ANSA Arab World Regional Event Social Accountability in the Arab World: "FromTheory2Practice" April 26-27, 2015 Jordan 1
Overview About CARE International in Egypt CARE International has been operating in Egypt since 1954, aiming to help communities living in poverty meet basic needs, improve their social positions and cope with their challenging environments in ways that are sustainable and empowering. CARE is committed to strengthening civil society, promoting human rights and addressing the underlying causes of poverty and injustice. CARE focuses on four main programmes Women s Rights, Governance and Civic Engagement, Education and Agriculture and Natural Resources. Under the Governance and Civic Engagement programme CARE focuses on supporting local Governments to implement processes that give citizens opportunities to express their views and participate, encourage CSOs to promote good governance, and support media independence. About the American University in Cairo, the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy (GAPP) Launched in February 2010 and headed by Nabil Fahmy, former Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs and ambassador to the United States, the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy (GAPP) is committed to providing students with the skills needed to become both effective policy makers and executives in any discipline. GAPP provides a rigorous academic foundation, inspires in its graduates a spirit of advocacy and engages the policy community domestically, regionally and globally in a constructive fashion. GAPP launched the Executive Education in summer 2010 with the goal of providing top-notch executive training to professionals in the different disciplines. GAPP Executive Education s mission is to reinforce and reinvigorate leadership capacities within government agencies and public institutions in a challenging global environment and within Egypt and the region. GAPP s faculty members are experts in their field and include both local members and international faculty from collaborating leading institutions. 2
About ANSA-Arab World The Affiliated Network for Social Accountability in the Arab World [ANSA-Arab World], the first regional network promoting social accountability in the Arab World, was set up in March 2012. It includes more than 200 members from seven Arab countries: Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia, and Yemen. The ANSA-Arab World is seed funded by the World Bank through Development Grant Facility (DGF) of US$ 2.75 million (2011 2015) that is managed by CARE International in Egypt that is taking over the network secretariat role. The strategic goal of ANSA-Arab World is to increase participatory civic engagement in public policy processes and application of Social Accountability mechanisms in the Arab Region to improve the quality of public services. ANSA-Arab World believes that the strategic goal is achieved through the following objectives: - CONNECTING key actors interested in Social Accountability - COLLECTING and documenting of good practices - ATTRACTING interested people through the establishment of a user-friendly Social Accountability portal knowledge hub The Network s objective is to promote and strengthen the concepts and practices of Social Accountability in the Arab World by: i) Raising Awareness on the concept of Social Accountability; ii) Building Capacities of its members on the principles and tools of Social Accountability; and, iii) Promoting Networking and Knowledge Exchange around successful practices of Social Accountability in the Arab region. ANSA-Arab World focuses more specifically on four strategic pillars of social accountability identified by ANSA-Arab World network members. These are: 1. Access to Information ANSA-AW recognizes that access to information is one of the cornerstones of social accountability, as citizens right to public information is a first key step in demanding accountability from various stakeholders. Key potential issues with regard to access to information include: a legal and regulatory framework that ensures access to information; 3
information disclosure systems and practices, and; citizen demand for and use of relevant public information. 2. Freedom of Association Achieving social accountability will not be possible without citizens being free to gather, associate with one another to advance common interests and join forces in seeking accountability from public authorities and other societal power-holders. 3. Financial Transparency Another key element of social accountability is the ability of citizens and CSOs to access information about public budget and expenditures and to monitor and influence processes related to the allocation and management of public resources. 4. Service Delivery Basic public services (in the areas of health, education, water, sanitation, etc.) are essential to citizen well-being and of particular importance to poorer and disadvantaged social groups. As a result, many social accountability initiatives focus on improving the quality and accessibility of these services through citizen participation in processes of decision-making and oversight and through a range of citizen/community-led monitoring and evaluation tools for holding the government accountable for its commitments. Among those four strategic pillars, the main focus is on "Service Delivery" as an entry point for approaching social accountability mechanisms to enhance the provision of public services. ANSA-Arab World Regional Conference Social Accountability in the Arab World: From Theory2Practice" The experience of implementing Social Accountability tools in the Arab World to date points to its value in improving transparency and service delivery across sectors, and in giving voice to citizens as users. The heightened interest in democratic governance shown in the Arab World throughout the last three years are important entry points for citizen participation to improve delivery of services, and other key areas of governance such as policymaking and management 4
of public finance. Citizen feedback mechanisms show that Social Accountability has real potential to transform the way government services are provided in the Arab World. ANSA-Arab World is organizing this regional conference From theory to practice in purpose of raising awareness and exchanging knowledge on social accountability concepts among interested participants from the Arab World regardless of their membership in the network. the conference aims at shedding light on the best practices of social accountability tools in the Arab World, drawing lessons learned from the various projects implemented in this regard with a special focus on improving service delivery. Practitioners of social accountability tools from the region will be hosted in a regional conference to showcase their success stories and challenges encountered during implementation. Donors will also be invited to get exposed to ANSA- Arab World s scope of work and achievements in promoting social accountability in the Arab World. "From Theory2practice" will be organized in cooperation with the AUC School of Global Affairs and Public Policy Executive Education. The objectives of the regional conference are to: 1) Raise awareness and exchange of knowledge on Social Accountability concepts among interested practitioners form the Arab World. 2) Shed light on the best practices of Social Accountability tools in the Arab World, drawing lessons learned from the various projects implemented in this regard with a special focus on improving service delivery. 3) Showcase success stories and challenges encountered during the past three years of implementation. 4) Expose ANSA-Arab World's scope of works and achievements in promoting social accountability in the Arab World. The conference website is available at http://conf.aucegypt.edu/ansa-aw-2015 Target Participants: The regional Conference will gather members and non-members of ANSA-Arab World who work in the public sector, private sector, media, and civil society organizations (CSOs) in the Arab World whom have been working on improving service delivery through the applications of participatory governance and Social Accountability concepts and mechanisms. Development 5
partners led by the World Bank and donors will also be invited whether national, regional, and/ or international. Criteria for participation: Participants of the regional conference have to fulfill the following criteria: - Interested in the field of Social Accountability - With proven experience in Social Accountability - Representing government, private institutions, civil society organizations or media organizations and research institutes. Online Call for participation for the conference is made available through the following link https://forms.aucegypt.edu/gappexeced/default_ar.aspx Deadline to submit the application is March 2, 2015 12:00 pm GMT. Regional Event Language The Regional Conference will be held in Arabic. English-Arabic simultaneous interpretation is provided. Date and Venue The Regional Conference will be held in Jordan during the period April 26-27, 2015. The Exact venue will be determined later. Regional Event Structure and Duration The regional conference will be held over a period of 2 days and divided into six sessions where case studies will be presented and participants will have the chance to thoroughly discuss the four pillars of Social Accountability: - Access to information - Budget transparency - Freedom of association - Service delivery Individuals who wish to submit papers to be presented during the regional conference are asked to apply online through the following link : 6
http://conf.aucegypt.edu/conferences/confhome.aspx?conf=ansa-aw- 2015&Title=Call%20for%20papers Applicants are asked to create user name and password to get a personal account to submit the required case studies taking into account that all the cases presented must address one of the four Strategic Pillars of Social Accountability identified by ANSA-Arab World network members and cover in detail the following points: Activities of awareness raising in the field of social accountability; Activities of training and capacity building of individuals and institutions; Steps of the project implementation; and Lessons learnt and challenges encountered Deadline to submit the case studies is March 2, 2015 12:00 pm GMT. Regional Conference reviewers/ sessions chairs Four reviewers (one for each pillar) with wealth of regional knowledge and practical experience in each pillar are assigned to : - Review and comment the submitted case studies according to set criteria - Select two/ three cases to be presented during the regional event, and two cases as back up - Follow up with the presenters to develop their presentations - Chair one session - Prepare a report on their mission Keynote speakers of the opening session: International experts and specialists in the field of participatory governance and social accountability at the international and Arab-countries levels will participate in the opening of the Conference. Dr. Samuel Paul, Founder of Public Affairs Centre (PAC) Bangalore, will extend a lecture over the opening session [ PAC is a non-profit think tank, known internationally for its work on governance and public accountability]. Dr Samuel is the Founder and Chairman of Public Affairs Foundation. He was formerly the Director of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad and Advisor to the World Bank, UNDP, ILO, and other international organizations. He has served on the Boards of State Bank of India and Industrial Finance Corporation of India. 7
Tentative Agenda of the Regional Event: Day 1: Time Session Topic Session Chair Speakers 09:30 10:00 Registration 10:00 11:00 Opening Session TBD Samuel Paul 11:00 11:30 Presentation on ANSA-Arab World 12:00 13:30 Access to Yahya Shukeir information 13:30 14:30 Lunch (60 min) 14:30 16:00 Freedom of association Mastour Abdel Ali (TBC) Day 2: Time Session Topic Session Chair Speakers 10:00 11:30 Budget transparency Mohamed Mansour 11:30 12:00 Break (30 min) 12:00 13:30 Service delivery TBD 13:30 14:30 Lunch (60 min) 14:30 16:00 Closing session (wrap up and lessons learnt) 8