Leveraging community feedback for stronger ecosystems

Written by Sanjeeta Pant   This is the third in a series of reflective blogs that will look at how the agile nature of Accountability Lab’s Civic Action Teams campaign has strengthened our ability to work in diverse communities and expanded our networks and resolution channels. Read the first blog here and the second here. From building the capacity of 150 Community Frontline Associates (CFAs) to collecting data from more than 200,000 people across 17 districts, the Civic Action Teams (CivActs) program has expanded in Nepal to close the feedback loop on a range of issues. These include earthquake response, [...]

2022-08-05T08:27:08+00:001st August 2022|

The value of iteration and innovation

Written by Sanjeeta Pant   This is the second in a series of reflective blogs that will look at how the dynamic nature of Accountability Lab’s Civic Action Teams campaign has facilitated a network of local stakeholders to respond to diverse community needs. Read the first blog here.   “The Civic Action Teams model is a result of incorporating different learnings over a number of years. We did not start out with the intention of solving big problems. We did not even make any promises. We simply wanted to listen to what people had to say and to connect them [...]

2022-08-05T08:26:06+00:0029th July 2022|

Using citizen feedback to solve local challenges

Written by Sanjeeta Pant   Maya Lama, a woman from Mangaltar village in Nepal, was one of the survivors of the 2015 earthquake which completely destroyed her house. The government- with donor support- set up a process for citizens to receive funds for reconstruction, but Maya was unable to receive these funds as she was not registered on the list of earthquake victims. Her husband was working abroad, and the property she lost was not in her name. But, thanks to the power of local advocacy and democracy, she joined a town hall meeting at which she spoke directly to [...]

2022-08-05T08:25:23+00:0028th July 2022|

Call for Proposals: Action for Accountability (A4A) Situational Analysis and Baseline Report

The Action for Accountability (A4A) project is a project co-funded by the European Union and implemented by the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation, Accountability Lab South Africa and the Public Service Accountability Monitor. The project team is looking to commission a consultant(s) to carry out a baseline study to inform its implementation of the Action for Accountability program and to track its progress. Action for Accountability (A4A) is aimed at enhancing public service accountability and good governance in South Africa through citizen-led action for greater transparency and deepened public participation. The proposed rights-based action responds to the contemporary dynamics of the accountability [...]

2022-07-15T13:31:17+00:0027th June 2022|

Local voices with local solutions

Accountability Lab’s Civic Action Teams (CivActs) is a pioneering community voice and feedback process to close the loop on citizen challenges related to everything from migration and natural resource management, to the Covid-19 response and misinformation. At the Knowledge Platform Security & Rule of Law annual conference in October, AL shared some of the creative ways that local governments are working with CSOs to disseminate important policy information in a resonant and inclusive way. Speakers included Suresh Chand, Program Manager at AL Nepal, Tinotenda Chishiri, CivActs Projects Officer at AL Zimbabwe, and Amna Rajput, Projects Coordinator at AL Pakistan. Chand [...]

2021-11-17T14:05:07+00:0017th October 2021|

Data literacy: A tool for change in Nepal

By Bikin Ghimire, Soni Khanal and Nitee Shrestha As strong advocates and supporters of the country’s open data movement, we at the Accountability Lab were thrilled to learn about the “100-hour Nepal Data Literacy Program” organized by the World Bank in 2019 and jumped at the opportunity to learn about data literacy. As World Bank Country Director for Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, Faris Hadad-Zervos noted, the program was designed to sustainably transfer data literacy skills to stakeholders in Nepal and build an enabling environment for evidence-based policymaking and strengthening federalism in the country. The training program helped participants build a [...]

2021-03-09T09:48:06+00:009th March 2021|

Niger’s Civic Action Teams (CivActs) Campaign

The COVID-19 pandemic presents humanity with one of the greatest major challenges it has faced in a century. The disease has caused enormous and devastating crises, from social and economic to political and environmental. In these difficult times, the community faces rumours, misinformation and false news that circulate via social networks and mass media to a point where it is not how it is. In Niger, the government has taken important measures to reduce the spread of the virus, such as declaring a state of emergency, closing land and air borders, strengthening health protection measures, etc. The government has also [...]

2020-12-18T09:49:56+00:0026th November 2020|

Corruption is rife in the COVID-19 era. Here’s how to fight back

The pandemic has created conditions in which corruption can flourish; This can exacerbate and prolong the negative effects of this crisis; Here are three ways to start tackling this issue today. By Tim Hanstad. The global pandemic has public health experts and medical providers around the world working overtime. And so, it seems, are profiteers. Even before the pandemic, an estimated $455 billion of the $7.35 trillion spent annually on healthcare worldwide was lost to fraud and corruption. Today, as governments are ramping up pandemic response spending to unprecedented levels and shovelling it out of the door with understandable urgency and desperation, [...]

2020-07-16T10:43:17+00:0016th July 2020|

“I think I will be engaged in social services as long as I live”

A senior midwife of great experience, Sita Kumari Sharma speaks very seriously about the public service. She has many stories too, about her experiences at Nepal's Birendranagar Municipal Health Office. But if you ask her about the public service, her sense of duty is what she talks about. “If sharing my knowledge helps people, brings positive change or adds a new dimension to their life, even if no one else does, I feel internally motivated to do so. I think I will be engaged in social services as long as I live,” she says. Sita was speaking as part of a [...]

2020-07-07T22:54:03+00:0030th June 2020|

Proactive Communication Builds Trust

A solid relationship between the state and its citizens, built on communication, will go a long way towards a more responsible and effective COVID-19 policy response, writes Fayyaz Yaseen As the world braces itself through the COVID-19 epidemic, the United Nations has warned that Pakistan could be amongst the hardest hit countries. The country’s current number of coronavirus patients stands at around 3000, but this is against the backdrop of some of the lowest testing rates in the world. The poor health infrastructure in Pakistan has never been exposed in the manner it is being now. A complete lockdown seemed  to be the surest [...]

2020-06-22T00:00:00+00:0022nd June 2020|
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