Grassroots women's accountability mechanisms: strengthening urban governance through organising and partnerships

Abstract

Women living in marginalised urban neighbourhoods are often excluded from the economic, political, and social resources available to other city dwellers. The focus on the decentralisation of services and resource provision in urban areas presents an opportunity to citizens, including women, to organise to hold local government to account. This article builds on case studies and lessons learned from 18 months of the Huairou Commission's Transparency & Accountability Initiative, with specific reference to initiatives in Metro Manila, Philippines, Thankot, Nepal, and Jinja, Uganda. Here, organised groups of grassroots women have established innovative, community-driven mechanisms to participate in and monitor decision-making and service delivery in cities.

Les femmes vivant dans des quartiers urbains marginalisés sont souvent exclues des ressources économiques, politiques et sociales dont disposent les autres habitants des villes. L'attention accordée à la décentralisation des services et à la fourniture de ressources dans les zones urbaines donne l'occasion aux citoyens, y compris les femmes, de s'organiser pour exiger des comptes aux pouvoirs publics. Cet article se base sur des études de cas et des enseignements tirés de 18 mois de l'Initiative transparence et redevabilité (Transparency & Accountability Initiative) de la Commission Huairou, en se référant plus spécifiquement à des initiatives menées à Metro Manila (Philippines), à Thankot (Népal) et à Jinja (Ouganda). Là, des groupes organisés de femmes des quartiers populaires ont établi des mécanismes innovants et impulsés par la communauté pour participer à la prise de décisions et à la prestation de services dans les villes.

Frecuentemente, las mujeres residentes en barrios urbanos marginalizados son excluidas de recursos económicos, políticos y sociales a los que sí tienen acceso los demás habitantes de la ciudad. La articulación de una demanda encaminada a descentralizar los servicios y el suministro de recursos en áreas urbanas brinda a los ciudadanos y a las mujeres la oportunidad de organizase, a fin de pedir cuentas al gobierno local. El presente artículo analiza los aprendizajes surgidos a lo largo de 18 meses de desarrollo de la Iniciativa de Transparencia y de Rendición de Cuentas de la Comisión Huairou, centrándose en estudios de caso relativos a las iniciativas promovidas en las áreas metropolitanas de Manila, Filipinas, Thankot, Nepal y Jinja, Uganda. En estas ciudades, los grupos organizados de mujeres de base han establecido innovadores mecanismos comunitarios, cuyo objetivo apunta a asegurar su participación en –y su monitoreo de– la toma de decisiones respecto a la prestación de servicios urbanos.

Key words:

• grassroots women
• transparency
• participatory monitoring
• governance
• gender
• service delivery

Notes

1 The Huairou Commission is a global membership and partnership coalition in 50 countries that supports the empowerment of grassroots women's organisations, enhancing their community development work and enabling them to exercise collective political power at the global level.

2 Barangays are the smallest administrative unit of government in the Philippines. There are over 2,000 barangays in Metro Manila, and DAMPA works in 18 of them.

3 The members of these pharmacies themselves provide the funding, while in some cases the government has provided matching resources. There are currently over 20 community pharmacies and DAMPA was recruited to assist the Department of Health to set up a nationwide network of barangay pharmacies (DAMPA 2004, 8) which is connected to a network that advocates for health issues like cheaper medicines, enrolment in health insurance, universal health care, and budgeting processes.

4 For further information on WASH governance, please refer to the following resources: realising MDG 7c: www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/ourwork/environmentandenergy/focus_areas/water_and_ocean_governance/water-supply-and-sanitation/goal-wash.html WASH Governance; training programme: www.ircwash.org/about-wash-governance-training-programme; World Health Organization and UN-Water ‘Global Report 2013: Investing in Water and Sanitation, Increasing Access, Reducing Inequalities’ http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/139735/1/9789241508087_eng.pdf?ua=1 (all last checked by the authors 23 January 2015).

5 Article 16 of the interim Constitution declares a right to water and sanitation, and international covenants refer to access to safe drinking water and sanitation.

6 These Report Cards were originally developed by ‘The Good Governance Initiative’ (TUGI), a UNDP project in Asia Pacific. Its major objective is to contribute to improving the quality of life in cities throughout the Asia Pacific region by strengthening the capacities of local authorities and promoting good governance principles.

7 Local-to-Local Dialogues are locally designed strategies whereby grassroots women's groups initiate and engage in ongoing dialogues with local authorities to negotiate a range of development issues and priorities to influence policies, plans, and programmes in ways that address women's priorities. This dialogue process helps decision-makers to listen to their constituents and to recognise that ultimately development solutions are possible and meaningful only with the full participation and agreement of those affected. For more information, see Silliman et al. (2011) and Goldenberg (2008).