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|

From Citizen Helpdesks to Civic Action Teams

The Lab's Citizen Helpdesk is a pioneering citizen feedback, dialogue and community voice platform to ensure accountability in the development process. The program has collected critical information from hundreds of communities across Nepal, Liberia and Mali, solving daily problems for citizens and closing the loop on challenges related to everything from migration, to human trafficking, to natural resource management and security issues. Communities select dedicated groups of volunteers - Community Frontline Associates - led by local journalists, who act as two-way information collection and dissemination units. These CFAs gather information on critical problems on a monthly basis through community surveys, [...]

2020-07-07T18:26:33+00:0024th May 2020|

A look at our Citizen Helpdesks model

This presentation prepared by Accountability Lab gives a deeper understanding of how our Citizen Helpdesk program works. Citizen Helpdesks are a pioneering citizen feedback, dialogue and community voice platform to ensure accountability in the development process. The Helpdesks collect critical information from hundreds of communities to solve daily problems for citizens and close the loop on challenges related to everything from service delivery, to human trafficking, to natural resource management and security issues. Citizens and communities are rarely consulted about the decisions that affect their lives, particularly in hard-to-reach places. Where information is collected from them, the process is extractive, [...]

2019-09-13T00:00:00+00:0013th September 2019|

‘What’s In It for Me?’ – Strengthening Accountability of Companies and Local Government through Citizen Feedback in Mining Areas

Liberia is home to some of Africa’s largest mineral resource deposits such as iron ore, gold and diamonds. Yet decades of poor resource governance have ensured that these resources have not contributed to the public good. […]

2019-01-28T00:00:00+00:0028th January 2019|

How to create a positive feedback loop between citizens and government? It’s not easy.

By Alisa Zomer The original blog post can be found on MIT/GOVLAB's website. We took a look at Accountability Lab’s Citizen Helpdesks in Nepal to understand how the project is working on the ground. A returned migrant worker stands up to speak at a community meeting in the ward chairman’s office. It takes him a minute to find his voice —his experience working abroad was bad, but talking about it is another form of hardship. Social stigma often silences overseas workers from Nepal, who are ashamed to admit what they went through, and how they were tricked into unsafe, sometimes [...]

2018-11-08T00:00:00+00:008th November 2018|
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