To increase civil society’s role in government’s policymaking and advocacy on energy, economic, agriculture, education and health sectors, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) over the next three years will award up to 500 grants worth $45 million.
This was announced on Friday at the launch of the ‘Citizens Voice Project’. In the first phase of the project, the US government will award up to $2.6 million grants to fund activities related to citizens’ dialogue on municipal services, energy sector reforms and water rights, for which the province of Sindh will be the targeted region.
The chief guest at the launching ceremony of the project, US Consul General in Karachi William J Martin told representatives from various non-governmental organisations that the Citizens Voice Project represents the largest single investment in civic and social organisations in USAID’s 50-year history in Pakistan. “[The project] completes a set of US-funded civil society support programmes that will exceed $100 million during the next four years,” he added.
“We hope that the Citizens Voice Project will enable more Pakistani organisations to engage constructively with their government on issues of national and local importance,” he said. “When the civil society works in tandem with the state institutions to address citizens’ needs and aspirations, the impact is unlimited.”
Martin said that civil society organisations have the critical role of playing as watchdogs over government programmes and actions in formulation and implementation of public policies and in advocating for more responsive and accountable state institutions. “These are challenging but essential functions in a strong, democratic society.”
Claiming that the impact of such efforts is evident in recent legislative reforms in Pakistan such as the last week’s passage of progressive gender legislation and the inclusion of educational and other basic rights in the 18th amendment, the US Consul General said that each of these actions have stemmed from the extensive input by citizens’ groups and effective collaboration with government institutions in policymaking.
“The cooperation between state and civil society organisations is fundamental to effective democratic governance, public policy and decisions about the direction of national development,” he said. “This is especially important for Karachi and Sindh where many ideas for better governance and cutting edge ideas for better public sector management were initiated outside the government.”
The Citizens’ Voice Project – implemented by the Trust for Democratic Education and Accountability (TDEA) – is one of several programmes funded by the USAID to support Pakistani-led initiatives throughout the country.
Speaking on the occasion, TDEA’s Citizens Voice Project Director Mukhtar Ahmed Ali told the audience that the project aims to increase the involvement of citizens and civil society in governance to improve government’s decision-making and spending of public funds according to citizens’ priorities and needs. “The TDEA was also established with the same goal and we are proud to have been selected for working in partnership on this programme.”
