Projects

Local Governance Action Research (LGAR)

Purpose: To reduce corruption and malpractices and increase accountability and transparency in local service delivery by identifying the effectiveness of the social accountability tools such as participatory planning, public audit, Public Expenditure Tracking (PET), revenue monitoring, Right to Information (RTI), and media mobilization.

Budget: NPR 7,319,889.00 (Approx. US$ 75,000)

Program Duration: 9 Months (March–Dec 2013)

Funding Agency: AUSAID through The Asia Foundation

Contact Person: Dr. Sagar Prasain, The Asia Foundation Tel.: 9851043448, Email: sagar.prasain@asiafoundation.org

Nature of Assignment: Action research

Partners/Collaborators:  This project was operated jointly in the leadership of Samudayik Sarathi (Leader), Freedom Forum, Nepal Forum for Environment Journalist (NEFEJ), Municipality Association Nepal (MuAN), and Institute for Integrated Development Studies (IIDS).

Location: Five Municipalities (Dharan, Dhulikhel, Byas, Narayan and Bhimdatta)

Highlights of the program

  1. Base line survey;
  2. Key informant interviewees were from political parties, one key executive office/leader from each political party from each municipality;
  3. Perception survey was conducted in 3 wards in each municipality on monthly basis.Participants included 10 members of Ward Citizen Forum (WCF), 15 service receivers, and 5 municipality staffs from each municipality;
  4. Time survey of executive officers;
  5. Prepared and published training manual;
  6. Provided training to Ward Citizen Forum (WCF), Municipalities, and Community Awareness Center (CAC) on social accountability tools such public audit, budget monitoring, Public Expenditure Tracking (PETS), etc.;
  7. Case studies of three major projects run by each municipalities to identify whether these projects were implemented because of public demand or guided by political actor’s interest;
  8. Other activities included town hall meetings on public awareness campaign on local governance system and compliance, media mobilization and right to information (RTI);
  9. Social and media mobilization;
  10. Human resources for the program involved five district coordinators, five researchers, five assistant coordinators, five assistant researchers, 45 RTI activists, 20 journalists and 5 Program coordinators;
  11. Publication and submission of final report;