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

Citizen Community Boards (CCBs): The project promotes organization of CCBs for community driven projects through cost sharing with local councils.  It also builds capacity of union officials and community leaders for implementation of CCB initiatives.  To date, 14,719 CCB projects have been developed including 275 female CCB projects with a total cost of US$ 83 Million.

CCB Networks: TCE forms and builds capacities of CCB Networks (local representative body of CCBs) to promote and facilitate the CCB initiative.  CCB Networks have been established in 25 districts.  

Local Council Monitoring Committees: To improve service delivery and improve citizen oversight, the project forms Local Council Monitoring Committees. 1,266 Monitoring Committees have been formed and notified with 2,383 members trained in 35 districts.

Local Citizen Information Network: DTCE works on developing social communication through issue centered programming that explores matters of local governance and encourages transparency and citizen's access to information.  To date, 210 media campaigns (91 on electronic and 119 on print media) have been launched and 35 documentary films produced and aired.

Bar Associations and Press Clubs: o protect the rights of citizens, their access to satisfactory levels of service delivery, DTCE works with Bar Associations and Press Clubs. This also facilitates the right of CCBs to organize, formulate and receive official support for projects as well as participate in Local Council Monitoring Committees. 5500 citizens have participated in 115 community empowerment roundtables held so far. Additionally, 185 issues have been filed out of which 151 resolved. 5933 news items and 217 articles on citizen entitlements have also been published in newspapers.

Village and Neighborhood Councils (V&NCs): In order to provide a necessary ‘fourth tier’ to the local government system to further bridge the gap between local governments and the citizenry, the project forms – and build capacities of – Village and Neighborhood Councils. So far, 1392 V&NCs have been formed in 129 unions of 29 districts.

Police Community Relations: DTCE works towards ensuring public safety through improved police performance by means of Union-Police performance contracts evaluated through feedback sourced from the local community. The project also focuses on improving police performance through trainings; works towards developing accountability mechanisms for public representative institutions. Since the inception of the project, 44,520 citizens have engaged in 636 Open Forums held in 159 Union Councils of 15 districts and 44% of public safety issues have been resolved. Additionally, 1362 Police officials have been trained; and community monitoring of police performance has been implemented in 10 districts by establishing linkages between Police with 225 Union Public Safety Committees and 1081 V&NCs. Police performance has also been facilitated in 31 police stations and 15 DPO offices by deployment of software for improved information management and analysis.

Local Council Associations (LCA): For the continuation and proper implementation of the local government system, LCAs have been formed in four provinces and 48 districts.  Moreover, 16 legal cases have been registered at the four High Courts and the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

Social Audit: In order to assess the performance of local governments’ vis-à-vis service delivery, the project conducts citizen perception surveys through independent third parties. An initial baseline survey was conducted in 2001-02 and two subsequent cycles have been undertaken in 2004-05 and 2009-10. The findings of social audit are being used in numerous national and international research publications.