Community and Citizen Engagement

1. EngagingEngaging Citizen: A Game Changer for
Development.
Citizen Engagement As a Catalyst for Development at the Grassroots

2. Mobilizing Citizens for Accountability and Service Delivery
Ensuring budgets and constituency funds monitoring and
accountability programming for governance to provide a
platform whereby citizens and their elected representatives
can have interface by the way of community meetings tagged
"Constituency Cultivation"

3. Multi-Stakeholders Engagements
Different like-minded community-based-
organizations (CBOs) such as
women/youth/farmers/ groups from different
localities can come together under a large
umbrella to form a coalition to ensure good
governance to monitor the implementation of
development projects in their localities.

4. Engaging Government for Good Governance
The most common participatory mechanism is the
large group format, Nabatchi in Public Administration
Review 2012.
 The larger coalition, comprising of representatives of
the CBOs can coordinate/plan engagements with their
elected public officials in government to ensure the
provision of basic Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
(WASH) projects.
 This coalition would be better if led and/or facilitated
by a non-governmental-organization (NGO) with
experts in the development field.

5. Engaging Government for Good
Governance (continue)
● The NGO can help the coalition in areas like training, leadership,
direction and sustainability of the coalition so that they continue
to take ownership of the engagement initiatives in their respective
localities.

6. Engaging Government for Good
Governance (continue)
 The NGO can also help in areas like:
 Coalition Building, Agenda Setting
 Needs and Baseline Assessment
 Participatory Appraisal
 Community Resource Mapping and Ranking
 Evidence-Based-Advocacy and Lobbying
 Citizen Engagement, Budgeting Cycle and
Monitoring
 Community mobilization, information
management

7. Engaging Government for Good
Governance (continue)
To engage the government in service delivery, members of the
coalition and affiliated CBOs at all times need to be mindful of latest
news from the government that relate to projects budgeted for or
approved by their government.
They can take the initiative by obtaining budget copies and writing
letters to the government expressing their appreciation for the
projects approval and looking forward to their fruitful
implementation

8. Engaging Government for Good
Governance (continue)
The coalition in different localities can organize local forums and
invite elected officials where issues regarding the provision of
developmental projects and raised. They can also remind them of
their promises and commitments to the items in the signed “Social
Contracts” while seeking office.

9. Engaging Government for Good
Governance (continue)
Participatory budgeting allows for local residents rights to participate in
local budget planning, Lim Jong-Dae 2009
These engagements are effective by :
* Giving citizens the chance to add their voice towards their
development.
* Enabling elected official the chance to get feedback from the citizen
(feel the pulse) on developmental issues
* Gathering data by all.

10. Tools for Citizens/Govenrment Engagement
The tools are information sources and objects
for evidence-based-advocacy in engaging the
elected government representatives
The tools that can be used to reach
engagement objectives are administrative
documents, government gazettes, pictures,
budget documents, newspapers, coalition
newsletters and communiques and letters.

11. Indicators of Citizens Engagement's
Success
The indicators can be used to measure the
outcomes and impacts of the engagement. They
can be data show the differences in the changes
or milestones that happened after the initiative.
Evaluation should be patient focused- Engaging
with Impact 2009 pg 59) .The NGO, government
and the coalition/citizen should evaluate the
performances or provision of development
projects in their communities. The success will
eventually encourage the sustainability of the
initiative.

12. Citizen Engagement: A Game Changer for Development.
Thank you.
Adedoyin Idowu.