Gebrye Kefelew - ESAP2 Emperical Experineces

ESAP2 project empirical experiences of AFSR and its partner (OPRIFs and ASDA) Page 1

Remarkable Results of Social Accountability Initiatives: The

Empirical Experiences of Action for Self Reliance Organization

(AFSR) and Its Partners1

1. Acknowledgements

Action for Self Reliance Organization (AFSR) and its partners would like to express their deepest gratitude to MA of ESAP2 for its technical and financial supports for the implementation of ESAP2 project. The print and compilation cost of this best practice document was also covered by ESAP2.

The Ethiopian Social Accountability Program 2 (ESAP2) project coordination unit AFSR is also very grateful to the project management and technical team members of AFSR and its partners for their surpassed efforts on the overall preparation of this publication.

Special thanks must also go to the co-operating interviewees from sector offices, elected councils, service providers, service users, and SAC members for their participation in answering interview questions which has contributed a lot for the success of this publication.

1 This empirical experience is prepared by Gebrye Kefelew, Senior Social accountability program Specialist at

AFSR


2. Introduction

Action for Self Reliance Organization (AFSR) is a registered “Ethiopian Resident Charity” under the Ethiopian law (registration No: 0137) working with low income and marginalized groups in development for self-reliance. AFSR was established in 2000 by a group of development professionals. Over the past years, AFSR has grown more to serve the poorest, most vulnerable and marginalized segments of the society through participatory community-based development programs.

AFSR emphasizes on promoting sustainable economic development through awareness rising, transfer of knowledge and skills, empowering women groups, and implementing green livelihood strategies by consistently utilizing different development models and approaches relevant to the targeted communities and beneficiaries. The overall development interventions of AFSR can be summarized into five categories: Education, Health, Child Protection and Development, Women Empowerment (WE) and Food Security and Environmental Protection. At present, the organization is operating in Addis Ababa and SNNPR.

Vision: AFSR aspires to see a future Ethiopia without poverty where sustainable development and people‟s empowerment prevail.

Mission: AFSR is dedicated to reduce the vulnerability of poor and marginalized groups by working with them for improving their socio-economic conditions and that of their physical environment.

Objectives:

1. Improve access to basic social services

2. Promote community empowerment with particular emphasis on women, children and youth

3. Contribute to improve food security and sustainable climate change adaptation mechanisms for low-income and marginalized groups

Values:

Partnership: We work together with local institutions, communities and donors to find best solutions to problems.

Respect: We believe that differences are crucial for sustainable development.

Responsibility: We account for our work to our donors but above all to the communities and local institutions we work with.

Self-Reliance: We are constantly improving our capabilities for guaranteeing high level interventions, uniting long-term vision and know how

Governance: The General Assembly is the highest governing body and the Executive Board is the advisory and supervisory organ of the organization. The overall day to day activities of the organization is headed by the Executive Director and highly competent staff members.


3. Background

The Ethiopian Social Accountability Program 2 (ESAP2) is part of the Promotion of Basic Services programs, which is implemented by the Government of Ethiopia at regional, woreda and kebele levels in cooperation with the World Bank. The Program has a countrywide scope and articulates the needs and concerns of citizens regarding their access to education, health, water and sanitation, agriculture and rural roads. Working through civil society organizations, the program opens up channels of communication between citizens, responsible government bodies and public service providers. The overall objective of the Ethiopian Social Accountability Program (ESAP2) is to strengthen the capacities of citizen groups and the Government to work together in order to enhance the quality of basic public services delivered to citizens. The program seeks to give voice to the needs and concerns of all citizens on the delivery and quality of basic public services in the areas of education, health, water and sanitation, agriculture and rural roads. Finally, the use of social accountability tools, approaches and mechanism by citizens and citizens‟ groups, civil society organizations, local government officials and service providers should result in more equitable, effective, efficient, responsive and accountable public basic service delivery.

Action for Self Reliance Organization (AFSR) and its partners, OPRIFS (Organization for Prevention, Rehabilitation and Integration of Female Street Children) and ASDA (Association for Sustainable Development Alternatives) are among the civil society organizations that have got the opportunity to implement ESAP2 project. These partner organizations have been implementing ESAP2 project entitled the Together for change: Collaborate Community Government and Civil Society to Enhance Social Accountability in Public Service Delivery since January 2013 within five woredas by using various SA tools. These are:

SAIPS Region Woreda Applied SA tools Target sectors

AFSR SNNPRS2 Hawassa CSC3 (January 2013- December 30/2014) Education

CSC and GRB4 (January 2015- December 31/2015) Education

AFSR SNNPRS Malga CRC5 (January 2013- December 30/2014) Health

CSC and GRB (January 2015- December 31/2015) WASH

OPRIFS Amhara Adet CRC (January 2013- December 30/2014 ) Health

CSC and GRB (January 2015- December 31/2015) WASH

OPRIFS AddisAbaba

Arada sub-city

CSC (January 2013- December 30/2014) Education

CSC and GRB (January 2015- December 31/2015) Education

ASDA Oromia Ziway

Dugda

CSC (January 2013- December 30/2014) Agriculture

CSC and GRB (January 2015- December 31/2015) WASH6

2Southern Nation Nationalities and Peoples Regional State

3Community Score Card 4Gender Responsive Budgeting 5Citizen Report Card 6 Water and Sanitation


The project has resulted in various remarkable service improvements of the targeted sectors. The service improvements are also focusing on improving the equitability, effectiveness, efficiency, and responsiveness of the targeted sectors of all intervention Woredas. Thus, this publication depicts AFSR‟s and its partners‟ experiences with social accountability project by illustrating the most significant changes in service deliveries that have been achieved in targeted sectors and woredas, its impact on the people, and how social accountability acts as a catalyzing agent for the service improvements case by case.

4. Health Service Improvements in Malga Woreda of Sidama zone, SNNPRS

With the aim to improve the problems of poor basic public service deliveries in the health sector, AFSR has been implementing ESAP2 project since January 2013 by using CRCi as SA tool. Malga Woreda is located about 26 Kms from Hawassa town. Before ESAP2 was introduced, the health centers in the Woreda faced various service provision problems. For instance, lack of residential houses for medical staffs and accessible road (Haro and Tenkaro health centers) and absence of tap water service in Manicho health center were few of the problems that characterized the health centers. Consequently, Tenkaro health professionals were forced to live in Wotera by travelling a 14 Kms trip on foot to and from the work place for the roads ware not accessible with public transport. This situation had also aggravated the rate of absenteeism at the health center. Similarly, Haro health center is found 10 Kms from the main road with dry weather road which was also not accessible with public transport. The professionals of this Health Center also lived outside the health center on a rent house. Due to this, the communities were not provided proper health services. In fact, Mrs. Work Banta, women representative from Tankaro kebele said “Due to absence of residence for the staffs in the health center, previously we faced difficulty in getting service providers in Tenkaro Health center especially at night session.” Similarly, Mr. Kebede Keyamo, Tenkaro kebele SAC chairman said “For the last years, ambulance service was not provided in Haro and Tenkaro due lack of accessible roads. The communities of Minicho town and health centers also used pond and stream water for cleaning and drinking purposes. All these situations were worst for women, people living with HIV/AIDs (PLWHIV), children, and people with disabilities (PLW).”

Results that have been achieved due to SA intervention in Malga Woreda

Social accountability intervention has resulted in a huge number of service improvements on the accessibility, equitability, effectiveness, efficiency, and responsiveness of the health sector. The following significant service improvements are worth mentioning on the health sector:

- Five midwifery professionals and three health officers have been deployed to the three health centers as per the standard.

- Six toilet rooms have been constructed for service users in Haro Health Center.

- Five rooms for health professionals‟ residence were also constructed in Tenkaro health center. Haro health center professionals‟ residence is also under construction

- Medical supplies have also been purchased for all health centers.

- Two motorbikes were purchased for Manicho and Tenkaro Health Center.

- The compound of the Manicho health center was cleaned.


- The awareness creating work done on mothers has improved delivery at the health centers‟ in Malga woreda.

In addition to the aforementioned ones, other similar changes have also occurred in water and rural road sectors such as the construction of accessible rural roads towards Haro and Tenkaro health centers, and the installation of tap water in Malaga woreda. Alternative reasons cannot be ruled out for these improvements, but various stakeholders (service users and service providers) including Malga woreda government officials‟ credit SA initiatives for significantly contributing to the outcomes.

The ways in which the changes and improvements have been brought about

To improve the problems of poor basic public service deliveries in Manicho, Tenkaro and Haro health centers of Malga woreda, AFSR has conducted a CRC survey to prioritize and take into account their needs and concerns. Women, men, vulnerable members of the community and service providers have participated in the survey. Before conducting this CRC survey, AFSR had established kebele and woreda SAC and organized extensive trainings for citizens, service providers, government officials and SAC members on the concept of SA, its tools and how they use the tools to build up evidences for dialogue. Then, the communities, government officials and service providers have conducted interface meeting on CRC survey findings which resulted in the identification of eleven major problems including: shortage of health professionals (midwifery and health officer), lack of medical supply, lack of motor cycle in Manicho and Tenkaro health centers, poor fencing of Tenkaro health center, absence of toilet in Haro health center, low awareness of mothers to deliver at health centers, unclean compound in Manicho and Haro health centers and long queue card registration in Manicho and Haro health centers. During the interface meeting, a joint action plan (JAP) was developed which acts as service improvement plan agreed by the Participants. Then, the JAP has been properly handed over to SACs for follow up. Accordingly, AFSR and SAC members disseminated the findings of the CRC survey and the JAP at kebele, woreda, Zonal, and regional levels for advocacy with relevant stakeholders. For example, woreda and kebele SAC members together with other representatives from service users and service providers have organized a meeting to discuss on the JAP with Malga woreda council and other relevant sector offices. These actions have resulted in the following outcomes:

- Woreda Water Office has allocated 3,237,200 ETB for the construction of Tap water facility in Manicho town and health centers,

- Woreda Council approved a budget of 940,000 ETB for the construction of health professionals‟ home in Haro and Tenkaro health centers.

- Woreda and kebele SAC members, woreda health office, and health centers professionals and one to five development armies jointly conducted awareness raising campaign on the importance of delivering at health centers by using one to five development structures, self-helping Associations (Iddirs) and religious meetings within 26 kebeles of Malga Woreda.

- Woreda health office also purchased two motor bikes with a total price of 200,000 ETB for Manicho and Tenkaro health centers.

- The woreda council increased the annual medical budget of health centers from 40,000 to 170,000 ETB

- Woreda health office allocated 100,000 ETB to construct new toilet facilities in Haro health center


- Woreda rural road program allocated 2,700,000 ETB for the construction of accessible roads towards Haro and Tenkaro health centers.

- Communities have developed sense of ownership to demand quality services and have also contributed to their improvement. In this regard, Getachew Tumura, who is an Iddir representative said," service improvement is something that we are seeing because of these kinds of efforts from services users; we are now able to voice our concerns. Now, we are giving very good feedback for service providers and contributing our time and resource to improve service provisions. For instance, communities have fenced Tankaro Health Center with an estimated cost of 12,500 ETB; and the employees of Manicho health center together with the dwellers started cleaning the health center compound every 15 days.”

Reasons which make the service improvements so significant

The service improvements are very significant as they are essential basic services which guarantee providing quality health services in particular and human existence with dignity in general. For instance, the construction of Tenkaro health center professionals‟ residence has resulted in the provision of quality services for women, people living with PLWHIV, children, and PLW. In relation to this, Mr. Muse Garo, Malga Woreda health expert says, “following the construction of professionals‟ residence due to SA initiatives, punctuality and office time have been maintained, and absenteeism of health professionals became zero. Instead of travelling 14 kms per day on foot, the professionals are now living in their health center and serving the communities for 24 hours. Besides, senior professionals, who previously requested us to transfer to Wijigira health center (Town based), have now lifted their request for their need of a house has been successfully answered here.

Mrs. Tigist Duguna, women representative from the catchment kebele of Tenkaro health center says that they were not able to get proper health services for different emergency cases related to delivery and other cases from Tenkaro health center during the previous times, especially at night sessions as the professionals used to live in Wotera. As She says, the previous year, her neighbor‟s son had been sick at night and was brought to the health center, but he hadn't got services from the center due to that problem. But, they are then getting proper services at any time from the health center as the professionals are living in the newly constructed residence,

TenkaroHealth Centerprofessionals‟residence,June2015


according to Tigist. The Women Representative also said that she had got proper cares and supports while she delivered her child in the health center after the improvements

The woreda health office report also reinforced this. Because of the works done on community capacity enhancement processes of SA, recruitment of health professionals, fulfillments of health amenities and collaboration among stakeholders helped the three health centers to attract higher numbers of outpatients, especially women seeking to give birth at health centers, receive antenatal care and bring their children for immunizations. For example Mr. Birahanu Samuel, Malga Woreda SAC & Woreda Health expert said, “Before gaining knowledge on their entitlement through the SA project, most mothers in Malga woreda delivered in traditional system, which exposed them to death and others harmful incidence. However, now as mothers are equipped with the necessary knowledge on their entitlement; the number of women seeking to give birth at health facilities in Malga woreda has increased from 17 percent to 50 percent as compared to the previous years; they are also receiving antenatal care and bringing their children for immunizations.”

Moreover, Abdela Shume, SAC member and service provider of Manicho health center said, “The existed hand pump water service of Malga woreda was interrupted for the last three years due to technical problem. Hence, the community and health centers used pond and stream water for cleaning and drinking purposes. As a result, the communities were affected by water borne diseases, but now, proper tap water has been installed by the Government with an estimated cost of 3,237,200 ETB following SA initiatives and SAC members‟ pressure. Therefore, SA project has brought us from darkness to light as it created great opportunity for us to solve various service provision problems of our health center and absence of tap water in Manicho Town simultaneously and also enabled us to use tap water for drinking and cleaning purposes.”

Head of Tenkaro health center, Ashebir Mengstu says that ambulance service was unthinkable during those years in Tenkaro health center due to lack of accessible roads though we had ambulance car, due to this, the community used to transport patients to the health center by carrying on shoulder through a wooden bed called „Karesa‟. That history has changed today, thanks to the Almighty God! Ambulance services are now possible as a result of the construction of accessible road towards Tenkaro health center.

Before SA intervention and hand pump water was interrupted for the last three

years, Manicho health center used water from this pond for different purposes.

Following SA initiatives, Manicho health

center is now enjoying tap water


The social accountability approach offers a number of particular benefits for PLWHIV and PWD. In this regard, Mr. Dawit Amerew, representative of vulnerable groups said, “Due to SA interventions, the woreda council has now increased the annual medical budget of the three health centers. As a result of this, drug stores of the health centers are full of anti- retroviral drugs and able to provide appropriate services to PLWHIV and other communities. The special needs of PWD have also been considered during the construction of service users‟ toilet in Haro Health Center. Besides, the woreda administration has planned to consider the special needs of vulnerable groups in all basic service provisions systems.”

This achievement has resulted in various service improvements of the health center. In this regard, Ato Muse Garo, Malga Woreda Health officer said that after the construction of professionals‟ residence by SA initiatives, punctuality and office time is maintained, and absenteeism of health professionals has minimized to zero level. Consequently, community complaints incurred as a result of these factors decreased. Instead of travelling 14 kms per day on foot, the professionals are living in their health center and serving the communities for 24 hours. He added that even those professionals who sought to be transferred to another place have cancelled their request.

Other similar changes have also taken place in the health centers. Alternative reasons cannot be ruled out for these improvements, but the health workers and Malga woreda Government officials‟ credit SA initiatives for significantly contributing to the outcomes. In particular, health professionals (midwifery and health officers) have been deployed in the three health centers as per the standard. Card services of Tenkaro and Manicho health center are also now computerized as ICT equipped staffs have been recruited in the card department. The woreda council has increased the annual medical budget of each health center from 40,000 ETB to 170,000 ETB based on the demand of citizens and SAC members. As a result of this, pharmacies of the three health centers are now full of essential drugs and able to provide appropriate services to citizens. The Woreda health office has also allocated 100,000 ETB to construct new toilet facilities for service users of Haro health center, therefore, experimental examinations related to stool and urine are now easily conducted. In addition, woreda health office has purchased two motor bikes with a total cost of 200,000 ETB for Manicho and Tenkaro health centers.

Accessible road towards Tenkaro health center which was constructed by Malga

Woreda rural road program, June 2015


Moreover, the existed hand pump water service of Malga woreda was interrupted for the last three years due to technical problems, according to Abdela Shume, SAC member and service provider of Manicho health center. Hence, the community and health centers used pond and stream water for cleaning and drinking purposes. As a result, communities and service providers were affected by water borne diseases, but today, says Abdela, tap water was installed by the Government with an estimated cost of 11,000,000 ETB following SA initiatives and SAC members‟ pressure. As said by Abdela, SA project brought them from darkness to light as it has created great opportunity for them to solve various service provisions problems of their health center and absence of tap water in Manicho Town simultaneously, and enabled them to use tap water for drinking and cleaning purposes.

In addition, Birahanu Samuel, Malga Woreda SAC & Woreda Health expert spoke, “Due lack of awareness, most mothers in Malga woreda used to deliver in traditional way which exposed them to death and others harmful incidences. To improve this, woreda and kebele SAC members, woreda health office, health center professionals and 1to 5 development armies jointly conducted awareness raising campaign on the importance of delivering at health centers through the structures like 1 to 5 development army, self-helping associations (Iddirs), and religious meetings within 26 kebeles of Malga Woreda. Thanks for our collaboration due to SA initiative; the number of women seeking to give birth at health facilities in Malga woreda has increased 17 percent to 50 percent as compared to previous years; they are also receiving antenatal care and bringing their children for immunizations.”

Currently, service users have developed sense of ownership to demand quality services and contribute to its improvement. Getachew Tumura, an Iddir representative tells that service improvement is something that they are seeing. Due to these efforts from service users, where they are able to voice their concerns. Now, they are giving very good feedback for service providers, according to Getachew. They are also starting to contribute their time and resource to improve service provisions. For instance, communities fenced Tankaro Health Center and started cleaning the health centers compound in every 15 days, he added.

Moreover, SA project has improved synergies among Government development initiatives. With the aim to facilitate these synergies among initiatives, SACs has organized a special dialogue called ensuring accessible health centers for citizens. This dialogue reinforced the view that collaboration between the Woreda rural road program and the health sector prevailed to create accessible roads towards the health centers. Accordingly, Woreda rural road program allocated 2,700,000 ETB for the construction of accessible roads towards Haro and Tenkaro health centers. Currently, road towards Haro health center is under construction whereas the construction of road towards Tenkaro health center is finalized. Ambulance service is also commencing in Tenkaro health center.

The way forward

In the scaling up phase of water and Sanitation sector, AFSR trained 120 people from Watera, Minicho 2 and Centro kebeles for three days on the SA concept, including service providers. FGDs of women, men and other vulnerable groups were formed. Then 40 people per kebele were trained on how to integrate CSC and GRB, also for three days to learn to assess the service, to generate an improvement plan, and to create good relationships with the sector. After that, traditional coffee ceremonies were organize d and served during FGD meetings to identify the issues in the water sector. While the interface meeting has already been conducted, a plan was agreed and is now being implemented. All these tasks have been done during the project extension period.


Sustainability

Following the remarkable results of SA, various stakeholders from the health center, Malga woreda administration and service users recognized SA as an important instrument to ensure the improvements of basic service deliveries. The achievements registered so far is highly encouraging to sustain SA in the future. For example, representative of Malga woreda council Beyene Godano says SA initiative has directly assisted the woreda council and sector offices to allocate enough resources based on community needs and priorities and improved synergies among Government development initiatives. In the previous time, the communities were not able to explain their needs and concerns on service dissatisfaction, but now, they are able to identify their problems so that we are under pressure to deliver and if we do not, we have to explain why. Hence, we have planned annual SA day celebration as a strategy to continue SA in the future.” Besides, Kebele SAC member, Dawit Amerew said ”the woreda and kebele SACs have created strong linkage with FTA7, local media, Iddir, and gudmale (cultural gatherings event) for wider dissemination and keeping the momentum of SA going on.”

5. Education Service Improvements in Hawassa city of SNNPRS

AFSR used CSCii to enable the ultimate service users and service providers to enforce accountability and transparency, providing them with an opportunity to scrutinize the service provision deficiencies of Ethiopia Tikdem primary school, Tabour primary school and Addis Ketema Secondary and preparatory school. Children, parents, SAC members, teachers, and Government officials have participated in the CSC tool application processes to prioritize and take into account their needs and concerns. Before applying CSC, AFSR has established Kebele and woreda SACs and organized extensive trainings for citizens, service providers, government officials and SAC members on the concept of SA, its tools and how they use the tools to build up evidences for dialogue. Then, communities, government officials and service providers have conducted interface meetings on CSC results which led to the identification of the following major problems:

A. Addis Ketema Preparatory School:

- Bad smell emitted from the nearby soap factory,

- Lack of separate toilet facilities for male and female students,

- Absence of students‟ participation on school management,

- The delay of the construction of meeting hall,

- Absence of student cafeteria,

- Lack of awareness among students about school resource managements,

- Lack of potable water, and

- Absence of ramp for physically challenged students.

B. Ethiopia Tikdem Primary School

- Lack of accessible secondary school,

- Lack of potable water,

- Lack of laboratory inputs,

7 Financial transparency and accountability


- Lack of text books

- Lack of desk,

- Absence of ramp for physically challenged students, and

- Lack of school fence.

C. Tabour Primary School

- Lack of student text books,

- Absence of radio education,

- Poor library service,

- Absence of chair and table in the class for teachers,

- Lack of photocopy machine,

- Lack of separate toilets for male and female students,

- Interruption of the school mini media, and

- Absence of ram for physically challenged students

At the times of interface meeting, joint action plans (JAP) are developed on the prioritized issues–agreed/ negotiated action plan; agreed on the responsibilities for activities in the action plan and set time frames for the activities (appropriate people take appropriate responsibility–community members, students, teachers, Government staff and SAC members. The JAP has been properly handed over to SACs for further follow up.

Achievements obtained due to SA Intervention

- Hawassa city administration municipality together with other relevant bureaus provided land in other area to the owner of soap factory which is purposely prepared for industries by considering the location of the land in terms of these social services. Besides, the Municipality has also ordered the factory to produce soap during the night time until finalizing the building processes of the factory. The owner of the factory then took the land which has been compensated by the city administration for the construction of soap factory,

- Students were not properly participating on school‟s management in Addis Ketema Preparatory School. Now, the school has formed SA club to make SA as part of the school‟s service delivery system. The members of the club have started to participate on school‟s management by voicing the needs and concerns of the students. Various stakeholders have also asserted SA as an important instrument that enabled the community to act on the development planning processes,

- After a request made at the interface meeting, separate toilet rooms for boys and girls have been built in Addis Ketema Preparatory and Tabour Primary Schools.


- The issue of lack of potable water was solved in Addis Ketema preparatory and Ethiopia Tikdem Primary schools,

- The availability of relevant reference and text books have been fulfilled in all cases as per the standard,

- Students have now developed a sense of belongingness to demand quality services and protect the school‟s resources from damage, Students‟ disciplines have also improved by the coordinated efforts of Parent Teacher and Student Association (PTSA), SAC members, schools administration and teachers in Tabour and Ethiopia Tikidem primary schools,

Girls‟ Toilet before ESAP2 Intervention

in Addis Ketema Preparatory school

Girls‟ Toilet after ESAP2

Intervention in Addis Ketema

Preparatory school

Boys‟ Toilet before ESAP2 Intervention

in Addis Ketema Preparatory school

Boys „Toilet after ESAP2 Intervention in

Addis Ketema Preparatory school


Ethiopia Tikdem Primary School

Teacher

SA project has directly assisted the

Government to allocate resources in

line with community needs. The

teacher of Ethiopia Tikdem Primary

school said that the lobbying of the

combined forces of government

officials, Teachers, students and the

community influenced the district’s

decision to construct accessible

secondary school. When the need

came from citizens, the Government

realized that they really needed the

requested school nearer to Ethiopia

Tikdem Primary school. That is how

the Government planned and

immediately acted on the construction

of the secondary school with an

estimated cost of 11,000,000 ETB.

Ato Negash Atsibha, SAC

member

Since January 2013, a number of

meetings were held by which

communities were introduced the

government education standards

and scored our school based on

community-generated measures.

This has equipped us with the

negotiation skills and knowledge

about our entitlements. We have

also been forced to take action to

fulfill our entitlements.

- Ramps have been built for physically challenged students in Ethiopia Tikdem and Tabour primary schools, so these physically challenged students are attending their classes properly,

- Photocopy machine was bought by the local government for Tabour Primary School; the school can now duplicate exams and worksheets for students in their school without extra expenses,

- Separate student cafeteria has been arranged in Addis Ketema preparatory school,

- Building of meeting hall in Addis Ketema preparatory school has finalized by community contribution,

- Problems related to laboratory services of Ethiopia Tikdem primary school are solved by the coordinated efforts of the school administration, PTSA, SAC members, and woreda officials.

- Renovation of class rooms have been carried out by community participation in Ethiopia Tikdem primary school,

- The service time of the library in Tabour primary school has been extended,

- Broken old student desks were mended by the coordinated effort of the school administration, PTSA, and SAC members in Tabour and Ethiopia Tikidem primary schools,

- Necessary inputs to run radio education have been bought by the schools to respond the needs and concerns of students and SAC members in Tabour primary school, and

- The fence of Ethiopia Tikdem Primary school was also reinforced with the joint involvement of parents, PTSA and the school administration.

Ways in which the changes and results registered

Through practical exercises and awareness creation, ESAP2 has improved the common understandings of the community members, service providers, SAC members and Government officials to improve and identify the service provision deficiency issues. As community members, service providers, higher government officials and SAC members have participated in the interface meeting of the facility at kebele and woreda levels, they have reached consensus to take joint action to solve service provision deficiencies. Local government has reallocated resource from other sectors and activities to correct the high priority service delivery deficiencies in the affected sector. The communities have also contributed resources for the construction of a meeting hall of Addis ketema secondary and preparatory school and a secondary school nearest to Ethiopia Tikdem Primary school.


Things that will happen next

Even though, the soap factory which is found around Addis Ketema preparatory school was ordered to produce during night time, the task of transferring the factory to industry zone was delayed. The bad odor which comes from the factory during the night time is still polluting the school environment. Therefore, the already started efforts of all stakeholders should further be strengthened to speed up the reallocation process of the factory to the industry zone.

The attention has now shifted for scaling up to other non- targeted facilities (Misrak Primary school, Bahil Adarash primary and Adarea secondary schools) by using GRBiii and CSC together. The scaling phase has finalized until interface meeting. JAPs were agreed and are now being implemented.

Sustainability

To keep the momentum SA going on, the following tasks have been accomplished:

- Various capacity building trainings have been provided for SACs,

- Social accountability clubs have been established at school level,

- Adoption of SA to the neighboring kebeles,

- Strong linkages have been created with CBOs8 and FTA9, and

- The concepts and approaches of Social accountability have been introduced for girls club.

8Community based organizations 9 Financial transparency and accountability


6. Social Accountability Council (SAC) Hero in Arada sub city of Addis Ababa

Since January 2013, AFSR and the partner OPRIFS were implementing the Social Accountability (SA) project in 810 schools of Arada sub city. After SA intervention, service providers and clients are working together to address problems. Consequently, a vast number of service improvements have been achieved in all the schools. For the realization of this aim, SAC has played significant roles due to some committed actors. This case study therefore focuses on one of the SAC a hero who is working as SA promoter for community services.

SAC hero: Mr. Wondimu Oumer is a 34 young professional who is working in the education sector of Arada sub city, Addis Ababa. He joined the movement of stimulating social accountability (SA) initiatives in January 2014 for community services as Social Accountability Committee (SAC). He was elected by the representatives of vulnerable groups, students, teachers, citizens, government officials, and elected council members for he was very much eager to support vulnerable children. Wondimu is also sociable and capable of working effectively with other SA stakeholders. His being a director of Meskerem Secondary School coupled his responsibility in supporting vulnerable children and students to determine their fate by their own potentials, to cultivate the best fruits of their own brain and shaping their behavior to be successful in any sphere of life.

Opinions and testimonies of others

As Mr. Wondimu has gone extra miles to achieve service improvements for vulnerable and marginalized groups for SA initiatives, various SA stakeholders called him SA promoter for vulnerable and marginalized students. In fact, Yabebal Moges, a grade 10 blind student of Meskerem secondary school, says, “Wondimu has a special place in transforming our school through social accountability initiatives. He is a means and bridge for the success of vulnerable and marginalized students to realize our tomorrow dream.” Moreover, Kirsnesh Yimanebirhan, SAC member of woreda eight said, “Wondimu is sociable and has good abilities to work in team spirit with other SA stakeholders. To transfer his skills for other SAC members, he was facilitating the way how we disseminate the results and processes of SA to the wider audiences. He was also motivating other stakeholders to work exhaustively with SA to improve public service provisions not only in education sector but also in all basic public service sectors. Practically, he has depicted remarkable achievements on SA intervention in Meskerem Secondary School.”

Head of Woreda eight education and training office Mr. Bayew Berhane also testified saying, “The remarkable service improvements of SA interventions in the education sector of our sub city paved us to link SA with General Education Quality Assurance Package (GEQAP). In this regard, Wondium has played pivotal roles to reach on this decision.”

Achieved results

As a result of SA intervention, a large number of service improvements have been achieved for physically challenged people and marginalized groups in Meskerem Secondary School. Among

10Dagmawi Menelik Preparatory School in woreda 9, Meskerem Hulet Secondary School in woreda 8, Bihere Ethiopia primary School in woreda 7, Kebena primary School in woreda 7, Meskerem Hulet primary School in woreda 8, Kedamawi Menelik Primary School in woreda 9, Dagmawi Menelik Primary School in woreda 9 and Mehale Ginfle Primary School in woreda 9


those which have been achieved by Wondimu‟s relentless efforts, the following service improvements are highly related to the needs and concerns of vulnerable students:

- Educational materials (brail paper, stylus, cane, writing board, and etc) have been fulfilled for visually impaired students.

- Special needs education library room has been opened with the necessary equipment like computer, tape recorder, and reference materials,

- Separate toilet rooms have been built for girls and boys,

- Ramps have now been constructed for physically challenged students,

- Transportation and food services are arranged for those students who cannot afford these basic needs,

- Library and laboratory services have been improved by fulfilling various inputs,

- The number of water taps in the school has increased to 16 changing the ration from 1:761 to 1:23,

- New and comfortable playground was constructed in the school,

- Instead of eating on different corners of the school, students are now having their meals in their own lounge,

- Physically challenged and marginalized students have now developed a sense of belongingness to demand quality services and contribute to its improvements.

To scale up the aforementioned initiatives to other schools and government sectors, Wondimu has planned to utilize different communication channels and public structures. These include: local media, brochures, panel discussions, government organized meetings, and different existing government structures and service provision systems. By doing so, the promoter will be able to disseminate the processes of SA and its empirical results on Meskerem Secondary


school. Using Innovation in community mobilization can also be utilized for the purpose of dissemination.

Mr.Wondimu has exerted extraordinary efforts to promote SA to the wider communities by using the following approaches:

- He presented the concepts, approaches, and remarkable results of SA initiatives on his school to higher government officials, teachers, and school directors at government organized meetings,

- He has also exploited monthly PTSA11 and weekly 1 to 5 meetings to promote SA to the wider communities at school level,

- He refreshed woreda and sub city SAC members‟ awareness on SA and discussed the implementation statuse of the JAP during monthly meeting.

- He used Meskerem secondary school‟s mini media to disseminate the ideas of SA for teachers and students.

- He organized awareness raising sensitization sessions on SA for the members of different co-curricular clubs (gender, Ethics, anti-corruption and mini-media clubs).

- He has sensitized the concept of SA and its remarkable results for his school SIP (school improvement program) committee members.

In order to convince others to involve in the promotion of SA for community service, he has explained properly its concepts and remarkable results on service improvements. Through this approach, he convinced Woreda eight education and training office to recognize the valuable contributions of SA for better implementation of GEQIP. Accordingly, the education office distributed circular letter for Meskerem primary and Secondary Schools to remind them to implement SA project together with GEQIP in the future. Moreover, Wondimu was supporting SA expert by identifying a list of participants for various SA events equally from different social groups. Hence, physically challenged and marginalized students have got equal opportunities to participate in all phases of the social accountability processes. The results of their involvements have also been observed in the improved service provisions of the schools and service issues identified for improvements. As a result, Wondimu was able to obtain trust from those physically challenged and marginalized groups.

Ownership and motivation

Before ESAP2 was introduced, Meskerem Secondary School was facing various service provision problems. In order to solve the problems, Wondimu was assigned as a director of the school in December 2013. To discharge his duties and responsibilities, Wondimu was very much eager to find out alternative solutions to solve the problems of the school. So, he has participated on community score card (CSC) application processes of the school as service provider. When Wndimu was asked about the factors that motivated him for being SA promoter for community service, his answer was the following:

“From the CSC processes, I understood that SA is an important approach to participate citizens, citizen groups and communities in the planning, implementation, and monitoring of community service deficiencies. In order to enhance my understanding on the results of SA, I have also reviewed the Uganda Children‟s Participation and School Monitoring case study

11

parent teacher association


parallel with the processes of CSC application. The case study has also assured me to rely on SA to solve the service provision problems of my school. Then, I decided to develop a sense of ownership to transform the history of my school by promoting SA to address the problems of physically challenged and marginalized students in particular, and the school communities‟ in general”

Resource mobilization

After Wondimu had taken resource mobilization training, he has brought dramatic changes by mobilizing financial resource from parents, teachers, individuals, NGOs, and government officials to solve the problems of school which have been identified via CSC. The reason that makes his resource mobilization argument dramatic is not only the moment and amounts of resource mobilized, but also the attitudinal change improved on the communities to solve their development challenges by themselves. In the first place, he mobilized the school‟s local resources by maintenance, reorganization and arrangement. Then, he organized resource mobilization event in the school. Through this, the following resources were mobilized:

- 800,000 ETB was collected from the community to build 3m by 1m playgrounds for the school,

- Individuals have contributed library reference materials with a total cost of 4,500 ETB,

- Although school registration is done for free, parents themselves proposed to pay for the registration of their children. Due to this, 121,989 ETB was collected. This was spent on building separate toilet rooms for boys and girls,

- Some 4,500 ETB was collected from NGO.

- Individuals and school communities have arranged food and transport services for poor students with a total cost of 4,000 ETB/month.

Moreover, Wondimu has prepared project proposals and submitted to potential funders. Subsequently, the following resources were mobilized:

- Ministry of education donated different school furniture worth 450,000ETB and

- Lab equipment along with plasma TV, and different school furniture was donated by ICT center with an estimated cost of 100,000 ETB.

Sustainability

In order to sustain the momentum of SA in the future, Wondimu has contributed through ceaseless efforts to introduce the following institutionalization strategies:

- SA club has been formed in school. The club and Woreda SACs are linked with the existed students‟ parliament,

- Woreda eight education and training office was introduced SA project within the GEQIP,

- Strong linkage was created between SAC members and the school PTSA, and

- Community groups who have shown better performance on SA project implementation have appointed educational Ambassador


The health Centre guard

We worked with the church to solve attitudinal

problems. Previously there was marginalization

and abuse if you were poor, but now even

without relations you can get the service to

which you are entitled. In the card section the

staff used to abuse people, but some of them

were transferred, and the ones who are there

now are treating the patients well. This is not

only in the card section, but also in other areas.

7. Health service improvements in Adet Town, Amhara Region

AFSR and partner OPRIFS are implementing the Social Accountability (SA) project on the health sector in all three kebeles of the Adet town located in Amhara Region. Adet town is the capital of Yilma Densa Woreda which is found 45 kilometers away from Bahir Dar city. This case study was capitalized by MA team during their monitoring visit in Adet town on 8 September 2015.

Major achieved results in the services of health centres

Lack of chairs and enough beds in the waiting area and the maternity ward respectively has been resolved. In addition, the system of the more service oriented cards section has also been computerised.

Since there were three different treatment rooms in the health centre, the patients did not know where to go. Now they are properly informed and get the service they need. Because of the improved communication, patients no longer fear to speak with health centre staff and can call them by name. The health workers are also punctual,

After the request at the interface meeting, the HIV-AIDS and other medicines are now made available in the Adet town health centre,

The accessibility of ambulance has improved. Because, the driver on duty is now comfortably sleeping in the health centre with the newly bought matrass and blanket, the schedule of the ambulance drivers with their names and mobile phone numbers has been posted at the health centre,

The midwife issues were solved, and there is a clean delivery room now. Shower service is also available in spite of the water shortage,

Traditional Birth Attendants were given training, and now they also support women to go to the centre for

The Mayor of Adet town There used to be many issues that could not be solved, but due to collaboration and discussion with citizens, we can now solve these issues. The sanitation of the town has, for instance, been organized. Good governance has improved, because citizens are being demanding. Their attitude has changed. Citizens have become part of the problems as well as the solutions: the government is no longer the only one to solve problems. We are collecting revenue and we can spend it with financial transparency and accountability. We are posting the budget, so that citizens can learn about our revenue. Together with citizens, we can now identify the issues to be addressed. The social accountability project has been very good for the town. The awareness raising and trainings have been very useful for both us and for citizens, but we will still need some support from the NGOs to further capacitate both parties. The water problem is now the priority of the community, and we are discussing how to solve it. We want to scale to other sectors after this.


delivery. Previously, women used to go to Bahir Dar for medical care, but now they are staying here,

Staffing has changed with higher expertise, and there are more health extension workers as per the standard,

A generator was bought by the local government to overcome power outage. Therefore, patients can now get laboratory results within the standard time. The laboratory has posted a list of tests with the time it takes to get each result, so patients are able to manage their time properly. Owing to these achievements, the laboratory was recently awarded.

The Government has allocated 80,000 Birr for free health services to vulnerable groups.

The health centre Head says that they will expand the rooms in the future and will hire an additional guard as well. According to the Head, The SAC is providing support to do satisfaction assessments, and to help solve material problems in the health centre. He continues saying that all these achievements happened due to the commitment and efforts of the SAC, which is commendable.

The SAC has also worked with the bank which gives service in priority to the health centre treasurer. This has solved the shortage of change at the pharmacy, while previously extra payment by patients was made due to absence of change at the pharmacy.

Waste disposal in the town has also improved with the co-operation of the public. These days, Everyone is collecting waste in a sac and properly dispose them. For this, a memorandum of understanding was signed with the Government which now pays a salary for waste collectors: 500 Birr for 15 youth for waste disposal.

Communal latrines in the town which were out of order are now open again. They are cleaned by selected people who get a small payment from the mayor‟s office. The construction of a new communal latrine is in process. The latrine block has now been planned near the grain mill so that it is easily accessible for women.

The SAC is mobilising citizens, and is working well with the administration, which is one of the main success factors. The office of the mayor is very collaborative and so is the speaker of the house. The integration and communication are smooth. The NGO has also trained the council in the SA concept and all the members can understand SA.

The SAC is using the woreda communication media so that citizens can easily be reached. The woreda communications office has a mini media in the town, and this is used to spread SA flyers prepared by OPRIFS on market day for instance. The communication office has also transmitted information about the SA project and its results through Bahir Dar FM. The schools are also collaborating and transferring messages through drama. The commitment of the community and kebele SACs is also very high since they want to see changes.

A religious leader also explains, “For citizens, SA is like a college which tries to raise awareness on what it means to be human. The attitude of the people was very backward in the past, and it affected everything. With SA we can see that if everyone takes responsibility, things can be improved. Even those in power have changed and are more accountable. We all have responsibility. SA reflects important messages in the bible like love and taking care of each other. That is why why the religious leaders are helping. They are well respected by the municipality, just like Iddir leaders, and the municipality is really benefiting from the work of these institutions.”


Each kebele SAC has 7 members, there are also 9 extra members in the woreda SAC, so there are 30 active citizens and service providers to promote SA in the town. The 9 WSAC members are divided into 3 groups so that each group can link with one kebele SAC. The monthly report is reviewed and evaluated if there are challenges. Each sector tries to give support and directions as per the need identified in the JAP.

Previously the service providers think that the service is good, but the service users were very disappointed and SA has provided a forum to communicate. To assess the situation in the health sector, the Community Report Card (CRC) was conducted by high school teachers. Representative samples of different vulnerable groups were identified. As a result, there were almost 50 issues raised. The SAC compiled them to 20 issues to make it manageable. The raised issues were discussed in Focus Group Discussants of vulnerable groups, and they all agreed together on the priority issues. The SAC members then agreed when to meet with the service providers and the interface meeting took place. In the Joint Action Plan, which was developed after the interface meeting, everyone has responsibilities. After it was developed, the SAC meets regularly to plan and monitor and, each kebele SACs report regularly to the woreda SAC. The Mayor has given recognition to the SAC so that it can get proper support from the sectors where needed. SAC members also report to the Government.

Contrary to ESAP2 recommendations, the SAC composition is majority officials, and they are very committed and active to involve and serve the people. Since the previous committee was not working, active and committed people were then selected. These are not the higher officials, so they have time to dedicate to the people‟s cause.

Woreda SAC composition:

Pharmacist (chair)

Administration office

Woman, Children and Youth Affairs office

Water office

Municipality

Communications officer

Citizen representative

Religious leader

Representative of people with disability

SA committees and other stakeholders have participated in experience sharing with other woredas. The SAC shared messages about cooperation and entitlements using woreda media and drama. Women's groups have also been actively involved in the drama. All this made the

Woreda political official

SA worked with the health sector

and did a lot to mobilize citizens. It

is not simple what has been

achieved so far. The Government is

supporting SA because it wants to

make citizens more responsible. SA

is in the interest of the Government,

and has been accepted, because the

Government believes that citizens

can do better in solving the

problems. SA can also expand to

the other sectors. It has created an

opportunity for the Government to

work with citizens.

SAC members have been selected

for their commitment not for the

sake of being there, but the SA

committee member is committed to

solve citizens’ issues. That is why

we can get results like this. We

should scale it up to other kebeles.


Gender Responsive Budgeting

Men and women should see every

issue together and find the best

ways forward for the family. Now

the husbands are more supportive

to the women's issues

community cooperated with the SAC, and everyone is motivated to solve issues together. The SAC presents issues, and the community discusses on the solutions. The list of SAC members has been given to all stakeholders. The council is also using the SAC since it represents the citizens.

What next

The CD412 count machine which can only be made available at hospital level is still an outstanding issue. Because the nearest CD4 machine is in Bahir Dar, and this means that PLWHA have more to travel for more than 1.5 hours every month to the city. Adet is a big town, and the government is considering constructing a hospital.

An SA day was organised with the SAC, the council and the administration to celebrate SA and its results. The attention has now shifted beyond the health sector to the water problem. Due to the road construction between Bahrir Dar and Adet Town, the old electricity lines have come down. So, the town water pump is not working. The SAC has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the water sector, like it did with health sector before. Therefore, they have prepared a joint long and short term action plan.

The Community Score Card (CSC) and Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) tools have been selected, instead of CRC. The CRC works with an expert to study every group in the town using random sampling, but gender was not integrated well, and the CRC instructions are not useful to empower the community. After combining CSC with GRB, it really helped to see the gender issues, and this creates much more discussions and dialogue. Now, gender issues, which is especially important for water which affects men and women very differently have been identified. One SAC member says the following: “Gender means men and women - benefits for men and women, not only for women. Women have a serious problem especially when they are pregnant, so the health services are very important for them, and women are affected more than men by water shortage, because they have to go the distance to fetch water. In an urban context, the water problem may not be that much, but men and women should see every issue and find the best ways forward for the family. Now the husbands are more supportive to the women's issues.”

In the scaling phase to water, OPRIFS trained 120 people from three kebeles in three days on the SA concept, including service providers. FGDs of women, men and other vulnerable groups were formed. Then 40 people were trained on Community Score Card and Gender Responsive Budgeting, also in 3 days, to learn to assess the service, to generate an improvement plan, and to create good relationships with the sector. After that, coffee ceremonies were organised during FGD meetings to identify the issues in the water sector. The interface meeting has already been conducted. A plan was prepared, agreed and is now being implemented. All this has been done in the last three months. So, this shows experienced kebele and woreda SACs can do SA in a significantly shorter period of time. A new drama which shows the issues was also developed (see the video13).

12cluster of differentiation 4 13

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5H0WmUNGJYM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5H0WmUNGJYM


Sustainability

The SAC strongly believes that it can continue to discuss with the responsible stakeholders in other sectors when things are not going well. They feel it is the responsibility of the SAC to continue, because these are their day-to today issues. Even though the project stops, they know how to proceed. They understand the process and the various stakeholders are collaborating, so they can make action plans together and do better in the future. They would still prefer to have some support to further raise awareness of the community, and to gain support from well-versed people and other government sections so that they can join hands and give the SAC some budget to function. SAC makes costs, like mobile phone card for the chairperson to call people for meetings.

Citizens in the kebele SACs observe that the Government has many issues to solve, and they need the future support from NGOs to help mobilise citizens to solve future problems. The SAC also needs support from NGOs for the surrounding kebeles, to go into agriculture and education. There is a lot of work to be done. The SAC has made a good start, but the capacity can still become much stronger. The kebeles SACs will try their best, but if NGOs can continue, it would be very beneficial. Government alone cannot be fruitful, as they already have too many duties and other priorities. To scale SA, the 30 members of the SACs should be strengthened further, and get exposure and experience sharing. This is very necessary to scale it up.

The woreda SAC chair once said: “Scaling to other kebeles has already been discussed in the SAC, because NGO can‟t stay forever. They gave the direction and the SAC can follow it. Every sector should take SA as its own, but it needs a long term plan, because there are so many things to do. To bring behavioural change and awareness to others, some operational costs need to be covered. We can do it. Improving one health centre is good, but it needs to spread to all 11 health centres in the Woreda. We are ready as a committee to continue in other sectors. We are at a discussion stage, we have the strategy, but we need some functional support and time to solve all the problems that exist everywhere, and because it is behavioural change, it needs time. Some of the solutions also need a lot of resources, and enough time.”

7. Agriculture Service Improvements in Ziway dugda woreda, Oromia Region

Since January 2013, ASDA, the sub Partner of AFSR was implementing a Social Accountability Project (ESAP2) in the three kebeles14 of Ziway dugda woreda. ASDA selected the agriculture sector as the sector faced various service provision problems. As summarized in the introductory part, ASDA applied CSC in the agriculture sector. Like its partner organizations, ASDA has established Kebele and woreda SACs and organized extensive trainings for citizens, service providers, government officials and SAC members on the concept of SA on its tools and how they use the tools to build up evidences for dialogue before applying CSC. Then, communities, government officials and service providers (DA) have conducted interface meetings on CSC results which have resulted in the identification of the following major problems.

1. The agricultural inputs are not accessible in Halo and Deneba kebeles,

14 Halo, Deneba and Mejashenen kebeles

Woreda health expert

Many NGOs tried to work

with the health Centre to

find solutions, but they

couldn't until this SA

approach came along. It

puts pressure on us and

we find solutions together

with the people. The

committees are so

committed, thank you!


2. Lack of water pumps for irrigation in the three kebeles,

3. Lack of toilet room for FTC in Deneba Kebele,

4. Lack of improved pullets in the three kebeles,

5. Lack modern beehives in the three kebeles,

6. Absence of small scale irrigation in Halo kebele,

7. Lack of cooperation between farmers and development agents,

8. Lack of drinking water supply in Deneba Kebele,

During the interface meeting, participants have developed joint action plan with clear roles and responsibilities of each stakeholder throughout its implementation.

What results achieved due to SA Intervention

SA equips citizens to engage in evidence-based dialogue with development agents (DA) and the local government in order to improve the accountability of agriculture sector service provisions. Specifically, SA equips citizens with an understanding of the standards that government has set on the performance of facilities in the agriculture sector. In this regard, citizens learn about the number of DAs, agricultural inputs, equipment, and materials that the government set per kebele. Equipped with this evidence, citizens were organizing discussion forums with government officials and service providers at which all stakeholders review the implementation of the Joint action plan for the improvement of services. Consequently, social accountability initiatives have resulted in a huge number of service improvements like in other woredas. Some of these changes are:

- The accessibility of agricultural inputs has improved. Before the introduction of ESAP2,the framers of Halo and Deneba kebeles get agricultural inputs after travelling 5 to 7 kms, but the farmers are now getting the inputs within 0.5 km radius of their dwelling.

- ESAP2 project develop unities of citizens with government officials and development agents to solve their problems by themselves.

Ato Aman ALiye, speaker of Woreda Council In Ziway dugda woreda, there is growing recognition that SAC approaches are useful mainly for impacting effectiveness of service delivery. We have the ground and empowering citizens to say how services are being deliver better. Thus, we have started to include SAC members as participants of the assembly so that they raise issues, which need the attention of the council. This act helped the council to allocate budget to solve service provision problems identified by citizens through SA. Besides, the council has taken ownership of Social Accountability better than before and is regularly creating awareness among the Kebele council members so they can genuinely involve their respective community members to be part of the planning and budgeting process. This is due to the fact that:

- SA is useful to realize the objectives of our good governance initiatives by strengthening the links between citizens and local-level governments and assisting local authorities and service-providers to become more responsive and effective.

- The concept of SA is closely related to the notions of citizenship that give added emphasis to citizens‟ rights, roles and responsibilities and lead to enhanced citizen engagement.

- SA has strong potential to contribute to poverty reduction via more-pro-poor service improvements

- To keep the momentum of SA going on, we plan to apply SA approaches to gather relevant information on the grievances of citizens which need the attentions and concerns of the council.


Ethiopian Social Accountability project has well empowered and developed the unity of citizens to strongly struggle for the improvements of basic public service deliveries. It also helped service providers and users to understand their roles for service improvements and express their needs and concern for improved quality services. Making citizens as part of solutions for their problems by mobilizing their resources is also the concern of ESAP2. Accordingly, SAC members of Deneba Kebele and Ziway Dugda woreda have brought a dramatic change by mobilizing financial resource to solve serious drinking water shortage, which is identified by using communities‟ SA competencies and practices within the targeted agriculture sector. By mobilizing citizens, government sectors, CBOs, NGOs and different Associations, SAC members have mobilized 160,000.00 ETB from citizens to solve this community problem. OSHO (Oromo self-help organization) that is a local non-governmental organization is promised to cover the whole water hole digging expenses. From SAC members, water development committee has also been established to follow up the implementation of these critical tasks. The money has been deposited in a closed bank account of the water development committee. By considering this promising community initiative, the woreda administration has also promised to support 850,000.00 ETB to alleviate this critical problem. The reason that makes the resource mobilization events dramatic is not only the moment and amounts of resource mobilized, but it has brought attitudinal change on the communities to solve their development challenges by themselves. The kebele was ranked first from the last in this kind of infinitives in the previous years. But now It is becoming exemplary for other kebeles of Ziway duguda woreda due to the effective implementation of ESAP2 project.

- In addition to local government‟s allocated budget, the communities have contributed money for the purchase of water pumps for irrigation,

- The Government has allocated budget for the construction of Toilet room of FTC15. Accordingly, toilet has been constructed for FTC in Deneba Kebele,

- Now, improved pullets have been purchased and distributed for farmers in the three kebeles,

- Modern beehives have also been purchased and distributed for farmers in the three kebeles, and

- Local government has allocated a budget of 813, 000 ETB for the expansion of small scale irrigation in Halo kebele.

Next Plans

Like other woredas, the attention has now shifted to scaling up to water and sanitation sectors by using GRB and CSC together. The scaling phase has finalized until interface meeting. JAPs were agreed and are now being implemented.

Sustainability

To keep the momentum SA gonging on in Ziawy dugda woreda, the following sustainability initiatives have been done:

- Various capacity building trainings were provided for SACs,

15 Farmer training center


- Woreda council has recognized the roles of SAC for the promotion of SA and includes SAC members as participants of the assembly,

- Strong linkages have been created with woreda good governance package and FTA,

- The concepts and approaches of Social accountability have been introduced for Iddir

Conclusions and Implications of SA Approaches

As we have seen from the aforementioned empirical experiences of AFSR and its partners, Social accountability approach offer governments, donors, NGOs and multilateral institutions effective method to transform the delivery of quality and essential services, such as health, agriculture and education, in low-resource contexts.

The approach offers a number of particular benefits which translate into measureable and sustainable improvements in basic public service deliveries. It is particularly effective method to ordinary citizens to remain active participants in the services that are essential to their well-being.

The approach develops a functional relationship between citizens and government, or rights holders and duty-bearers. The development of a functional relationship between these actors lays the foundation for a long-term sustainable approach to both the delivery of quality and essential health, agriculture, rural road, water, and education sectors‟ service provision. The experiences have shown that the link between information dissemination on basic service standards and accountability is clear. When communities have access to information and are aware of their entitlements, they become active participants for the improvements of essential service services. Access to information knocks down one of the most important barriers to effective social accountability. However, it is access to information in combination with the development of positive and functional relationships between duty-bearers and rights holders that differentiates social accountability from other forms of monitoring services. It is this difference which leads to sustainable improvements in the implementation and quality of essential services and a sense of ownership of the services by both governments or other services providers and communities.

Consequently, various donors, Government and NGOs need to work jointly to scale up this initiative to their respective sectors. These actors should introduce SA initiatives on other development agendas like women empowerment, child protection, education, health, climate change as it help to bring all development actors on board for solution and positive thinking.

i CRC is a simple but powerful tool to provide public agencies with systematic feedback from users of public services iiCSC is a tool by which citizens monitor the quality, access, efficiency and effectiveness of basic services iiiGRB is taking into account the different needs and priorities of women and men in government budget processes, but not separating budgets for either gender

Gebrye Kefelew - ESAP2 Emperical Experineces

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