ALGP+: Commitment to Inclusive Decision - Making and Service Delivery

Background 

In Amhara region, as is the case all over Ethiopia, local communities’ direct involvement in the planning processes is limited to non-existent. The government is faced with several challenges in reaching out to the citizens, engaging them systematically at the local level in order to fulfil their demands and address their challenges. Often, communities remain passive recipients of government and donor-sponsored inputs and services without any say in the priority setting of what and how they are delivered. Additionally, gender determines access to basic services, with women still having limited participation role in decision-making processes. This gap is meant to be filled by elected councillors (legislators) from the Kebele (village) to the regional levels. However, some councillors do not feel empowered and are not fully aware of their mandated power, roles and responsibilities to demand the executive members (administrative branch) respond to community priorities and to legislate and provide oversight on local government’s performance in the provision of public services to the citizens. Consequently, the demands of the constituents are not addressed in a systematic and timely manner.

To alleviate the local governance problems, Helvetas Ethiopia had been implemented governance projects namely Capacity Building to Council (2012 to 2018) and Amhara Local Governance Project (2019 to 2022) in Amhara region. Using the lessons from these projects as a springboard, Helvetas with financial support of Austria Development Agency and own fund continued Amhara Local Governance Project initiative in the region as Amhara Local Governance Project Plus (ALGP+).  ALGP+ built on the experience of the previous projects will be implemented from October 2022 to December 2025 by expanding its operation area to 29 districts in the region.  ALGP+ differs from the previous phases that, Helvetas partnered with Bahir Dar University as a knowledge and research partner for proper capturing of learnings and evidence. 

The objective of  ALGP+ is that communities in the project area benefit from improved delivery of basic services that are planned in a participatory manner and delivered in a way that is accountable to all citizens. The project aims to ensure that communities not only benefit from improved basic services but also play a pivotal role in the participatory planning and delivery of basic services. The project focuses on enhancing the capacities of elected representatives to empower communities, enabling them to influence development priorities while establishing the necessary governance mechanisms for delivering inclusive, high-quality local services.  

The following are three outcomes of the project :

1) Communities are empowered to hold the elected councils accountable to represent needs and priorities.

2) Elected councils hold the administration accountable for responding to their constituents’ needs and priorities and oversee their work effectively.

3) Good practices and lessons learned are captured and disseminated and knowledge products are developed and anchored within national institutions.

The following methods and approaches are applied :

Citizen platform: the project aims to establish 240 citizen platforms and continues to support the existing 181 citizen platform from the previous ALGP. About 21,000 (50% women) community members will take part in this platform, who are the representative of different groups such as women, men, youth, people with disabilities, children and people living with HIV/AIDS. These platforms will be empowered to facilitate participatory planning and prioritization of the community’s needs.

Planning & prioritization: the project continues to use the Integrated Community-Based Participatory Planning tool adopted from Regional Plan Bureau and tested by drawing the attention of council to know the priority of their constituency in previous ALGP. The Kebele-level planning and prioritization is facilitated by trained experts from the five pro-poor sectors and councils. The priorities of the community are compiled by the Kebele manager and presented to the Kebele council for approval. Once the Kebele plan is approved by the Kebele council, it is submitted to the Woreda (district) plan unit for review and integration to the Woreda plan that is finally approved by the Woreda council. The citizen platform meets biannually to review the progress of planned activities.

Capacity strengthening : In close collaboration with the regional government of Amhara, Helvetas has developed a successful training model that empowers local councilors (elected members in the legislative branch), executive members (administrative branch) and community representatives. The capacity building training to district and village level council include, Core duty, Follow up and supervision/oversight, leadership and community development, Rule of procedure/ethical procedure in council, activity progress and Financial Report appraisal, and ICBPP. The project also  facilitate a focused training to women councilors on Public Speaking  , and Gender Responsive Budgeting. Similarly, ALGP+ train  pro-poor sectors planning experts on Facilitation skill, Resource Mobilization and ICBPP.  In this training program, the local councilors gain a better understanding of their powers and duties, and how to discharge their responsibilities more effectively in holding the accountability of executive members. The councilors are supported to have dialogues with their constituents and executive members. Moreover, executive local officials are trained to carry out the mandates from the legislature and to address the needs of the population. Similarly, the community representatives are capacitated for planning and prioritization of their needs (through ICBPP approach).

Advocacy: The project advocates the regional government for the institutionalization of ICBPP to be used widely throughout the region. In view of evidence-based advocacy, the achievements and lessons learned from the actual implementation of ICBPP at the community level are documented and shared with higher-level decision-makers.

Achievements and lessons learned:

The aforementioned empowerment and engagement brought significant results in prioritization of the community demand and implementation. The following are some of the achievements and lessons learned, but not limited, of the project -

•   Schools’ infrastructure, water schemes and health facilities have been improved
•  Roads have been constructed for improved accessibility to markets and other socio-economic services
• Improved community practices (e.g., early marriage and unnecessary spendings are restricted or discouraged)