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Steps Towards Strengthening Governance: Pilot Initiatives
CARE Bangladesh uses
the term "Governance"
to denote organizational
decision-making in both
the public and private
sectors, including all
levels of government,
all domains of civil
society and the, market.
In giving the issue
of governance such a
high profile, CARE signals
its belief that "how"
decisions are made in
the relief and development
arena can be just as
important as what these
decisions are. Such
questions as who
has voice in and
influence on |
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decision making; how
an organization's funds
are raised and its resource
managed: and the degree
to which different
opinions are able to
be expressed freely
by the membership -
all these are governance
issue. Following are
the major governance
pilot initiatives undertaken
by CARE Bangladesh. |
1. Improving Governance of Partnering NGOs |
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The Strengthening Household Access to Bari Gardening Extension,
(SHABGE-DFID) is working with two of its partnering NGOs, namely MUKTI and Nowzowan in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar district for improving governance of these organizations. The objective of the pilot is to facilitate a process that helps them develop a more effective leadership structure and democratic decision-making processes that open the door to participation by those whom the organization was meant to serve. The pilot is to develop and test innovative ideas for giving the primary beneficiaries a voice in all stages of the project cycle - from planning and design to implementation, monitoring, and evaluation.
Related Link |
2.
Strengthening Effectiveness
of Union Parishads |
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The Building of Union Infrastructure for Local Development (BUILD) project, under the auspices of CARE's Integrated Food Security Program (IFSP) works with the lowest tier of local government, known as Union Parishads (UPs) to empower them to be of greater service to the poorest of the poor. The pilot initiative is working to strengthen the capacity of the UPs to successfully collect local taxes by giving the taxpayers a voice in how the money is spent. The pilot is underway in one of the unions in the Rangpur district.
Related Link |
3.
Promoting Community Ownership
and Participation in Managing
Community Schools |
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The Children's Opportunities for Learning Enhanced (CHOLEN) project is helping local communities regain "ownership" and management of local schools. In the absence of sufficient government funding, many localities built and ran their own schools, particularly in the remote rural areas. But a gradual nationalization of these schools, while providing better hardware and teacher training, has also resulted discontinuation of community involvement and support. The project hopes to revive local participation in school management, thereby improving teacher performance and the quality of education. The pilot is underway in the Khagrachari district.
Related Link |
4.
Activating Local Level
Civil Society Groups |
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An IFSP pilot program in the Mymensingh district aims to strengthen local civil society or "watchdog" groups to insure that government-run institutions deliver resources and services to disadvantaged groups in society without discrimination. It seeks to empower these groups to fight against corruption and to establish a dialogue and advocacy stance with the service providers that will result in more public information, transparency and accountability.
Related Link |
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