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Union Tattha Kendro
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Making the Local Government More Transparent through Information
Sharing
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Governance comprises the complex mechanisms, processes and
institutions through which citizens and groups articulate
their interests, mediate their differences and exercise
their legal, social and economic rights and obligations.
Governance has many attributes; it is participatory,
transparent and accountable. It is effective in making the
best use of resources and is equitable. And it promotes the
rule of law. The critical element in the improved governance
is information and knowledge. The smooth and timely flow of
information between the state and the constituency regarding
program activities is imperative for effective exercise of
human rights and improve governance. |
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Since governance is no longer considered a closed system,
changes in the national, regional and international
economic, political and social systems can and do bring
unprecedented improvements or degradation in human living
conditions, new uncertainties and challenges. The state’s
task here is to find a balance by taking appropriate steps
and strategies of these changes and provide a secure and
stable social, political and economic environment for its
constituency. The appropriateness of the strategies greatly
depends on the quality and quantity of information flowing
between the state and the constituency and between the local
government and central government. It is believed that
governance and human rights issues can be addressed if an
enabling environment can be developed where people would be
in a position to interact and improve their relationships
with each other as well as with various government, private
sector and civil society organizations that supports them. | |
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ChangeMaker intents to improve the flow of quality information
and knowledge from the state to the local community and vise
versa to supports the development activities of governments, the
private sector, civil society, and communities at large thus
creating Accountability, Participation, Predictability, and
Transparency of all the actors. ChangeMaker believes that free
flow of quality and appropriate information is the key to
improve governance. In order to make the local government
accountable and to increase participation of the community, the
community people should know and understand the functions of the
local government, it activities, development agenda, budget and
its utilization, reporting, and who to inform and what to do if
the machinery is not functioning appropriately. People should
also know about his/her rights as well as his/her role as a
citizen to exercise power in the management of a country's
economic and social resources. It is believed that increased
knowledge and information can accelerate the process by which
rights would be exercised in the management of a country's
economic and social resources for development and would also
provide the required capacity to engage them in designing,
formulating as well as assist in implementing social and
economic development agendas as per the need of the community.
This increased participatory approach giving a central role to
local people – the ultimate clients –is far more likely to
generate a sense of purpose and responsibility to engage in the
development process.
If
the result of good governance is providing 'priority to poor,
advance the cause of women, sustain the environment, and create
needed opportunities for employment and other livelihoods' then
all men and women should have a voice in decision making, either
directly or indirectly or through legitimate intermediate
institutions that represent their interests. Legal frameworks
should work fairly and should be enforced impartially,
especially laws on human rights and at the same time the
decision-makers in government, the private sector and civil
society organizations should be accountable to the public, as
well as to institutional stakeholders.
ChangeMaker feels that a well-planned effort to improve the flow
of information and knowledge would help in attaining a required
level of awareness to both the state and the community, which in
turn, would accelerate the process of empowerment of the people
and the community. Appropriate and adequate information and
knowledge has the capacity to touch the lives and change the
attitude and behavior of the people and in turn would ultimately
create a well informed, knowledgeable, self-aware community to
take effective actions on their own for a sustainable social and
economic development through productive negotiation with the
local government. The local Government would also have
sufficient knowledge and information about its own constituency
to develop pragmatic action plans and facilitate sustainable,
effective, and appropriate program activities in association
with the central government affordable exchange of information
at local, regional, national, and international level. For
example, the assessment of damage caused by the recent flood has
become challenging, however, a systematic information resources
at the lowest tier could easily compiled at the national level
to assess precisely the damage. Similarly the status of health
and education, absenteeism of doctors, teachers can also be
easily assessed and take appropriate actions. When liked with
GIS system the governance and human rights issues could easily
be mapped and the cause and affect relationship would be
understood more clearly.
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In the good governance issue, we believe in the following
underlying concepts in rural poverty alleviation and livelihood
of the resource less poor community.
1.
Accountability
ChangeMaker believes that the public officials must be
answerable for government behavior, and responsive to the entity
from which their authority is derived i.e., the community. To
ChangeMaker, accountability also means establishing criteria to
measure the performance of public officials, as well as
oversight mechanisms to ensure that the standards are met.
ChangeMaker likes to promote accountability in governments,
particularly in the local government through smooth exchange of
information. For ChangeMaker, the litmus test of accountability
is whether the community is fully aware about the various
activities of the public officials. The accountability of public
sector institutions as well as private sector is critical to
ensure appropriate delivery of services to the community
equally.
2.
Participation
The principle of participation derives from an acceptance that
people are at the heart of development. They are not only the
ultimate beneficiaries of development, but are also the agents
of development. In the latter capacity, they act through groups
or associations and as individuals. Since development is both
for and by people, they need to have information, knowledge and
access to the institutions that promote it. At ChangeMaker,
participation is the involvement of community people, in the
development process. Individual and groups, affected by the
absence or lack of enforcement of policies need to participate
so that the government can make informed choices with respect to
their needs and expectations, and individuals and groups in the
society can protect their rights.
ChangeMaker believes that participation in governments can be
promoted by improving the interface with the government, the
civil society and the private sectors organizations to be aware
about each others needs, expectations and mandates through
smooth flow of information so that the community can participate
in the formulation and implementation of policies, rules,
regulations and activities that affects their livelihood.
At the grass roots level, participation implies that government
services and amenities are reached to the poorer section of
community and they have the opportunity to participate in the
design and implementation of public programs, projects and
policies particularly that relates to their livelihood. At a
different level, the effectiveness of policies and institutions
impinging on the economy as a whole may require the broad
support and cooperation of major economic actors concerned. To
the extent that the interface between public agencies and the
private sector is conducive to the latter’s participation in the
economy, national economic performance will be enhanced.
Participation in economic life by agents other than the state
would cover not only the role of the private sector, but also
the activities of NGOs. These civil society organizations offer
an alternative means of channeling the energies of community and
private sectors. They can be helpful in identifying community
interests, mobilizing public opinion in support of these
interests, and organizing corrective actions accordingly. Being
close to their constituents, NGOs can provide governments with a
useful ally in enhancing participation at the community level
and fostering a “bottom-up” approach to economic and social
development.
3.
Predictability
A
country's legal and policy environment must be conducive to
development and must address the needs and expectations of the
poor and disadvantaged. Government must be able to regulate
itself via laws, regulations and policies, which encompass
well-defined rights and duties, mechanisms for their
enforcement, and impartial settlement of disputes of the poor
and the disadvantaged. Predictability is about the fair and
consistent application of these laws and implementation of
government policies. Predictability refers to (i) the existence
of laws, regulations, and policies to regulate society and (ii)
their fair and consistent application. The importance of
predictability cannot be overstated since, without it, the
orderly existence of citizens and institutions would be
impossible. The rule of law encompasses well-defined rights and
duties as well as mechanisms for enforcing them and settling
disputes in an impartial manner. It requires the state and its
subsidiary agencies to be as much bound by, and answerable to,
the legal system as are private individuals and enterprises. The
importance of rule-based systems for social, economic and
political life is obvious. They are an essential component of
the environment within which the community plan and take
decisions. To the extent, therefore, that legal framework should
help ensure that (i) social and economic risks can be assessed
rationally, (ii) transaction costs are lowered, and (iii)
governmental arbitrariness is minimized. Predictability can be
enhanced through appropriate institutional arrangements. For
example, the elected representatives of Union Parishad
can lead to more predictable local polices and regulations based
on the local social, economic, and legal context through
exchange of information.
4.
Transparency
Transparency refers to the availability of information to the
general public and clarity about government rules, regulations,
and decisions. It can be strengthened through the community’s
right to information with a degree of legal enforceability.
Transparency in government decision-making and public policy
implementation reduces uncertainty and can help inhibit
corruption among public officials and increase human rights. The
challenge with ensuring transparency is that only the generator
of information may know about it, and may limit access to it.
Hence, it may be useful to strengthen the community’s right to
information with a degree of legal enforceability. Access to
accurate and timely information about the economy and government
policies and activities can be vital for economic decision
making by the community. On grounds of efficiency alone, such
data should be freely and readily available to the community.
Updated Sep06
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