assessment on the status of social accountability work at local level, basing on areas such as; participation-the facilitating factors, challenges, and solutions proposed to enhance participation; monitoring- the extent to which organizations participated in the monitoring of service delivery in different sectors and the existing challenges encountered; interface with local government- the experience particular organizations have with engaging local government over service delivery issues, challenges and successes registered; linkages between local and national social accountability work- facilitating factors and strategies for better linkages. 2

3 Opening Remarks: Ms Dorothy Kesiime, Coordinator Western Ankole Civil Society Organizations Forum (WACSOF) On behalf of Western Ankole Civil Society Organizations Forum (WACSOF) as the regional coordinator organisation, Ms Kesiime appreciated participants for turning up in expected numbers and demonstrating the interest to learn. She further reiterated the need for participants to understand the social accountability concept deeply and be able to crop out the role of civil society to ensure effective service delivery. Ms Kesiime guided participants into raising expectations they anticipated in the discussion on social accountability; and participants were eager to know the role of citizens in the social accountability cycle; to understand principles and values of social accountability ; distinguish who should account and to who; Roles and importance of Social Accountability: Ms Sophie Kange; Head of Programs, Uganda National NGO Forum In an attempt to capture participants understanding of the social accountability concept, Ms Kange asked participants to define what they understood as social accountability and responses included; reflecting from what citizens expect from leaders and what has been done for them; Service delivery; A record of what is happening around us; Who does what, who is accountable and who reports to whom?; A display of what takes place in our communities; An obligation for everybody to be accountable. She demystified that social accountability is everyone s obligation as a citizen and not a political undertaking; therefore social accountability should not be misunderstood as political confrontation. 3

4 Social Accountability framework In an attempt to breakdown the social acountability concept, Ms Kange presented an illustration of the social accountability framework CITIZENS: Rights Public goods and services Taxes and votes LEADERS/STATE: Obligation Ms Kange explained the illustration above as; leaders are given mandate by citizens who vote them into power to provide goods and services; and by paying taxes to the state. This qualifies the state/ leaders as obligated to provide quality goods and services; and account to the public as a right. Building blocks of Social Accountability Ms Kange explained the three building blocks, Information, Voice and Negotiation as; i. Information; Accessing or generating relevant information and making it public are critical aspects of social accountability. Citizens need articulate information before holding leaders accountable as it might prove complexity without accurate information. Ms Kange reiterated that the entire process of information sharing bridges the relationship gap between leaders and citizens. ii. Voice; people must have a Voice to hold effective social accountability. For information to be effectively delivered there must be a voice to forward it; and the voice to be efficient, it must be recognized, received and appreciated when amplified, In this case it is Actors need to rethink on how to play around different avenues to discuss different issues about the relationship between citizens and the state, citizens present issues and the state responds. 4

5 iii. Negotiation; in a situation where resources are scarce, there is more likely to be a negotiation. This involves Working with policymakers to endorse change reflective of state priorities and public demands. Therefore due to scarce resources in the country that must meet endless public needs, negotiation must take place. Social accountability Ms. Kange was obliged to present the three main reasons behind the need for social accountability which included; i. Improved services, policies and plans that are responsive to citizen needs and aspirations. Social accountability aims to improve on service delivery, policy formulation and implementation. This also hinges from the information sharing factor and the voice. ii. Improved Governance; while leaders make rational decisions and plans on how public taxes should be utilized by the state, citizens are expected to ensure they vote good leaders into power. This too works better when there is a good relationship in terms of continuous interaction between citizens and leaders. iii. Citizens empowerment; citizens who are better empowered make better and rational decisions and these further eases work for leaders, for example in terms of compliance to policies. More to that, citizen empowerment comes with benefits like better information shared and improved decisions. 5

6 Government Functions and Social Accountability Tools Ms Kange concluded with a presentation on the social accountability tools that government has put in place while planning and developing policies; and how citizens have been involved in different accountability tools. Government functions Formulating Plans and policies Budgets (Expenditure reviews) Tools -Participatory Planning (involvement of citizens in planning activities) -Public Expenditure Tracking -Participatory analysis of Public Finance. -Gender Budgeting Goods and Service delivery Service Delivery Surveys Client Charters Public Oversight -Audits -Oversight Committees (Sectoral committees) -Community level oversight. E.g., User committees The table above indicates different roles played by different stakeholders to ensure effective service delivery. Government is obligated to provide goods and services and thereafter, follow up to find out whether services are effective or if goods meet quality measures to be consumed by citizens; on the other hand, citizens are expected to monitor and evaluate these services; and provide feedback to Government. However ms Kange underscored the need for an operating enabling environment that can allow citizens interface with leaders; and demand for accountability. Social Accountability Assessment: Mr. Emmanuel Mugoole, Consultant During this session, Mr. Emmanuel Mugoole led participants into an individual assessment questionnaire which intended to capture the level of social accountability practicability in terms of participation, monitoring, interface with local government, linkages between local and national social accountability work. 6

7 In detail, the assessment tool specifically sought to find out; how participants and CSOs have engaged with the social accountability work in your area; to what extent the organization has participated in the monitoring of service delivery and in what specific sectors; individual experience in engaging local government over service delivery issues; and the Linkages between local and National social accountability work according to the individual in regard to their organization s social accountability engagements. Buzz groups; regional experiences in social accountability: Ms Sophie Kange, Coordinator, Capacity Building at UNNGOF Ms Sophie Kange guided the discussion which involved participants from different organizations forming groups and sharing key success stories on social accountability work. The discussion focused on the Issue/ problem that affected citizens, the sector it belongs to, how participants engaged with the issue, aligning the discussion with the three social accountability building blocks; Information (gathering and sharing), Voice (mobilization of citizens and advocacy process), Negotiation (who were the key actors and spaces), Indicators of success/evidence of change; and below are some of the success stories from different regions. Stories Historically, Kasese district had always high levels of child marriages in the Western Region. Parents were marrying off their children at a tender age of 12, and this was mainly due to high poverty levels among the Bakonjo. After some CSOs had raised awareness about the negativity of child marriages, the community got empowered and reported to leaders about such acts. First story: Human Rights Issue: Child Marriages, Rape and Defilement in Kasese district Citizens further requested for a policy to be put in place and followed up. They held meetings, held debates and negotiated with leaders about the matter which finally led to the formulation of a policy against child marriage, defilement and rape of women. Since the formulation and enactment of this policy, the percentage of children completing primary education and other education levels has greatly increased, rape and defilement cases also reduced at the police stations. 7

8 Second story: Education sector Issue: poor performance in UPE schools in Bushenyi district In 2013, Bushenyi District ranked 4 th in the bottom-up approach; the education performance in mostly UPE schools had deteriorated in the entire district. Parents and other concerned members of the district raised a concern about the issue; they organized a monitoring team to go on the ground and find out what the main cause was. The team having carried out a field visit in most UPE schools they found out the cause of poor performance as; Absenteeism, limited supervision, and lack of involvement by parents in their Children s education. Constructive dialogues with the DEO, district officials and other community members were held and possible solutions suggested and these included; enforcement of regular school supervision to ensure regular attendance of teachers, the Education department was provided a vehicle to ensure regular inspection of schools among others. The performance in schools has since then greatly improved. In Mbarara district, there was a primary school that lacked infrastructure to the extent that pupils studied under the trees. Pupil often used the nearby church as a classroom. The priest noticed and with concern preached about the issue in church which attracted attention from the congregation. Sector: Education Issue: Inadequate Infrastructure This was followed by several meetings with the clergy, community members, division councils, Local Council leaders to address the issue. It attracted several other responsible authorities until government responded by constructing enough classrooms. 8

9 Emerging Issues A number of issues emerged from participants, and these were; Need to demystify roles and responsibilities by different stakeholders Clarifying who between politicians and civil society organizations is to represent citizens issues to the state Information sharing Participants were concerned if there is an convenient procedure/ mechanism of acquiring information from leaders Negotiation skills Need to equip civil society and other social accountability actors with negotiation skills as a pertinent attribute in achieving the intended goal Bureaucracy deterring information availability Bureaucracy follow in Local government and other state institutions tends to discourage citizens from walking the journey to attain information ought to be given to them Imperative comments and next steps: Mr. Alfred Nuamanya, Head of Programs Uganda National NGO Forum Basing on the social accountability discussion, Mr. Nuamanya extensively elaborated on the key blocks of social accountability and how to improve what is already in place at local level. He further specified that social accountability is not just accountability but brings together political accountability, Bureaucratic / formal accountability and economic accountability. How to Improve on Information gathering and sharing Need to build trust among social accountability actors including civil society/citizens and the state. Trust is recommended for transparency to be achieved Credible Sources Information must be acquired from well researched sources so as to be able to give accurate and updated information. 9

10 Improving voice Influencers/Allies; it is very important to consider influencers, For example, if the issue is about the health sector, use the health workers to intervene and take lead. Appreciate leaders; it is also imperative for people intending to acquire information from leaders to first appreciate the positives so that you can get a positive response. Lobbying: need to stop being more interested in what and get more concerned with who is responsible and who knows about him, so that we go through that person to get the what which Mr. Nuamanya termed as the fast mover advantage. Utilize spaces. First by recognizing, appreciating and considering those that are near us to amplify the voice and ensure the responses. Negotiation. Establish the working relationship with the benefactors, so as to avoid conflicting targets Act intelligently and prudently and cooperate with the other team while negotiating How to track success indicators Keep records future reference; i. There should be timely appraisals to keep track of the success indicators information. ii. Documentation is very crucial. iii. Feedback should be also acknowledged or given out. Conclusion In a nutshell, the Head of Programs, UNNGOF, Mr. Alfred Nuamanya acknowledged that social accountability is not all about accountability; there is political accountability where leaders are elected into power and bureaucratic accountability which is also called formal and Financial accountability. He lastly noted that social accountability only operates in the democratic dispensation where information flows unreservedly. 10

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