PUBLIC PARTICIPATION AND GOVERNANCE

Public participation is at a core of devolution and is a key determinant of the success of both the County and National Governments’ plans and policies. This aspect is strongly anchored in the constitution of Uganda, 1995 in which the public is supposed to be involved in making decisions in all the matters that touch on their holistic well-being.

Citizens Participation and Governance implies the involvement of citizens in a wide range of policy making activities and processes, including the determination of levels of service, planning, budget priorities, establishment of performance standards and the acceptability of physical construction projects in order to orient government programs toward community needs, build public support, and encourage a sense of cohesiveness within neighborhoods. Citizen engagement in devolved government’s systems implies the involvement of citizens in planning, decision-making process of Governments’ measures and/or institutional arrangements so as to increase their influence on service delivery, equitable distribution of devolved resources, enactment of favorable policies and programs to ensure a more positive impact on their social and economic lives. It entails sound public sector management (efficiency, effectiveness and economy), accountability, exchange and free flow of information (transparency), and a legal framework for development (justice, respect for human rights and liberties).

GDCF is making every effort to ensure that every citizen in all the targeted counties understands the Constitution of Uganda 1995 and particularly the Chapters on protection and promotion of fundamental and other human rights and freedoms, public participation and representation of the people. The constitution states that power belongs to the people, which provides a strong legal framework for citizen participation. We are making efforts to promote citizens’ involvement in matters affecting their lives through ensuring their active engagement in the implementation and monitoring of the Constitution of Uganda, enhance active participation in the management of available resources, capacities and governance of the CBOs and other grassroots groups to galvanize rights demands for effective services to the citizens.

Meaningful citizen participation is the key determinant factor in the success of devolution and realization of good governance at the local level. This is only attainable if the citizens have understanding of devolution and a realistic idea of how duty bearers (elected/appointed leaders) should perform. It is only then that the citizen will be able to hold their county government to account. The Constitution of Uganda 1995, in Article 1 states that all power belongs to the people who shall exercise their sovereignty in accordance with the Constitution. This power can be expressed through direct participation or indirectly through elected representatives. The constitution places the citizens at the Centre of everything and promotes the aspect of participation and involvement as a key factor to enhance its successful implementation and good governance.

The implementation of the constitution has progressed amidst challenges including low participation by citizens. This is responsible for the inadequate information, and the challenges of tokenistic participation and the unsupportive stakeholders. There is low awareness of the citizens on constitutional matters and processes. There has been a minimal effort directed to Civic Education by duty bearers to facilitate Civic Actions by various community groups. A key concern is the marginalization of stakeholders like the Youth, Women and Persons Living with Various Forms of disabilities (PLWDs) in planning and governance processes. Poor understanding by citizens of the role of elected representatives has also contributed to lack of consideration by citizens of the roles of those being elected for key positions including that of the Members of Parliament (MP’s) when demanding accountability. Citizens are yet to fully appreciate and differentiate the role of the executive and that of their elected representatives.

It has also become clear that local governments are also not providing citizens adequate opportunities to participate in governance by not sharing relevant documents like the budget estimates and by holding poorly organized public participation forums. Citizens need to participate meaningfully in governance by undertaking social accountability initiatives like the community score cards that contribute towards enhancing service delivery to the poor who mainly rely on public services in areas like health, water and early child hood education. Therefore, based on the above information, GCDF finds it necessary to build a critical mass of citizens on the provisions on the constitution for them to effectively engage in governance practices.

GCDF is undertaking various initiatives which are aimed at making contributions towards Rooting Democracy in Uganda and promoting good governance practices through an Informed Citizenry. These include: Entrenching constitutionalism by promoting national values and Nationhood exercise of sovereign power, holding public officials to account, Safeguarding and strengthening devolution for improved service delivery and transformation of lives and in promoting free and fair elections by enhancing participation of citizens in the electoral processes. Such initiatives are also aimed at addressing the challenges faced by the marginalization of women, youth, persons with disabilities (PWD) and minority communities by capacity building and including them in social accountability initiatives. This increases and enhances their representation in various governance processes.

Specifically, the intervention seeks to improve the capacity of citizens and citizen groups at the local level to undertake monitoring of implementation of development through participatory audit, enhance community Social Accountability knowledge and skills to effectively demand transparency and accountability in public service delivery; and increase awareness among citizens on the constitution and electoral processes for effective participation and engagement in governance process and practices

• Community Level Civic Awareness Forums
• Training of Civic Education as facilitators and Trainers of Trainers (TOTs)/Facilitators and supporting them to undertake various village based Civic Education activities.
• Organizing and working closely with technical persons to facilitate various Interactive Talk Shows on Local FM Radio Stations on Human rights, governance and public engagement and participation.
• Undertaking various social accountability exercises including use of score cards
• Monitoring government’s projects and related public activities implementation as well as value for money for planned projects.
• Facilitating the preparation and presentation of Memorandums of understanding on various public matters to the relevant authorities and policy makers for their action.

• Increase in the number of citizens participating in monitoring of service delivery using the community score card tools
• Enhanced awareness among citizens on the constitution, devolution, participation and the electoral process
• Increased understanding by citizens on accountability, social accountability process and its application in monitoring the implementation of development programs by government.

GCDF envisages improved development at the local level due to prudent utilization of public resources, effective delivery of quality public services and inclusion of citizens in development planning and budgeting as a result of increased participation by citizens in governance and enhanced engagement of citizens and public officers