Latest Resources
Measuring Empowerment? Ask Them
Asia and the Pacific, Civil Society, Human Rights, Report, Civil SocietyProcesses of development and social change are never easy to measure though, and results can be elusive and difficult to evaluate. It is easier to count schools than to measure the impact of education. However, there are from time to time innovative and cutting edge efforts made to measure the “immeasurable”, and in Bangladesh we found one such example. This paper presents the...
Demanding Good Governance: Lessons from Social Accountability Initiatives in Africa
Africa, Book, Civil Society, Democracy, Governance and Gender, Human Rights, Political Parties, Public Administration, Inter-Governmental Organization, Civil SocietySocial accountability refers to the wide range of citizen actions to hold the state to account, as well as actions on the part of government, media, and other actors that promote or facilitate these efforts. Social accountability strategies and tools help empower ordinary citizens to exercise their inherent rights to hold governments accountable for the use of public funds and how they exercise...
2010 State of the Union Continental Report - Deliver the dream: Time to close the gap between continental promises and the reality of African people
Africa, Civil Society, Democracy, Governance and Gender, Human Rights, Public Administration, Report, Civil SocietyThis reports finds an alarming gap between AU legal instruments and policy standards, the policies and practises of most Member States. Unless there is a change in the behaviour of both African Union organs and Member States, the many important decisions being taken at continental levels risk the danger of not being implemented. This will continue to have devastating consequences for the...
Burma's Electoral Framework Is Fundamentally Undemocratic
Asia and the Pacific, Civil Society, Conflict, Democracy, Electoral Systems, Human Rights, Report, Civil SocietyBurma’s military regime, known as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), intends to hold national elections sometime this year, the first since 1990. The polls will be the fifth step in the socalled “Seven Step Roadmap to Democracy” (the Roadmap) announced by the SPDC in 2003. The first four steps related to the development of a new constitution, adopted in 2008,...
Reducing Risks of Reporting Corruption: Lessons from an Online Reporting System in Kenya
Africa, Civil Society, Conflict, Corruption, E-Governance, Human Rights, Media, Public Administration, Report, Academic/Think TankThis Practice Insight (2010:4) from the U4 Anti Corruption Resource Centre notes that Kenya’s Anti-Corruption Commission has adapted an online tool to improve the quality and quantity of reports it receives about corruption, providing anonymous communication with the informants. While clearly an important channel for leads on grand corruption cases especially, the implementation...
Doing Business 2010
Civil Society, Human Rights, Land Governance, Public Administration, Report, Inter-Governmental OrganizationSince 2004 Doing Business has been tracking regulatory reforms aimed at improving the ease of doing business. Despite the challenges presented by the financial crisis, the number of reforms hit a record level this year. Between June 2008 and May 2009, 287 reforms were recorded in 131 economies, 20% more than the year before. Reformers focused on making it easier to start and operate a business,...
Budget Advocacy for the Water and Sanitation Sector in Nepal
Asia and the Pacific, Civil Society, Governance and MDG, Human Rights, Land Governance, Public Administration, Civil SocietyThis WaterAid publication offers not only a primer on budget, but also aims to equip civil society advocates with the necessary knowledge to help the poor and marginalised. It addresses the demand for the basic rights of and access to water and sanitation, while additionally adressing the skills to understand the underlying principles, processes and scope of budgeting from the formulation to...