Pakistan

Objectives

The objectives of the project are to:

Promote organizations of Community Citizens Boards (CCBs) and facilitate implementation of community development projects.
Build capacity of union officials and community leaders in relation to CCB mobilization.

Provide grant funding for selected CCB-identified community development projects, through cost-sharing with local councils and CCBs.

Put in place an incentive and awards system to give momentum to CCB mobilization campaigns.

Facilitate establishment of networks, alliances and associations of CCBs, Local Governments and local officials, to consolidate and strengthen the Local Government system and community empowerment.

Conduct social audit across the country to establish a baseline and undertake ends-oriented annual evaluations of the results of the devolution process; utilize social audit information for decision-making and planning at the local/national levels.

Improve policy-community relations through the ‘Police Welfare and Community Partnership Initiatives.

Disseminate information through press clubs, bar associations and other local civil society groups; undertake media campaigns for sustainable democratic development through the Local Citizen Information Network (LCIN).

Promote establishment of Village and Neighborhood Councils to support CCBs at the local level.

Key Achievements

DTCE operations expanded to 38 districts, almost 35% nationwide coverage to strengthen and support CCBs to develop projects.

Approval of 673 new CCB projects and utilization of Rs 447 million from CCB funds available at the District and the Tehsil Level for implementation.

Number of CCBs in DTCE partner districts increased rapidly bringing the total number to 16,324 thus enabling greater community participation in development.
3,659 citizens trained in Project Cycle Management (PCM) for CCBs to better manage and implement community projects.

386 elections held at the village level for the formation of Village and Neighborhood Councils in districts of Haripur, Abbottabad, Gujrat, Thatta, Badin, Narowal, Faisalabad and Sukkur. These Councils provide institutionalized support to CCBs at the local level. They assess finance requirements for projects, promote civic education and community awareness and address gender issues.

6,477 elected representatives/ state functionaries trained through various capacity building programs including CCB mobilization, PCM, Planning & Budgeting and Local council monitoring committees.

One window operations for CCBs designed and operationalized in 5 districts. This facilitates and simplifies the procedures and minimizes opportunities for corruption.

28 Legal Aid Committees and 27 Press Committees fully functional in partner districts to strengthen CCBs. The Legal Aid Committees to provide pro-bono legal assistance to CCB members and citizens on issues pertaining to LGO implementation. The Press Clubs educates readers on devolution and community empowerment.

Local Citizen Information Network (LCIN) television programming recorded in 11 districts and aired in 8 to provide a forum for dialogue on CCB, and financial issues, effectiveness of Local Government in education and health services and police-community relations.

Police Station Monitoring System (PSMS) offices established in Haripur, Narowal, Lasbela, and Khairpur to facilitate community-based policing at the district level
Performance incentive bonuses allocated to several districts such as Lahore, Faisalabad, Tando Allah Yar, Thatta and Badin to improve the performance of District Community Officers (DCOs).

Development of a Geographic Information System (GIS) for digitized maps of all Devolution Support Programs (DSPs) operating all over Pakistan. The maps are a valuable tool for policy makers and enable them to easily gauge programme overlaps as well as opportunities for closer collaboration amongst various DSPs to generate synergies.

Two Social Audits have been conducted to date to assess the impact of the devolution/decentralization process