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Rebuilding Accountability Chains in Zimbabwe

By Alois Nyamazana Broken accountability chains lie at the heart of Zimbabwe’s governance problems. Lack of accountability in Zimbabwe has led to the squandering of precious public resources, and a collapse in the systems that are meant to fulfill citizens’ social and economic rights such as access to clean water, health, education, and adequate food. Citizens, particularly the vulnerable, bear the burden of failed accountability mechanisms, in the face of a deteriorating economy. Compounding this burden is corruption with recent events such as the COVID-gate scandal, in which government officials abused COVID-19 resources by flouting procurement and procedural regulations. A [...]

2022-09-05T09:37:34+00:005th September 2022|

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|

A Change in Approach Could Resolve Conflict Between Vendors and Authorities 

By Samuel Takawira The last two decades have seen a severe contraction of Zimbabwe’s economy, with agriculture, mining and manufacturing sectors suffering mainly from poor policy decisions, resulting in massive unemployment. It is estimated that 90% of the Zimbabwean population ekes out a living in the informal sector, vending in open urban marketplaces. Among these are the municipal markets in Mbare - a low-income suburb of Harare. Mbare is home to the largest informal marketplace in Zimbabwe, where trading space is expensive and oversubscribed. To create access to the market, informal traders have resorted to setting up illegal stalls in [...]

2022-01-17T13:52:49+00:0017th January 2022|

Lack of political will deepening underdevelopment in Akwa Ibom communities – Survey

A survey carried out by Accountability Lab Nigeria, in collaboration with Ford foundation, has revealed that lack of political will by elected representatives has remained one of the factors causing underdevelopment in some communities in Akwa Ibom State. The Program and Learning Manager of Accountability Lab Nigeria, Mrs Ehi Grace, who stated this on Saturday during a Town Hall meeting with some stakeholders in the State, disclosed that the conclusion of the survey was based on the findings in Upenekang and Uquo in Ibeno and Esit Eket local government areas of the State. Mrs Ehi, while decrying the reported cases [...]

2021-10-18T09:58:28+00:0026th September 2021|

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|
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