Newsletter GPSA – Participação do Grupo de Pesquisa Politeia na Plataforma GPSA

The Call for Proposals is open to civil society organizations (CSOs) and CSO networks based and operating in any of the eligible countries that have ‘opted-in’ to the GPSA. As announced by World Bank President Kim at the GPSA Global Partners Forum, the GPSA supports projects that address critical governance challenges and strengthen civil society’s capacities for social accountability. Orientation sessions for interested CSOs will be organized at World Bank Country offices. Applications are open until August 12, 2015. Learn more about the Call and how to apply >>>>

The GPSA’s 2nd annual Global Partners Forum brought together a diverse and dynamic group of speakers and panelists providing in-depth insight and actionable tools, models, and mechanisms for constructive engagement that have worked in other countries. A variety of case studies served as a discussion point for the ongoing debate and efforts in key areas in the field of social accountability such as:healthcare, education, and infrastructure. World Bank President Kim engaged in a discussion on results and impact of these approaches: “We want to find the solutions coming out of all your great ideas, and then spread them and take them to scale.”

In an Award Ceremony on May 12, the GPSA recognized seven individuals in government and civil society organizations for their outstanding contributions, influence and impact in the field of social accountability as a means to eradicate poverty and foster shared prosperity. The winners are respected leaders in social accountability, and this award serves as a celebration of their achievements in the field. They are: Ibrahim Tanko Amidu, Ghana; Corazon Juliano-Soliman, The Philippines; Gonzalo Hernandez Licona, Mexico; Iftekhar Zaman, Bangladesh; Aicha Ech-Chenna, Morocco; Maia Sandu, Moldova; Oded Grajew, Brazil. Learn more about the winners and the award>>>

We asked each Awardee what this award meant to them. Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Juliano-Soliman answered, “If you work in government, as I have experienced for the last 10 years, praise comes few and far in between. There are more criticisms in a day than a thank-you, and this award gives me the encouragement and inspiration… that what we’re doing is important.” The interviews will be available on our website soon.

This working paper, ‘Social Accountability: What Does the Evidence Really Say?’ by Prof. Jonathan Fox (American University) explores the distinction between tactical and strategic approaches to the promotion of citizen voice to contribute to improved public sector performance. It is now available online in English, Arabic, French and Spanish. 

On May 14-15, over 70 GPSA grantees representing 23 projects in 17 countries met in Washington, D.C. to share, reflect and discuss on their social accountability projects. In a series of plenary sessions and breakout groups, participants discussed their own experiences with constructive engagement, project implementation challenges, building communication skills and partnerships, and adaptive learning, among others. The Workshop ended with a discussion about key takeaways and next steps. As we move forward from projects’ original design and into implementation, assumptions were tested, and challenges become a reality. View the photos here>>>

On May 8, 2015, the Government of Mauritania informed the World Bank Office in a letter of consent of its decision to opt-in to the GPSA. This follows the decision by the Government of Guinea to opt-in. The GPSA makes grants available to civil society organizations (CSOs) in countries where governments have consented. CSOs in Mauritania and Guinea are now eligible to participate in the current Call for Proposals. In total, 45 countries have opted-in to the GPSA to date.

GPSA Grantees:

Raising the Score is a collaborative storytelling project that documents the impact of CARE’s Community Score Card (CSC)© on improving maternal health service in Malawi.TheRaising the Score films were produced by the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill School of Journalism and Mass Communication and University of Malawi journalism students in collaboration with CARE. To see all the short films and learn more about the project visit: www.raisingthescore.org. View the trailer here>>>

On April 24, the Center for Health Policies together with the Institute for Public Policies have officially launched the project Promoting Social Accountability for a better Preforming Health System. The overall development objective of this proposal is to empower citizens through promotion of an enabling environment for social accountability interventions that would result in an improvement of health governance and in health sector development effectiveness in Moldova. As part of the project, the PAS Center will assist the Government of the Republic of Moldova in improving governance and efficiency of the health system, as well as improve the social accountability environment. The goal of this project will be to improve hospital performance by 20 percent and hospital efficiency by 25 percent. Another expected outcome is that the Ministry of Health and National Health Insurance Company operate corrective measures to improve public policy process and to develop recommendations for development of the Healthcare Development Strategy for Years 2017-2027. 

Events

Organizations need to learn constantly, and translate that learning into practice. Too often, external funding can force organizations towards rigid and linear projects with little scope for adaptation and little incentive (or support) to prioritize learning. So how can grant-making processes be more conducive to grantee learning without it becoming an imposed external agenda? Multiple participants will represent a wide range of grant-making institutions and grant recipients from philanthropic foundations, official aid agencies and civil society. Read more and watch the Webinar>>>

When and How do Digital Technologies Strengthen Citizen Voice and Collective Action? | Brown Bag Lunch exploring whether the internet has made governments more accountable by helping to strengthen citizen voice and collective action. | May 26, 2015 | Read more and watch the recording>>>

Improving Social Well-Being Through New Participatory Institutions | Brown Bag Lunch discussing the results of research evaluating the role of participatory budgeting for improving citizens’ well-being. | May 20, 2015 | Read more and watch the recording>>>

The Role of Ombudsman Institutions in Promoting Citizen-Centric Governance & Inclusive Institutions | Roundtable with the World Bank and the International Ombudsman Institute, discussing the role of Ombudsman Institutions in promoting citizen rights, and overseeing government agencies and service providers. Click HERE to read the report on the event, and watch the recording HERE.

The Quest for Citizen-led Accountability – looking into the state | Research workshop discussing how to better understand when and if citizen-initiated accountability efforts contribute to greater responsiveness and accountability. | April 30, 2015 | Read more and watch the Recording>>>

In the last month, the GPSA has partnered with three new organizations. The Global Partners group now includes over 250 organizations. View the complete list of partners here >>

The Knowledge Platform is the GPSA’s main tool for supporting the learning, networking and knowledge exchange of the GPSA’s grantees and of other CSOs working on social accountability in the global south.

We asked one active member of the Knowledge Platform, Paula Chies Schommer, to tell us more about why she joined and how it has enriched her work: “I joined the Knowledge Platform to learn and participate in the latest debates and trends on social accountability and to bring those to the Brazilian academic field. Over the last year, I have coordinated research projects on citizen engagement, social control, co-production of public services, public management, and social accountability. The Platform’s knowledge exchange activities are useful for enriching mine and my colleagues’ research work at the University of Santa Catarina in Southern Brazil, and for enhancing my students’ knowledge on accountability.” Read the whole interview here>>>

Organizations working on large-scale and complex recovery programs in post-conflict contexts tend to latch on to the tangible and the predictable whenever they can. This has been International Rescue Committee’s experience implementing the Tuungane program in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, one of the largest community-driven reconstruction programs in the world. Read more>>>

“The Right Intention”: Setting Up Civic Engagement Platforms, By Fabrizio Scrollini

“Por mi Barrio” (For my Borough-FMB) is a new initiative implemented in Montevideo, Uruguay by DATA Uruguay and that is based on the Fixmystreet software. FMB allows locals to report incidents to the local government turning this process open and transparent. Read more>>>

The field of technologies for social change has been active for more than a decade. The Accelerator Fund proposes an approach from a “Theory of Change”, which is based on the articulation of offline-online processes, so that civic-technological apps can leap forward and promote true transformation and social change in their ecosystems. Read more>>>

Resources:

How citizens interact and collaborate with accountability institutions has been the subject of much careful review in recent years. This Brief Note highlights key points from the discussion. But first, perhaps we should clarify what we mean by “accountability institutions.” Accountability Institutions (AIs) include anti-corruption bodies, supreme audit institutions (SAIs), ombudsman institutions (OIs) and human rights commissions. Read here>>>

World Bank Online Survey about Budget Information | The World Bank, Open Budget Partnership are undertaking an online survey encouraging civil society organizations working on budget analysis/advocacy to provide their feedback on the accessibility, use and impact of this data in their country.The survey aims at enhancing our understanding of current uses of budget information by relevant stakeholders around the world, as well as the perceived existing barriers (in terms of data coverage and accessibility, technical capacities, enabling environment, etc.) to their deeper engagement in budget processes.Contribute to this initiative here>>>

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