Civil Society Strengthening and Citizen Oversight of Government

June 2005-October 2005

In June 2005 Pact was contracted by CARE-Ecuador to provide consulting services to the Participation, Governability and Democracy Project (PGD) and to the Commission for Civic Control of Corruption (CCCC). The purpose of this project is to raise awareness of the rights and responsibilities that come with citizenship in order for the people to exercise more oversight over their local governments and political leaders. Pact is working through a participative process to enable citizens to hold local governments accountable. Key objectives include:

• Increased citizen social control over public municipalities, institutions and organizations
• Increased understanding of civic duties, rights and responsibilities
• Increased capacity of local government to implement participatory planning methods

Pact's approach

Pact is using a highly participatory approach that brings together civil society and local government. Through a series of responsive capacity building workshops based on experiential learning methodologies, Pact Ecuador is working towards a more comprehensive understanding of the processes of citizen participation and the role of social control mechanisms of both the citizens and the government.

Interim results

• During the first three months of the project eleven capacity building workshops were held throughout the region with over 320 participants representing more than 120 civil society organizations and various government branches.
• Municipal functionaries, spokespeople for parochial assemblies, and citizen leaders have received training in mechanisms of citizen social control over public municipalities, institutions and NGOs in the process of: active consultation, participative planning, participative budgeting, contracting and acquisition of public goods, supervision and execution of work, projects or services and the rendering of accounts.
• The Commission for Civic Control of Corruption has validated materials related to citizen formation, social control, and the constitution to be used by citizen ombudsmen. Two constitutions for citizen ombudsman's have been advanced as a result of this process.