Knowledge is power: Engagement and information

Panel Chair: Sophia Swithern, Development Initiatives
 

1. Information for resource tracking , Northern Uganda
   
   Presenter: Doreen Abalo, Research and Training (DRT), Uganda
   
   Doreen presented findings from DRT’s research on the role of information and community feedback in improving humanitarian and development outcomes in selected communities in Northern Uganda. DRT have gathered evidence based on their work in five communities engaging citizens in resource-tracking. Doreen shared five key lessons learned on how non-state actors can strategically and meaningfully engage communities to effectively influence planning, policy and programming. These include the role of understanding the institutional arrangements, partnership building, empowering communities and communication of outputs and outcomes. The presentation included a five minute video clip of the community views and perspectives on the role of information and the impact of their participation in humanitarian action.
    

2. Community empowerment, access to information and accountability of rural projects in post conflict South Sudan

   Presenter: Denis Michael Ladu, Project Officer, Society for Civic Development (SCD)

   Rural South Sudan is characterised by populations with limited technical capacity and resources to communicate or address their local issues. Services are also limited and often delivered by international NGOs or the local government through support of international NGOs or international donors. There is a lack of physical infrastructure, especially roads and
   facilities for social services such as schools and healthcare; and, most importantly, there is limited engagement with communities in the planning, implementation and evaluation of projects delivered to address their needs.

   The majority of projects in the area have a limited understanding of the local context and inadequate engagement with community stakeholders. Often service providers are not accountable to the community and other stakeholders for the delivery of their services, which is compounded by limited access to information about these projects. This lack of transparency can result in the misappropriation of community resources.

   The Society for Civic Development (SCD) is implementing a Community Integrity Building programme that aims to improve the delivery of projects, distribution and utilisation of resources and access to information in Lainya County. The programme empowers the community to identify and communicate their issues, helps them monitor services and resources, enables them to access information about projects and resources from service providers, engages all relevant stakeholders and demonstrates accountability through its work.

   Denis Ladu presented SCD’s work on empowering citizens, tracking resources and holding humanitarian actors to account in Lainya County, South Sudan. The presentation included a five minute video clip of the community views and perspectives on the role of information and the impact of their participation in humanitarian action.
    

3. The international view: why resource transparency to communities matters

   Presenter: Claire Devlin, UK Department for International Development (DFID)

   Claire presented the international view on efforts to engage communities with information on programme budgets and resources. She will give practical and policy examples of why this matters for accountability to beneficiaries, as much as it does for accountability to donors, and why transparency is essential to measure and improve the quality of humanitarian assistance.

   Claire presented some of DFID’s work engaging affected communities through access to information programmes at the national level as well as DFID’s work at the global level ensuring their financial contributions are accountable to affected populations through the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) and the UK’s Development Tracker.
    

4. Q&A