strengthening multi-stakeholder networks for good governance in africa lessons from experience

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Strengthening Multi-stakeholder Networks for Good Governance in

Africa

Lessons from Experience

Sahr Kpundeh, AFTPR

Presented to:GAC Regional WorkshopAddis Ababa, EthiopiaJune, 2007

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Frequent Responses

Building Political Will and Strengthening Civil Society

-- both concepts often misunderstood. PW and a strong civil society seldom emerges because they are needed.

-- political will is not just a matter of elites deciding to be good; they must have reason to think it is in their interest to do so.

-- the “one-man show” approach so often fails because the will of the strong man can be used for ill, just as easily as for good. Sustained anti-corruption programs are arrived at not by preconceived ideas/notions, but by building coalitions from within

-- as for civil society, we cannot just urge citizens to act. They need leadership, a measure of security, and credible prospects that their action will yield benefits.

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Coalitions

If political will and a strong civil society are going to advance real reforms, it must be the result of real and broad-based political processes, not just the determination of elites.

The latter might well be a force for A-C reform but could be used to do a variety of other less desirable things, particularly if the external pressure to fight corruption should wane.

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Cont’d.

Political Will and Civil Society should be seen as an outcome of coalitions, and not as an input, and we need to understand the forces creating and sustaining both of these critical issues.

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OutlineOutline

Why Work with Multiple Stakeholders?Why Work with Multiple Stakeholders?AA

Mechanisms for Multi-stakeholder Engagement Mechanisms for Multi-stakeholder Engagement BB

Monitoring and OversightMonitoring and Oversight

Lessons, Challenges, and The Way ForwardLessons, Challenges, and The Way ForwardCC

Collaborative GovernanceCollaborative Governance

Participation in Policy-making & Public SpendingParticipation in Policy-making & Public Spending

B 2B 2

B 3B 3

B 1B 1

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A. Why Work with Multiple Stakeholders?

Increased transparency in policy-making, public spending

Governments more accountable to citizens

Governments making decisions & transactions with greater integrity

Governments delivering services with greater efficiency

Less corruption

Less leakages in the spending of public resources

Policy decisions not hostage to vested interests

Less discretion by government officials

Fundamentals of Good Governance

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A. Who are the Various Stakeholders?

Legislature

Parliament CommitteesLocal Councils

Legal & Judicial System

Oversight InstitutionsOmbudsman,

Audit Institutions

Civil Society (NGOs, Academia, Citizens’ groups)

Media Institutions Private Sector

Governments(Ministries,

local governments)

Donor Partners

Accountability

Funding

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A. Why Work with Multiple Stakeholders?

The participation of citizens/civil society in policy-making and allocation of public resources makes them more responsive to public welfare and citizen priorities

Greater citizen oversight leads to fewer possibilities of leakages in public spending

Greater citizen monitoring leads to better delivery of services

Mutual accountability relationship between private sector and government- reduce the cost of monitoring enforcement by voluntary adherence to good governance principles

Strengthening transparency, accountability, integrity and better service delivery by the government

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A. The Role of Donor Agencies

Bank and other international agencies provide direct and indirect support to groups outside the government - citizens, local communities, civil society organizations, the private sector, and the media

From the GAC PaperDrawing on and informed by this experience, the Bank will systematically scale up multi-stakeholder engagement in our operational work in a manner consistent with its own legal framework, in consultation with governments, in close collaboration with other development partners…..

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Multi-stakeholder EngagementMulti-stakeholder EngagementAA






B 2B 2

B 3B 3

B 1B 1

OutlineOutline

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B. Tools for Multi-stakeholder Engagement

Participation Participation of civil society in policy making and Budget allocation

priorities Engaging civil society in planning, budgeting and service delivery design,

inputs to the governance reform process Advocacy by civil society for pushing transparency and accountability

reform

Monitoring and Oversight Create avenues for citizens to monitor public spending and

procurement Create avenues for citizens to monitor service delivery Oversight and tracking of public procurement, budget execution, service

delivery and feedback to government

Collaborative Governance Create collaborative agreements between government and

private sector

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B 2B 2

B 3B 3

B 1B 1

OutlineOutline

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B 1. Participation in Policy-making & Public Spending

Consultations with Civil Society for prioritization of policies

Participatory poverty reduction strategies (PRSP) as basis for Bank programs in IDA countries

Community driven decision-making of local public infrastructure

Notice and comment on draft policy legislation Advocacy for policy and governance reform

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Poverty Maps in Kenya

Poverty Maps in Kenya provides “live maps” to neighborhoods, with details such as poverty and other socio-economic indicators, roads, schools, health clinics, and government programs and expenditures.

Kenyan citizens are able to use this information to advocate and plan better development programs, and to assess the performance of their Members of Parliament, children’s head teacher or neighborhood civil society organization that is channeling donor funds for HIV/AIDs education.

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Kenya Budget Hearings Budget hearings are conducted in Kenya and

the public is free to attend and make contributions on how their tax money is spent by the Government.

Budget hearings are yet to evolve into a fora that can promote robust discussions and debate, where government priorities can be subjected to thorough scrutiny and where civil servants can be made accountable on their spending decisions.

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Building for Decentralized Service Delivery (Ethiopia)

Institutional Reform and Capacity Building Project (Sierra Leone)

Local Government Support Project (Tanzania)

Second Local Development Project (Uganda)

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Poland Local Government Interaction with NGOs

Asjocjace Association piloted a mechanism in four municipalities to improve transparency in public funding (grants, subsidies and contracts) of non-public entities

It produced and disseminated widely an operating Manual and tracking mechanism

Effort expanded to two additional municipalities by a local foundation for its project on the “transparent commune”

Effort and outputs (manual and monitoring mechanism) were very professional; the beneficiary agency was well chosen

Beneficiaries were primarily government officials charged by law to provide funds transparently to non-government agencies

Community interest was limited

Effort was episodic and sustainability will depend on continued local foundation funding

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B 2B 2

B 3B 3

B 1B 1

OutlineOutline

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B 2. Monitoring and Oversight

Public Expenditures

Monitoring of Public Expenditure

Monitoring and oversight over procurement

Participatory Public Expenditure Reviews

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Kenya SODNET

Social Development Network - a Kenyan NGO that develops and design programs to facilitate popular participation in the budget process. Through social watch chapters SODNET provides opportunities for local communities to monitor the management of public resources across the country.

SODNET publishes quarterly budget briefs widely distributed to stakeholders. In the latest international edition of Social Watch, SODNET released a critical report on the history, nature, and use of the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) as a budget instrument.

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Service Delivery

Citizens Report Cards and service delivery scorecards

Reforms to empower users (parental participation in schools, water users associations, community conservation groups)

Strengthening capacity of user groups

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The Philippines—School Textbook Delivery

G-Watch requested by Department of Education to track production and distribution of textbooks to schools

In 2002, 40% of textbooks had disappeared

PTF has supported G-Watch effort for 3 years

In 2006, 6,000 Boy and Girl Scouts recruited to monitor delivery at school level

Successful delivery of over 95% of textbooks, saving $450,000

Major success story at low cost and significant impact beyond project—engaging the private sector and kids

However, sustainability is never assured

Champion in government has left (actually sacked by President)

Funding for G-Watch is uncertain

Legislation enabling CSO involvement (new procurement law) not routinely applied (parallel PTF project with Metro Manila governments failed for this reason)

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Tanzania Tracking Local Expenditures on Education

Rural Initiatives and Relief Agency (RIRA) tracked education and health expenditures in ten villages in Mwanza as part of PRSP implementation

The goal was to promote community participation in tracking public expenditure and develop a model for wider use

Survey found only 10% had seen information on education or health spending (as required by law) compared to 70% on HIV/AIDS. Communities were not involved in decision-making, received little information and cannot easily lodge grievances

Program was managed professionally in difficult conditions and provided good baseline

Surveys to identify critical service delivery issues identified widespread corruption, lack of basic information, citizen lack of awareness of basic rights, profound dissatisfaction with health services (compared to education)

Recommendations made on governance, accountability, access and citizen participation

Independent impact assessment pending

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B 2B 2

B 3B 3

B 1B 1

OutlineOutline

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B 3. Collaborative Governance

Why Collaborative Governance

Exert successful pressure for initiating and implementing anti-corruption policies, legislation, mechanisms and processes –

Increase the transparency, accountability and integrity in governance and create the momentum for reform.

Create a critical mass to effect a shift in the dominant discourse and value system towards a higher integrity governance environment.

Bring about commonality in agenda, action plan, among stakeholders committed to integrity reforms more broadly, as well as specific governance reforms.

Build critical constituencies in support for reform, connect and empower leaders of integrity etc.

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Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative

Global initiative which seeks to promote greater transparency and accountability in mineral and oil rich countries.

Supported by the Government of the United Kingdom, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund; mining and oil companies; investors; and civil society groups.

More than 20 countries are implementing the provisions

Aims to clearly state what extractive industry companies are paying to governments, and what governments are receiving from those companies

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Forest Law Enforcement and Governance Ministerial Processes

Multi-donor Trust Fund, the Forest Law Enforcement and Governance partnership

Supports regional FLEG Ministerial processes. Ministerial forest law enforcement and governance initiatives create the political “space” at national and regional levels to address the complex and politically sensitive issues related to illegal logging, and in partnership with major stakeholders from civil society and the private sector.

Donor agencies, governments, NGOs and industry, the Bank has taken a lead in facilitating regional FLEG initiatives, beginning first in 2001 with the East Asia and Pacific initiative, and Africa in 2003.

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Philippines Procurement Watch A civil society body formed in 2001 with the sole

mandate of fighting corruption in public procurement. Though its initial role was to focus on monitoring and training, it also took on advocacy as its primary role until the passage of the law.

They had a two pronged strategy: (i) approach key civil society groups and associations and engage vigorously with them to get their “buy in”, and (ii) work on the media to raise the new profile on corruption in government procurement—in print, radio and TV.

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Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition The GACC was formed after the 9th International Anti-Corruption

Conference in Durban, South Africa in October 1999, by a cross-sectoral grouping of government officials, official anti-corruption agencies and civil society. Its goal was to mold a diverse range of official and private sector interests into a coalition working wherever possible with international business, civil society, the news media and religions bodies.

It grew out of a widely recognized need for a more structured relationship between local and international anti-corruption initiatives and for deepening the social roots of reform.

GACC sees their efforts as different from previous attempts at reform because they are based upon collective action and common ownership of the corruption issues by all stakeholders, emphasize sustained and coordinated action and seek both to build synergy and eliminate duplication.

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B 2B 2

B 3B 3

B 1B 1

OutlineOutline

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Lessons

Stimulating the “demand-side” of good governance and transparency can be a powerful instrument for change

Success depends on a harmony of interest between demander and supplier, with a willing public agent and a responsible CSO partner

Success is more likely where there are tangible, measurable outputs that demonstrate value-added

But stimulating demand is hard work and many communities have no experience in asserting a demand for good government

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Challenges

Independent funding is never assured for CSO engagement

Continuity of people in government and in CSOs is often a problem. When champions disappear, cooperation often follows

Making CSO engagement in public affairs routine requires cultural changes more than regulation. It needs to be accepted as a regular way of doing business

Small individual projects can have significant impacts in what they set out to do

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Way Forward

Developing a programmatic approach for countrywide application

Transforming lessons of experience into practice, especially for sustainability and broader impact

A key question is how to link the ‘supply-side’ with the ‘demand-side’ in Bank projects

Bank-financed investment projects can provide essential support for capacity building of NGOs and government agencies and oversight

Bank can encourage participatory planning, budgeting and implementation and greater citizen engagement in civic affairs

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DiscussionDiscussion

strengthening multi-stakeholder networks for good governance in africa lessons from experience

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