International Learning event

International Learning event
30 July, 2018

Mainstreaming Social Accountability: Study Visit and Experience Consolidation Workshop

CARE Bangladesh
recently hosted an international learning event on the topic ‘Mainstreaming Social Accountability: Study Visit and Experience Consolidation Workshop’ with the objectives of the learning engagement, are to enable a better understanding of:




  • Approaches and methodologies to mobilise communities to occupy spaces for community engagement on accountability issues

  • Adaptation of social accountability tools and potential for their application in different contexts and vis-à-vis different stakeholder needs



In addition, it is also intended to foster discussions on:




  • Strategies to develop and enable linkages across local, sub-national and national actors and

  • Scope and quality of adaptation/ implementation of social accountability mechanisms when the State co-opts or mainstreams this agenda



Held in RDRS Rangpur from 16-19 July 2018, the event was organized in collaboration with Local Governance Initiative and Network (LOGIN) South Asia, a multi-stakeholder network facilitating knowledge exchangeand peer learning across countriesto strengthen local government. It focuses on fiscal decentralization and mainstreaming social accountability in 12-member countries of South and South East Asia. 25 participants from Nepal, Bhutan, Mongolia, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and India attended in the workshop.

In the event, CARE Bangladesh showcased its unique methodology of integration of local political economy analysis in mainstreaming social accountability within local governance processes. Heavily built on the experiences and learning of Journey for Advancement in Transparency, Representation and Accountability (JATRA) project on increased participation of poor and women in civic spaces, which impacted in higher budget allocation to poor communities, the event created a learning space for all participants to reflect if social accountability work leads to change power relations and to empower poor and marginalized communities.

The event was inaugurated by Probadh Devkota, Assistant Country Director of CARE Bangladesh. In his speech, he shared CARE’s program presence and impact in Bangladesh and why inclusive governance work is important for CARE Bangladesh. Anowarul Haq, Director of Extreme Rural Poverty Program and Murad Bin Aziz, Governance Coordinator, presented CARE Bangladesh’s experience on social accountability approaches adopted in JATRA project. Rebecca Haines, Senior Governance Advisor of CARE UK presented global experience and political economy analysis framework. Golam Rabbani, Project Manager of JATRA, facilitated sessions with community leaders and local government representatives during the field visit. Cherian Joseph, Naimur Rahman, Anusha Lalland Yacoub Zachariah from LOGIN secretariat also facilitated sessions to consolidate the learning. The workshop outcome brought the following three key issues in social accountability discourses:

a) Beyond the Tools: Using political economy analysis to inform support to local governance b) Who are ‘The People’?: Making citizen participation models work for poor and marginalised people

c) Drivers of Responsiveness: Incentives for Local Government to collaborate with Citizens’ Forums to address the concerns of marginalised people in rural Bangladesh.



The workshop contributed in strengthening social accountability approaches in South and South East Asian country context and open up new avenues for future collaboration.



        


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