ILO

March 2000 - July 2003

To address Madagascar's severe poverty and provide momentum to the country's newly initiated decentralization policy, leading public policy makers are increasingly recognizing that they must incorporate the concerns of all citizens, particularly the poor and grassroots communities into the public policy process.

The USAID-funded Ilo, which means "light" in Malagasy, is designed to provide civil society organizations (CSOs) with the necessary tools and knowledge to participate fully in and have an impact on the public policy process in Madagascar. The project builds on Pact's successful management of public debate of complex economic and social policy questions under the USAID-funded Rary Project. and is implemented with Cornell's Food and Nutrition Policy Program (Cornell) and two Malagasy institutions, INSTAT and CITE.

Pact's approach

Pact has adopted a three-pronged approach to strengthening Malagasy civil society participation that includes working with government officials and other decision-makers. The elements of Pact's approch are summarized in the table below.

Pact's role as leader is focused on improving public information sharing and dialogue among local Malagasy organizations, the media and others to help frame key public policy issues, amplify and disseminate pertinent analytical work, and solicit feedback and verification of results. In the process, Pact reinforces the capacity of concerned CSOs to analyze current issues and to develop and manage effective advocacy campaigns to defend common interests (most often associated with the alleviation of poverty). Pact also is responsible for issuing small grants to CSOs to initiate advocacy-related activities.

Cornell's role focuses on improving the processing and use of econimic data and analyses. Ilo's Malagasy partner INSTAT focuses on the management of a virtual online information network that serves as a gateway between the producers and users of economic information, and CITE oversees the processing of economic data and analyses into easy-to-grasp charts and consistent, user-friendly narratives.

Interim results

• Assisted traditional fishermen in the Mahajanga region to organize into a federation, Ankoay, and provided Ankoay with training in issue management and advocacy. Through a successful advocacy campaign, Ankoay won a seat on the national committee overseeing coastal management policy. As a member of the committee it was able to include the Mahajanga region in Madagascar's coastal management priorities for 2001. Ankoay also advocated for tighter control of industrial fishing on a two-mile zone on the northwestern coast to protect the fishing stocks and livelihoods of traditional fishermen in the region.and promoted responsible fishing among its own members through greater respect of fishing seasons and other environmental safeguards.
• Assisted Hery Miray, a federation of 55 neighborhood associations in Mahajanga, design and implement an advocacy/information campaign against the inefficiency and corruption of land tenure services. Hery Miray organized classes for citizens to inform them about land tenure laws and issues and lobbied central government and donors to select Mahajanga as a priority site for the national land reform.
• Provided training to journalists on issue identification and reporting techniques. Several journalists are conducting investigative reporting and devleoping new formats for reporting news on local broadcast stations. The quality and quantity of information on local airwaves has drastically improved.
• Assisted the new provincial governors of Fianarantsoa and Mahajanga in developing criteria for road rehabilitation. The process involved several consultations/negotiations with civil society organizations/neighborhood associations that ultimately led to adoption of regional guidelines by the central government and the World Bank. The process set a precedent for consensus building between provincial governments and citizens/communities, legitimized the new governors in their function, and created a framework for participatory public policy formulation at the regional level.
• Provided technical and financial support to Malagasy partners, Comode and the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) committee, to promote CSOs' participation in public policy formulation and to establish a framework for collaboration between civil society and government/donors on implementaiton of the PRSP. Organized three preparatory workshops at the regional level to assist CSOs with issue identification that led to the research and publication of 12 white papers on rural development, gender, AIDS, governance and health. The CSOs also identified key indicators for use in monitoring and evaluation of the PRSP implementation plan, which provided a constructive means for CSOs to better understand and participate in poverty reduction efforts.
• Fostered timely sharing of information among and between CSOs and government agencies through the creation of information sharing and knowledge management centers at the regional level; Key information was made available for use to identify and prioritize public investments in development programs. The process resulted in more coherent policy (i.e, road rehabilitation across provinces) and provided a basis on which to engage all stakeholders in informed and constructive public policy debate.
• Assisted in creation of new regional public entity, Fianarantsoa Cote Est (FCE) Union of Communes, which enables individual communes to pool resources to better manage public services, take action to protect the rail service, and address development issues. The union is participating in the rehabilitation of the railroad linking the provincial capital, Fianarantsoa to the port city of Manakara on the southeast coast.
• Assisted the provincial information system (SIP) of Mahajanga to develop a database of key economic indicators along with investment climate analyses for potential investors interested in Mahajanga. The technical unit of SIP Mahajanga is working with the Chamber of Commerce to market the information throughout the province.