Enhancing Public Participation by Organized & Strong citizen groups & civil society
When citizens’ groups and civil society are mobilized and organized in a systemic way, they are in a better position to identify their issues and challenges and also assess gaps in the governance system especially with regard to service delivery (through community monitoring and use of social accountability tools).
This results in an increased demand for a more accountable and transparent delivery of servicesat the local level, which in the context of urban governance are basic municipal services like water, sanitation, education, health etc.
When the demand for transparency and accountability increases, it improves the access of citizens to crucial information as municipal authorities start opening up and sharing relevant information demanded by the citizens.
Gradually, this increased demand on the part of citizens for effective and accountable municipal governance leads to the adoption or improvement of social accountability mechanisms, like citizen charters, information disclosure and grievance redressal systems by the municipalities.
When municipalities adopt these mechanisms, they are better equipped to deal with the increased demands of citizens and address the complaints/ issues raised by them.
The adoption of tools like citizen charters and information disclosure helps the municipalities in communicating with the citizens about their services and standards, and the grievance redressal system helps in resolving the problems faced by citizens.
Thus, with the adoption of SAMs, the municipalities become more responsive towards the citizens’ needs and are also able to improve their performance and service delivery.
When these experiences of the municipalities are shared widely with multiple stakeholders at different levels, i.e. the policy makers, concerned ministries and officials at the national level, other municipalities, practitioners, civil society at the sub-national level, they initiate deliberations around the institutionalization and adoption of these mechanisms.
This creates a ground for influencing national and sub-national governments to bring about necessary changes and modifications in policies so that practices at the local level could be improved.
interventions to enhance citizen participation:
a)Community mobilization and awareness generation (with identified citizen leaders comprising youth, women, and marginalized sections from the communities)
b)Training and capacity building
c)Formation of neighbourhood committees
d)Use of social accountability tools by citizens (like Citizen Report Cards and community monitoring) Organizing interface dialogues.
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Urban Development Management Study notes for M. plan Sem-III
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